Network Operations Center Engineer

Hamilton Barnes ?; Newport; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Hamilton Barnes is helping a high-growth AI infrastructure and data-centre developer to recruit a NOC Engineer for 24x7 operations. The role starts remote, with potential office work in Bristol or Newport as the team scales.

You will be the first point of technical response for infrastructure alerts, incidents and service requests, helping shape monitoring, escalation and shift processes from day one.

Qualifications

• Experience in a NOC or infra support with 1st/2nd line exposure.
• Networking triage, troubleshooting and escalation; Linux sysadmin; data-centre hardware basics.
• Familiar with ITSM/ticketing tools (HaloITSM, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, FreshService).
• Willing to work 24x7 shifts, hold a UK driving licence, live within ~1 hour of Bristol, and seek Security Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Provide 24x7 first and second-line support across network, power, environmental, server and GPU infra alerts, responding within SLA.
• Perform initial troubleshooting and incident triage, escalating clearly to engineering, field ops, Smart Hands or vendors when required.
• Create, own and progress tickets through to resolution with accurate documentation.
• Coordinate site access, dispatch requests and maintenance windows with Smart Hands and field engineering providers.
• Manage shift handovers, monitor shared inboxes and communication channels, and keep knowledge articles current.
• Support outage management and root cause analysis, feeding into continuous improvement.
• Maintain physical security and safety procedures during any hands-on or rack-level tasks.

Skills

NOC operations

Infra support

Data-centre operations

Linux administration

Networking triage

Shift work

Tools

HaloITSM

ServiceNow

Jira Service Management

FreshService

Job description

Job Title: NOC Engineer (24x7 Infrastructure Operations)

A high-growth, renewable energy-powered AI infrastructure and data-centre developer is building out its internal Network Operations Centre from the ground up, having recently brought the function back in-house. As first point of technical response for infrastructure alerts, incidents and service requests, you'll help keep customer-facing GPU and data-centre services stable across a rapidly expanding estate. The business is scaling fast, with a multi-megawatt data centre going live later in 2026 and several thousand GPUs planned by year-end, backed by a substantial pipeline of further sites in development.

Set up:

Remote initially, likely through the rest of 2026. Candidates must be open to working from the office in Bristol or Newport.

Join a NOC that's being built from scratch rather than inheriting someone else's legacy setup, with genuine input into how monitoring, escalation and shift processes get shaped from day one.

Get in early at a business scaling from 60+ staff towards 80 to 100 by the end of 2026, and 2 to 3x growth over the following 18 to 24 months, with direct exposure to AI infrastructure, GPU environments and next-generation data-centre builds.

High visibility with leadership from day one, real autonomy in how you manage your shift, and a mixed skills matrix where network-heavy and infrastructure-heavy engineers develop through knowledge transfer from each other.

Responsibilities:

• Provide 24x7 first and second-line support across network, power, environmental, server and GPU infrastructure alerts, responding within SLA
• Perform initial troubleshooting and incident triage, escalating clearly to engineering, field operations, Smart Hands providers or vendors when required
• Create, own and progress tickets through to resolution with accurate documentation
• Coordinate site access, dispatch requests and maintenance windows with Smart Hands and field engineering providers
• Manage shift handovers, monitor shared inboxes and communication channels, and keep knowledge articles current
• Support outage management and root cause analysis, feeding into continuous improvement
• Maintain physical security and safety procedures during any hands-on or rack-level tasks

Skills/Must have:

• Experience: Previous experience in a NOC, infrastructure support, data-centre operations, managed services or technical support environment, with first/second-line exposure
• Core Tech/Domain: Networking triage, troubleshooting and escalation capability; Linux systems administration knowledge; exposure to data-centre hardware troubleshooting (racking, cabling, power/cooling basics)
• Methodology/Protocols: Comfortable using an ITSM/ticketing tool such as HaloITSM, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, FreshService or similar
• Soft Skills: Comfortable working independently on a 24x7 shift-based operations environment; must hold a full UK driving licence, live within roughly an hour of Bristol, and be open to achieving Security Clearance within the next 12 months

Nice to haves:

• Data-centre background, or a blend of networking and infrastructure experience
• Experience or interest in AI infrastructure, HPC or GPU environments
• Exposure to Grafana, Prometheus, SolarWinds, Zabbix, Datadog, CloudWatch or similar monitoring tools
• Basic Bash or Python scripting
• ITIL awareness, or a background in cloud, hosting, MSP or infrastructure operations