Lead Infrastructure Engineer - Messaging Solutions

Sopra Steria; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance £5,400

25 days annual leave

Private medical

Life assurance

Pension

Flexible benefits

Job summary

Sopra Steria is seeking a Lead Infrastructure Engineer to own mission-critical messaging services for a UK Government client. You will drive secure messaging strategy, act as the technical authority for Exchange On-Premises, and shape the evolution of defence messaging solutions from concept to deployment.

The role requires expertise in highly regulated environments, DV/eDV clearance, and on-site work in Gloucestershire with a strong emphasis on reliability, security and governance.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, engineering and implementing Microsoft Exchange On-Premises in enterprise or regulated environments.
• Strong expertise in messaging architecture, infrastructure engineering and secure communication platforms.
• Experience with SPSE and wider Microsoft collaboration technologies.
• Strong experience supporting and engineering Skype for Business in enterprise environments.
• Deep technical infrastructure knowledge including clustering, resilience, hardware evaluation, system integration and platform optimisation.
• Proven experience delivering technical solutions within highly governed environments and adhering to SLAs.

Responsibilities

• Leading the architecture, design and implementation of secure messaging and collaboration solutions across mission-critical environments.
• Acting as the technical authority for Microsoft Exchange On-Premises and associated messaging technologies.
• Defining technical strategy, standards and roadmaps to evolve messaging capability and deliver new services.
• Providing advanced troubleshooting, root cause analysis and resolution of complex messaging, infrastructure and platform issues.
• Leading technical delivery activities across projects, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and governance-aligned.
• Driving continuous improvement, resilience, and cost optimisation across messaging platforms.

Skills

Exchange On-Premises

Messaging architecture

SharePoint SPSE

Skype for Business

X.400 messaging

Defence security

Education

MCSE certification

Tools

SharePoint SPSE

Job description

We're looking for a Lead Infrastructure Engineer to take ownership of critical messaging services supporting a prestigious UK Government client.

This is more than an engineering role, it's an opportunity to shape, modernise and secure the platforms that underpin mission‑critical national operations.

As the technical authority for enterprise messaging, you'll lead the design, delivery and evolution of highly secure communication solutions, with a particular focus on Microsoft Exchange On‑Premises, defence messaging technologies and resilient communications infrastructure.

Working at the heart of a complex and secure environment, you'll drive messaging strategy, influence architecture decisions and lead the implementation of new capabilities from concept through to deployment. Your expertise will ensure services remain secure, resilient and fit for the demands of some of the UK's most critical operations.

This role is ideally suited to engineers with experience in defence, military or national security environments, particularly those who have worked with X.400 messaging, secure communications platforms or highly regulated infrastructures where reliability, security and availability are non‑negotiable.

Office based in Gloucester.

Clearance: Must be DV or eDV Cleared.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading the architecture, design and implementation of secure messaging and collaboration solutions across mission‑critical environments.
• Acting as the technical authority and subject matter expert for Microsoft Exchange On‑Premises and associated messaging technologies.
• Defining technical strategy, standards and roadmaps to support the evolution of messaging capability and the delivery of new services.
• Providing advanced troubleshooting, root cause analysis and resolution of complex messaging, infrastructure and platform issues.
• Leading technical delivery activities across projects, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, supportable and aligned to governance requirements.
• Driving continuous improvement, resilience, supportability and cost optimisation across messaging and communication platforms.

What you’ll bring:

• Extensive experience designing, engineering and implementing Microsoft Exchange On‑Premises solutions within enterprise or highly regulated environments.
• Strong expertise in messaging architecture, infrastructure engineering and the delivery of secure communication platforms.
• Experience with SharePoint Server Subscription Edition (SPSE) and wider Microsoft collaboration technologies.
• Strong experience supporting and engineering Skype for Business within enterprise environments.
• Deep technical infrastructure knowledge including clustering, resilience, hardware evaluation, system integration and platform optimisation.
• Proven experience delivering technical solutions within highly governed environments and working to demanding service level agreements.

It would be great if you had:

• Experience with X.400 messaging systems, particularly within military, defence or other highly secure environments.
• Experience designing or supporting military messaging systems, secure communications platforms or nationally critical services.
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certification or equivalent industry certification.
• Experience producing high‑quality technical documentation, operational procedures and support artefacts.

Employment Type: Full‑time, Permanent.
Location: On‑site, Gloucestershire
Security Clearance Level: eDV Cleared
Internal Recruiter:Jane
Salary: Dependent on experience. Details will be discussed with the recruiter.
Benefits: £5400 car allowance, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days, private medical, life assurance, pension, and generous flexible benefits fund.

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?

Sopra Steria's Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client's goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK's most complex safety and security critical markets.

We embrace difference as a source of creativity, innovation and competitive advantage and are striving to become a more diverse organisation. We welcome applications from people with a diverse variety of backgrounds and identities. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We have partnered with Vercida , the UK's largest diversity and inclusion focused careers site, where all our vacancies are available in an accessible format.
If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, please let us know when completing your application. We participate in the Disability Confident scheme and are committed to offering an interview to any candidate with a disability, who meets the minimum criteria for the role. If you believe this could apply to you, please let us know when completing your application.