Lead Infrastructure Engineer

AKR GROWTH; Epsom and Ewell; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology firm in Epsom and Ewell is seeking an experienced Lead Infrastructure Engineer to design and maintain IT infrastructure. This role involves overseeing projects, ensuring operational reliability, and mentoring junior staff. Ideal candidates will have strong experience in virtualization and cloud platforms, along with excellent communication skills.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of hands-on experience in infrastructure engineering.
• Experience in senior or lead roles.
• Strong understanding of virtualization and cloud technologies.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the infrastructure environment.
• Lead implementation and maintenance of hybrid environments.
• Ensure infrastructure is secure and compliant.

Skills

Infrastructure engineering

Virtualization technologies

Cloud platforms

Security controls

Communication skills

Tools

VMware

Windows Server

Linux

Azure

AWS

Google Cloud

PowerShell

Python

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Lead Infrastructure Engineer to design, maintain, and lead enhancements to our IT infrastructure. This role combines hands-on technical responsibilities with leadership oversight: you will direct infrastructure projects, ensure operational reliability and security, and act as a technical mentor to more junior staff. The ideal candidate will help build resilient, scalable systems that support teaching, learning, administrative and research activities.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the infrastructure environment: servers, storage, virtualization, network, backup & disaster recovery.
• Lead implementation and maintenance of hybrid environments (on-premises + cloud) including monitoring, capacity planning, and performance tuning.
• Ensure infrastructure is secure, patched, up-to-date, and configured to align with best practices and compliance requirements.
• Plan, coordinate and deliver major upgrades, migrations, or infrastructure rollouts.
• Provide technical leadership: mentor infrastructure engineers/technicians, set standards, review designs, ensure documentation is thorough.
• Troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure issues promptly; perform root-cause analysis and implement preventative measures.
• Collaborate closely with other teams (applications, security, user support) to support new services or changes in infrastructure.
• Oversee third‑party vendor and service provider relationships for anything infrastructure‑related.
• Prepare and present reports on infrastructure health, incidents, planned improvements, budget impacts.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Several years (e.g. 5–10) of hands-on experience in infrastructure engineering, including senior/lead roles.
• Strong experience with virtualization technologies (e.g. VMware, Hyper‑V or equivalents), server OSes (Windows Server, Linux), and network fundamentals.
• Proficiency with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud) and knowledge of hybrid cloud architectures.
• Experience in backup, disaster recovery, storage solutions, load balancing, patch management.
• Solid knowledge of security controls, monitoring tools, vulnerability management.
• Familiarity with automation, scripting, and configuration management (e.g. PowerShell, Python, Terraform, Ansible).
• Ability to mentor, review technical work, set infrastructure standards.
• Strong communication skills; able to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.