Senior Infrastructure Manager

Partnerize; Ashington; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Enhanced Parental Leave

Private Medical Insurance

Enhanced pension contributions

Cycle to Work scheme

Eye Care Vouchers

Life Assurance

Wellness program

Regular company events

Job summary

Partnerize is seeking a Senior Infrastructure Manager to lead the Infrastructure Solutions team within Technical Operations. You will guide engineers, drive performance, and own staffing, budgeting, and capacity planning to ensure scalable, reliable systems.

This role operates on a hybrid basis and requires weekly attendance in the Newcastle office. The ideal candidate will balance strategic leadership with hands-on operational oversight in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Proven management experience leading a technical team.
• Significant experience managing people, performance reviews and growth.
• Strong project management skills and ability to prioritise work.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and motivate a team of infrastructure engineers with regular 1-2-1s and performance reviews.
• Own hiring for the team and drive recruitment & retention in a diverse, inclusive culture.
• Define, maintain, and improve SOPs and ITIL-aligned processes.

Skills

People leadership

Project management

Communication

Strategic thinking

ITIL / Lean Six Sigma

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Zabbix

Grafana

Kafka

Druid

Nginx

Gluster

JIRA

Confluence

Job description

Who We Are

At the company, we're on a mission to transform the way businesses grow. We've built the leading partnership automation platform that empowers brands to discover, engage, and convert their audiences at scale. From affiliate marketing to influencer collaborations, we help our clients build and manage profitable partnerships that drive real results. We're a team of passionate problem-solvers who are dedicated to helping our clients win in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.

Why Join Us

We're looking for passionate, talented people who want to be part of a winning team. At the company, you'll find a culture of collaboration, innovation, and respect. We're guided by our core values, and we're committed to creating an environment where everyone can do their best work. We also offer a competitive salary, generous benefits, and a flexible work environment that allows you to thrive both personally and professionally. If you're ready to grow your career and make a difference, we'd love to hear from you.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Infrastructure Manager who is, first and foremost, a people leader.

The Team You Will Lead

You will lead the Infrastructure Solutions team within the wider Technical Operations department. Your engineers are responsible for building the environment, delivering projects as requested by Engineering and Product, and ensuring we remain available, scalable, and secure. They are not responsible for the BAU function of the platforms that is managed by another team within Technical Operations. The Infrastructure Solutions team takes a concept or idea and makes that into a reality within the boundaries and constraints of our platforms.

The Operational Reality

It is important to be transparent about the environment you are joining. We operate at high velocity with a broad and complex technology estate. However, we are a lean team, not a giant corporation with endless resources.

• Context Switching is the Norm

• You will rarely have the luxury of focusing on a single task for weeks at a time. You will be required to shift focus multiple times a week, and sometimes multiple times a day, as business priorities evolve.

• Agility over Silos

• Because we are a lean team, we wear many hats. You must be comfortable pivoting from a strategic discussion to an operational challenge without losing momentum.

• Focus Management

• Success in this role requires the ability to maintain high standards while navigating a workload that changes dynamically. This is not a role for those who prefer a slow, singular focus; it is for those who thrive on variety, pace, and solving complex problems in real-time.

As the Senior Infrastructure Manager, You Will:People Leadership & Talent Development

• Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and motivate a team of infrastructure engineers. Conduct weekly 1-2-1s, manage performance reviews, and handle all aspects of people management.

• Formal Training & Growth

• Go beyond ad-hoc mentoring to schedule and lead formal training sessions regarding operational improvements. Actively create professional development plans for your direct reports.

• Recruitment & Retention

• Own the hiring process for your team, ensuring we attract top talent and maintain a supportive, inclusive culture.

• Culture of Learning

• Foster a "Self-Learner" mindset. Create a transparent environment where failures are treated as learning opportunities and documented as such for future reference.

Strategic & Operational Management

• Budget & Capacity Planning

• Ability to own your team's budget and lead capacity planning initiatives. You will forecast future infrastructure needs to ensure we remain scalable while managing spend for subscriptions and hardware.

• Risk & Contingency

• Proactively identify operational risks and form contingency plans immediately to ensure business continuity.

• Procedure & Frameworks

• Ability to define, maintain, and cascade operational procedures (SOPs) and ITIL standards.

