R&D IT Infrastructure Specialist

Agratas – A Tata Enterprise; Oxford; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Agratas – A Tata Enterprise in the United Kingdom is seeking an R&D IT Infrastructure Manager to lead planning, deployment, operation, and continuous improvement of IT infrastructure for research and development environments.

You will drive end-to-end lifecycle management, partner with R&D and engineering teams, and champion cybersecurity, resilience, and performance across labs and simulation platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline; master's preferred.
• Extensive experience in IT infrastructure, site IT operations, and program delivery.
• Proven ability to manage cross-functional programs across R&D, Facilities, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Procurement, and external partners.
• Strong knowledge of networking, data center, server/storage, virtualization, cloud, and security controls.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end management of IT infrastructure services for R&D facilities, including network, compute, storage, backup, collaboration, endpoint, and lab IT environments.
• Lead infrastructure projects for new labs, test environments, engineering workspaces, simulation platforms, and specialized technology zones.
• Ensure high availability, performance, reliability, and security of critical infrastructure supporting R&D workloads and data platforms.
• Develop and maintain infrastructure roadmaps aligned with growth plans, refresh cycles, and cybersecurity standards.
• Manage IT assets, lifecycle planning, capacity planning, licensing, inventory governance, and documentation.
• Drive incident, problem, change, and service request management per ITIL-aligned practices.
• Coordinate with cybersecurity teams on access controls, segmentation, patching, and compliance.
• Manage vendors and external partners to ensure timely delivery and SLA adherence.
• Support audits, risk assessments, disaster recovery, and business continuity testing.
• Mentor infrastructure engineers and cross-functional project resources.

Skills

Infrastructure architecture

R&D systems support

Project planning

Vendor management

IT operations

Cybersecurity awareness

Analytical thinking

Leadership

Documentation and reporting

Automation and continuous improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, Electronics, Engineering, or related

Master's degree preferred

Tools

ITIL Foundation

PMP/PRINCE2

Cisco

Microsoft

VMware

Azure

AWS

ISO 27001

CISSP/CISM

Job description

Purpose of the Role

The R&D IT Infrastructure Manager will be responsible for planning, deploying, operating, and continuously improving IT infrastructure services that support research, engineering, product development, testing, simulation, laboratory, and innovation environments. The role requires a strong blend of infrastructure technology expertise, project execution capability, operational governance, cybersecurity awareness, and stakeholder management to ensure reliable, secure, scalable, and high-performance IT services for R&D teams.

Key Responsibility Areas

• Own the end-to-end management of IT infrastructure services for R&D facilities, including network, compute, storage, backup, collaboration, endpoint, and laboratory IT environments.
• Partner with R&D, engineering, product development, manufacturing, cybersecurity, enterprise IT, and external vendors to understand business requirements and translate them into infrastructure solutions.
• Lead infrastructure projects for new R&D labs, test environments, engineering workspaces, simulation platforms, and specialized technology zones.
• Ensure high availability, performance, reliability, and security of critical infrastructure supporting R&D workloads, design applications, test systems, and engineering data platforms.
• Develop and maintain infrastructure roadmaps aligned with R&D growth plans, technology refresh cycles, cybersecurity standards, and business continuity requirements.
• Manage IT assets, lifecycle planning, capacity planning, licensing coordination, inventory governance, and infrastructure documentation.
• Drive incident, problem, change, and service request management in line with ITIL-aligned practices and internal governance standards.
• Coordinate with cybersecurity teams to implement access controls, segmentation, vulnerability remediation, patching, monitoring, and compliance requirements for R&D environments.
• Manage vendors, service providers, OEMs, and implementation partners to ensure timely delivery, SLA compliance, cost optimization, and quality of service.
• Support audits, risk assessments, compliance reviews, disaster recovery planning, and business continuity testing for R&D IT infrastructure.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, including automation, monitoring, AIOps, standardization, documentation, and operational excellence.
• Mentor and guide infrastructure engineers, support teams, and project resources involved in R&D infrastructure delivery and operations.
• Partner with scientific, engineering, and laboratory teams to support the onboarding, integration, and operation of laboratory equipment, instrument control systems, and integration with LIMS and scientific data platforms.
• Lead IT infrastructure readiness and handover activities for new laboratories, test facilities, manufacturing pilot environments, and R&D equipment deployments, ensuring infrastructure dependencies are identified and resolved prior to go-live.
• Collaborate with R&D leadership to prioritize infrastructure investments, manage demand, and align infrastructure roadmaps with organizational goals.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics, Engineering, or a related discipline; master's degree preferred.
• Experience in IT infrastructure, site IT operations, technology project management, or enterprise infrastructure delivery.
• Experience managing infrastructure teams, vendors, or cross-functional technology programs.
• Experience supporting R&D, engineering, manufacturing, laboratory, simulation, automotive, battery, electronics, or industrial technology environments is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise networking, data center infrastructure, server and storage platforms, virtualization, cloud services, endpoint management, backup, monitoring, and disaster recovery.
• Experience in laboratory commissioning, technology onboarding, operational readiness, and infrastructure deployment within R&D or manufacturing facilities.
• Good understanding of cybersecurity principles, network segmentation, identity and access management (IAM), vulnerability remediation, and compliance controls.
• Proven ability to manage complex cross-functional programs involving R&D, Facilities, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Procurement, Enterprise IT, and external partners.
• Exposure to ITIL processes, project management methodologies, vendor governance, budgeting, and service delivery frameworks.
  
  

Key Skills And Competencies

• Infrastructure architecture and solution design
• R&D and engineering systems support
• Project planning, execution, risk management, and stakeholder communication
• Vendor management, negotiation, and service governance
• IT operations management and service excellence
• Cybersecurity and compliance awareness
• Analytical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making
  
  

- Leadership, team development, and cross-functional collaboration -

Documentation, reporting, and executive communication

• Continuous improvement and automation
• Stakeholder management and commercial leadership
  
  

Key Performance Indicators

• Infrastructure uptime, availability, and performance against agreed service levels
• On-time and within-budget delivery of R&D infrastructure projects
• Reduction in recurring incidents and improvement in mean time to restore service (MTTR)
• Compliance with cybersecurity, audit, patching, and vulnerability remediation targets
• Effective capacity planning and technology lifecycle management
• Vendor SLA adherence and service quality improvement
• Stakeholder satisfaction across R&D, engineering, and business teams
• Documentation completeness and operational readiness for new services Key Stakeholders
• R&D leadership and engineering teams
• Site IT and Enterprise IT infrastructure teams
• Cybersecurity and compliance teams
• Manufacturing IT/OT teams
• Application owners and product development teams
• Procurement, finance, and vendor management teams
  
  

OEMs, system integrators, managed service providers, and technology partners Preferred Certifications

• ITIL Foundation or higher - PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification
• Cisco, Microsoft, VMware, Azure, AWS, or equivalent infrastructure certifications
• Cybersecurity certifications such as ISO 27001, CISSP, CISM, or equivalent exposure