IT Operations Engineer

OpenWorks Engineering Ltd; Prudhoe; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Pension contributions

Holiday entitlement

Breakfast & Lunch

Private healthcare

Life assurance

EV car scheme

Cycle to Work

Team socials

Learning budget

Job summary

OpenWorks Engineering Ltd is seeking an IT Operations Engineer to own and scale our IT environment across the UK and USA. You will lead the managed support, maintain critical infrastructure, and deliver projects that support growth.

The role is hands-on, solving complex technical challenges across IT operations, with responsibilities for Microsoft cloud platforms, security, and capacity planning to ensure a reliable, secure IT service.

Qualifications

• IT Operations experience leading IT environments and projects.
• Ability to lead IT support provision and manage third‑party services.
• Experience with Microsoft 365 and cloud platforms.
• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, networking and cloud platforms.
• Security awareness within ISO 27001/ Cyber Essentials controls.
• Ability to obtain UK Security Clearance to Secret level.
• Experience with budgeting, resource planning or supplier management.
• Excellent communication with technical and non‑technical users.

Responsibilities

• Lead IT support delivery: Oversee our Managed Support Provider, manage performance against SLAs and escalate complex incidents.
• Drive service improvement: Identify opportunities to improve IT support processes and user experience.
• Manage IT infrastructure: Oversee network design, configuration, performance, and lifecycle of hardware.
• Maintain Microsoft 365 and Azure environments to support a secure, scalable IT service.
• Deliver IT projects: Lead infrastructure projects including networking, hardware and site expansions.
• Plan for future growth: Capacity planning, budgeting and technology planning for changing needs.
• Maintain business continuity: Develop and test IT incident response plans and lead major incident responses.
• Support the USA operation: Administer OpenWorks USA IT systems and align with US leadership.

Skills

IT operations

Technical leadership

Microsoft 365

Networking

Cybersecurity awareness

Security clearance

Budgeting & planning

Communication

Job description

The Opportunity We're looking for an IT Operations Engineer who can take ownership of our IT environment, from leading our managed support provision and maintaining critical infrastructure to delivering projects that support our continued growth. This is a great opportunity for an experienced IT support professional to grow alongside us. The ideal candidate will enjoy being hands‑on, solving complex technical challenges and working across a broad range of IT operations as we scale internationally. You'll have the opportunity to make a genuine impact, supporting both our UK and USA operations while helping us build a secure, reliable and scalable IT environment.

Who We Are

OpenWorks is a rapidly growing business operating globally with a passion for exceptional engineering and building on a legacy of defence innovation in the North East of England. Our products provide ultra‑high performance, real‑time detection, tracking, identification and targeting of dynamic aerial threats. They have been deployed internationally to protect high profile military and civilian assets, and contribute towards the defeat of nuisance, misguided and maliciously deployed drones during operations. We are very proud to have supported a wide range of law enforcement and military operators, protecting many of the most high profile sites and individuals around the world. The amazing things we do are only possible because of a dedicated and passionate team.

Security Vetting Information

OpenWorks Engineering operates within the defence sector. As part of our recruitment and onboarding processes, we collect information that may be required to support future security vetting and clearance requirements, should these become necessary during employment.

Why You’ll Love Working With Us

Join a high‑energy, collaborative team where great ideas thrive, challenges are embraced, and people genuinely love what they do.

Here’s what our benefits have to offer:

• Rewarding Success - Competitive salary, starting from £45,000, plus a discretionary annual bonus of up to 25% of salary alongside a structured pay progression framework.
• Enhanced Pension - Up to 8% employer‑matched contributions to help you plan for the future.
• More Time to Recharge - 25 days' holiday plus public holidays, long‑service rewards, and the option to buy up to 5 extra days.
• Breakfast & Lunch on Us - Enjoy team breakfasts and freshly prepared lunch every day courtesy of Chef Mark and his team.
• Health & Wellbeing - Private healthcare and life assurance for added peace of mind.
• Secure Travel - Salary sacrifice schemes, including EV car and Cycle to Work options.
• Team Socials - Regular events, from quiz nights and football to board games and more.
• Learning & Growth - A culture that empowers you to challenge, grow and make an impact, plus a £250 annual learning budget to invest in the development that matters most to you.

What You’ll be Doing:

• Lead IT support delivery: Oversee our Managed Support Provider, manage performance against agreed SLAs and act as the escalation point for complex incidents.
• Drive service improvement: Identify opportunities to improve IT support processes, service quality, efficiency and user experience.
• Manage our IT infrastructure: Manage network design and configuration, infrastructure performance and the lifecycle of network and platform hardware.
• Manage Microsoft cloud platforms: Maintain and develop our Microsoft 365 and Azure environments to support a secure, reliable and scalable IT service.
• Deliver IT projects: Lead infrastructure projects covering networking, hardware and switches, as well as supporting office and site expansions.
• Plan for future growth: Undertake capacity planning, budgeting and technology planning to ensure IT infrastructure can support the changing needs of the business.
• Maintain business continuity: Develop and test IT incident response plans and lead responses to significant operational incidents.
• Support our USA operation: Administer OpenWorks USA IT systems, work with the USA senior team and ensure IT provision can scale alongside the operation.

What We’re Looking For:

• IT Operations experience: Strong experience in IT infrastructure, systems administration or IT operations, with the ability to take ownership of a broad technical environment.
• Technical leadership: Experience leading IT support provision and managing or directing third‑party IT support services.
• Microsoft expertise: Experience working with Microsoft 365 and SharePoint environments, ideally within a modern cloud‑first environment.
• Infrastructure knowledge: Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, networking and cloud platforms, with the ability to define requirements and assess performance.
• Security awareness: Experience working within an ISO 27001 management system or similar, with knowledge of Cyber Essentials controls.
• Security clearance: Ability to obtain UK Security Clearance to Secret level.
• Commercial awareness: Experience of IT hardware budgeting, resource planning or supplier management would be beneficial.
• Business‑focused approach: A practical, solutions‑focused mindset with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non‑technical users.

More About Us:

Vision

Help protect the territory and airspace of NATO countries and their allies.

Mission

Be a world‑leading provider of autonomous technology for Surveillance applications and Defence

Values

• Be a Good Egg: Earn respect, have mutual trust and be honest
• Do cool stuff: We develop cool tech with an awesome team, and we get stuff done
• Be empowered: We are autonomous, reliable and take personal responsibility
• We are one team: Look out for each other and the team
• Things go wrong: Fail fast, learn and move on
• Have fun: We're doing amazing things with passionate people
• We Get It Done: Focus on what matters and work with energy to bring ideas to life