• Prioritisation

• Shield your team from noise by effectively prioritising workloads (Changes, Problems, and Projects) and managing stakeholder expectations.

Technical Support & Oversight

• Performance Optimisation

• Measure and optimise system performance with a focus on improving reliability and time-to-market. You will drive innovation to get ahead of internal customer needs rather than just reacting to them.

• Visual Documentation

• Ensure the team produces detailed system design documentation, specifically enforcing the inclusion of visual representations to support understanding. Ability to technologically assess it as a technical editor.

• Hybrid Estate Management

• Ability to oversee the management of both On-Premise and Cloud (GCP/AWS), ensuring high availability across all environments.

• Unblocking Issues

• Act as the senior escalation point for complex technical issues. Your goal is not to fix the issue yourself, but to coordinate the right resources and provide air cover.

General Duties

On-Call DutiesWillingness to participate in the Management On-Call Rotation to support the department and the business (Current frequency: Once every three weeks). Ad-HocCarry out other strategic or technical duties required to support the Director/VP of Technical Operations.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and ExperienceLeadership & Management Competencies

• Proven Management Experience

• Significant experience leading a technical team, with a specific focus on the people management aspect (performance reviews, career growth etc).

• Project Management

• Strong project management experience with the ability to delegate effectively to meet tight deadlines. You must be able to multitask and maintain focus in a high-priority environment.

• Communication

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills. You must be able to liaise effectively with management and other business areas. Engagement may also include interactions with senior technical engineers/leaders within other teams and C-Team members.

• Goal Oriented

• You must be highly goal-oriented with strict attention to detail, capable of prioritising workload and demand to ensure targets are met.

• ITIL Application / Lean Six Sigma

• Deep knowledge of and experience with ITIL practices, with the ability to apply them to improve team workflows. Demonstrated ability to apply Lean Six Sigma concepts.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Innovation & Debt Management

• A keen interest in new technologies and innovation, specifically supporting development teams in the refactoring of technical debt.

• Advanced Containerization

• Deep knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker, and container ecosystems.

• Observability

• Experience with monitoring systems (e.g., Zabbix, Grafana) and logging stacks (Elasticsearch, Kibana).

• Data Streaming

• Experience with data streaming and queuing technologies, specifically Apache Kafka and Druid.

• Web & Storage

• Knowledge of Nginx (or other web server technologies) and storage technologies like Gluster.

• Tooling

• Proficiency with JIRA and Confluence for project tracking and documentation.

• Version Control

• strong understanding of Git and version control best practices.

Why This Role?

If you are an experienced technical leader who finds more satisfaction in growing people and building high-performing teams than in closing tickets yourself, this is the role for you. You will have the autonomy to shape the culture of the Infrastructure function and the strategic backing to make a real impact on the business.

This role operates on a hybrid basis and requires attendance in our Newcastle office once a week. While some flexibility may be discussed, applicants should be willing and able to work from the office as part of the role.

UK Benefits & Perks

• 25 days holiday in addition to bank holidays

• Enhanced Parental Leave: 6 months full pay for birth parent, 4 weeks non-birth parent at full pay after one year employment

• 5 extra 'the company Parental Days' each year

• Private Medical Insurance through Vitality

• Enhanced pension contributions

• Cycle to Work scheme

• Eye Care Vouchers

• Life Assurance

• Enhanced Wellness Program including access to EAP, Wellness Coaching & Wellness Fridays program

• Regular company events and activities

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to attracting, developing, and advancing our outstanding team members, regardless of race, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, gender identity, physical abilities, or any other dimension of diversity. We strive to foster an environment where people can be their authentic selves, raise concerns and innovate, all without fear; where they are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources and can contribute fully to the organization's success. Every individual in our business is expected to live this commitment without exception.

Privacy and data protection

The data collected as part of this application will be used for the recruitment process and any subsequent employment. You can find further information in the company privacy policy here:https://the company.com/privacy-policy/

Notice to Recruiters and Staffing Agencies: To protect the interests of all parties, the company will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate or an approved vendor that has a written and signed agreement in place with the company. Please do not contact or forward resumes to our company employees or locations. Any unsolicited resumes will be considered the company property. the company is not responsible for any charges or fees related to unsolicited resumes.