Senior IT Hardware Engineer

Cloud People; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Cloud People is hiring Senior Hardware Engineers to lead on-site data centre and infrastructure projects across servers, switches and storage. You will set on-site standards for installs, cabling, labeling and asset accuracy, while owning risk documentation and change processes.

You will mentor junior engineers, allocate tasks, and act as escalation point on-site. Travel to UK and overseas customer sites will be required, including occasional out-of-hours work.

Qualifications

• Five+ years in data centre operations or infrastructure engineering.
• Strong grounding in commodity compute, storage and network hardware.
• Experience managing RAMS and risk in critical environments.
• Structured cabling standards across Cat6/6a and fibre.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute physical build, install, relocate and decommission of IT hardware.
• Design rack layouts and cabling to ensure clean, labelled, and logical routing.
• Manage patching schedules, cable trays and labelling schemes per standards.
• Coordinate with design teams and facilities on power and space planning.
• Produce and maintain Risk Assessments and Method Statements for tasks.

Skills

Leadership

On-site management

Documentation

RAMS & risk

Tools

RAMS

Audit & Change control

Job description

Company & role

Portsmouth, site based, with travel to customer sites in the UK and overseas

This role sits with a global IT services and infrastructure provider that has been building, running and modernising enterprise IT estates since the mid nineties. Their hardware and data centre practice covers build labs, their own data centres and customer environments, delivering everything from new installations and rack builds through to relocations, refresh programmes and decommissions.

They are hiring three Senior Hardware Engineers as the practice grows. This is a step up from pure execution. You would lead by example on site, set the standard for installs, cabling, labeling and asset accuracy, and take on the documentation and risk side that sits around physical engineering work, including RAMS, change control and audit support.

There is a people element too. You would supervise and mentor junior engineers and contractors, allocate work across projects, and act as the escalation point when something on site does not go to plan. The role is expected to be billable on customer projects, so your time is visible and valued.

You will need to be eligible for SC clearance and BS7858 vetting, hold a clean manual driving licence and a valid passport, and be happy travelling, including overnight stays and occasional out of hours work.

Why This Role Stands Out

• A genuine lead role rather than another pair of hands, with ownership of standards, quality and safety on site
• Three hires going in at once, so you join a function that is being built out rather than propped up
• Variety across build labs, data centres and customer environments instead of one static estate
• UK and overseas travel for those who want it, with real exposure to large scale projects
• Direct route into mentoring and team leadership, with junior engineers and contractors to develop
• Backed by a large services business with long running enterprise customers and internal movement into project and managed services work

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and execute the physical build, installation, relocation and decommission of IT hardware across servers, switches and storage
• Design and implement rack layouts and cabling solutions, keeping installations clean, labelled and logically routed
• Manage patching schedules, cable trays and labelling schemes in line with site and customer standards
• Coordinate with design teams and facilities on power and space planning
• Produce and maintain Risk Assessments and Method Statements for engineering tasks, and keep asset and site documentation current
• Support audits and compliance checks across standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and PCI DSS
• Identify operational risk early, put mitigations in place and promote a safety first culture
• Represent data centre works through change management and CAB processes
• Supervise and mentor junior engineers and contractors, allocating tasks and giving technical guidance and feedback
• Act as the escalation point for technical and logistical issues in day to day operations
• Work with project managers, infrastructure architects and third party vendors to deliver migrations, expansions and refresh cycles on time and on budget

Ideal Experience

• Around five years or more in data centre operations or infrastructure engineering
• Strong grounding in commodity compute, storage and network hardware, including standard configurations, firmware and software
• Solid understanding of data centre best practice, with experience managing RAMS and risk in critical environments
• Structured cabling standards across Cat6 and 6a, OM3 and OM4, and fibre
• Familiarity with power and cooling, including PDU configurations and load balancing
• Awareness of logistics, manual handling and vehicle loading
• Demonstrated leadership or team management experience, ideally across mixed teams of employees and contractors
• Experience contributing to large scale projects and multi team delivery
• Organised and accurate under pressure, with strong written documentation habits
• Confident with customers, able to explain technical detail clearly to non technical stakeholders
• Eligible for UK NSV SC clearance and BS7858 vetting
• Clean manual driving licence, valid passport, and willing to travel to UK and overseas customer sites including overnight stays
• Available for out of hours work including nights and weekends where projects require it

If you are a hands on data centre engineer who is ready to set the standard rather than follow it, this is a good next step.