IT Operations Manager

SPT Labtech; Saffron Walden; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Generous pension plan

Annual discretionary bonus

Job summary

SPT Labtech is seeking an experienced IT Team Lead to manage and develop a small UK-based IT team supporting UK and US operations. You will drive service excellence, oversee helpdesk queues, asset management, M365 administration, and network troubleshooting while aligning with security objectives.

Youfll report to the IT Director and collaborate with cyber security engineers across multiple sites, balancing hands-on technical work with strategic leadership in a dynamic biotech environment.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing a small IT team.
• Experience owning a helpdesk/service desk with SLAs and ticket workflows.
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals and Windows/M365 admin tooling.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop a team across UK and US with regular 1:1s and development plans.
• Set team standards, SLAs, escalation protocols, and act as escalation point.
• Report performance to IT Director; monitor queues, SLA adherence, and capacity.
• Own helpdesk queue management, ticket triage, routing, and resolution.
• Oversee asset management and day-to-day M365 administration.
• Support server/infrastructure maintenance and security operations.
• Ensure least-privilege access and maintain security controls.

Skills

People management

Service function ownership

Excellent communicator

Multi-site collaboration

Hybrid/tech leadership

Tools

Windows Server

M365 admin

Google Workspace

DNS/DHCP/VLAN

VPN configuration

Job description

research and make a real difference to human health. We work collaboratively with our customers, building trusted relationships that enable us to deliver exceptional, personalised experiences designed for real-world challenges in the lab.Want to be part of a team that's truly making a difference?

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Managing and developing a team of three: a Support Engineer and IT Technician in the UK, and an IT Manager in the US, with regular 1:1s, performance reviews and development planning
• Setting team standards, SLAs and escalation protocols, and acting as the first point of escalation for the operational team
• Reporting operational performance to the IT Director: queue metrics, SLA adherence, volume trends and team capacity
• Owning helpdesk queue management, making sure tickets are triaged, routed and resolved within agreed timeframes
• Owning asset management, user lifecycle (starters, leavers and role changes) and day-to-day M365 administration
• Overseeing procurement
• of hardware and peripherals, and owning IT documentation: SOPs, FAQs and user guides
• Providing hands-on networking support: connectivity issues, VPN faults, switch-level troubleshooting and network access management
• Supporting server and infrastructure maintenance alongside our Cyber Security Engineer, with structured knowledge transfer to build your infrastructure depth over time
• Owning day-to-day security operations: policy enforcement, MFA compliance, endpoint compliance, antivirus alert triage and our phishing simulation programme
• Maintaining user access and permissions across all systems, applying least privilege principles

Skills & Attributes

• An experienced people manager who gets the best out of a small team
• Organised and process-driven, comfortable owning a service function end to end
• A clear communicator, able to manage stakeholder expectations and represent IT professionally at all levels
• Hands-on and self-directed, happy to switch between management and technical
• work
• Comfortable working with colleagues across multiple sites and time zones

The essentials:

• Demonstrable experience leading, managing and developing a small IT team
• Experience owning a helpdesk or service desk function: queue management, SLAs, escalation protocols and ticket workflows
• Independent working knowledge of networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, VPN configuration, switch management and fault diagnosis
• Working knowledge of Windows Server environments
• Experience administering M365 or Google Workspace and the associated admin tooling
• Strong user lifecycle and access management experience across multiple systems
• Hardware and software asset management experience

It would be a bonus if you have:

• Intune or MDM device management experience
• Experience running security awareness activities such as phishing simulations or security training
• Experience in a multi-site or international IT environment
• Experience working alongside or transitioning to a managed security model (MDR, SIEM, CVAR)

Our commitment to you:

• You’ll be working with talented professionals in a motivated and driven team.
• We offer a competitive salary package and comprehensive, valued benefits, includingprivate medical insurancea generous pension planan annual discretionary bonus
• We embrace diversity and inclusivity, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability, or family status.
• We prioritise supporting our employees’ diverse needs as we strive for excellence together.

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