Senior Manager Infrastructure

Smart Currency Exchange; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Smart Currency Group is seeking a hands-on Infrastructure Lead to own and operate the Group's Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID and related modern workplace services. The role requires practical, customer-oriented technical delivery and a willingness to work directly on incidents and configurations.

Based in London with hybrid working, the role emphasizes disaster recovery, supplier management and proactive risk actions to keep critical services secure, resilient and cost-effective.

Qualifications

• Hands-on in Azure and modern workplace technologies.
• Ability to challenge suppliers and deliver fixes directly.
• Strong customer-service mindset and plain-language communication.
• Experience in regulated environments and IT audits.

Responsibilities

• Own the Group's IT infrastructure and modern workplace, ensuring safety, reliability and recoverability.
• Be hands-on in daily technical work: troubleshooting, reviews, incidents and improvements.
• Manage Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, endpoints, security controls, networking, backup and cost.
• Own Office IT and support hybrid working across the Hammersmith office.
• Ensure joiner/mover/leaver processes are secure and timely.
• Own IT asset management, licensing, lifecycle and disposal.
• Lead infrastructure operations, incidents, change control and service improvements.
• Coordinate major incidents with clear communication and root-cause analysis.
• Maintain regular infrastructure checks and audit evidence.
• Drive IT performance reporting and supplier performance reviews.
• Work with Cyber Security to ensure infrastructure is safe by design.

Skills

Azure

Microsoft 365

Entra ID

Intune

Endpoint management

Networking

Backup & DR

Incident management

Cost management

Audit & compliance

Supplier management

Monitoring & dashboards

Automation

Tools

Azure Monitor

Intune Console

Office 365 Admin Center

Job description

Smart Currency Group is a privately owned, profitable and cash-generative foreign exchange and international payments business. The Group invests for the long term and is built around enduring relationships with clients, partners and people.

• Smart Currency Exchange - private client support for cross-border, high-value transactions such as overseas property purchases.
• Smart Currency Business - corporate foreign exchange and treasury services for SMEs, backed by a fully regulated options business.
• Smart Currency Fintech - technology-led integrations that automate international payment flows for other companies.
• Your Overseas Home (YOH) - an ecosystem helping people relocating or buying property abroad connect with the right partners.
• Smart Currency Australia - the Group's newest market.

The Group operates in a regulated environment and relies on secure, resilient and well-managed infrastructure to support its people, clients, partners and core systems.

Why This Role Exists

Smart Currency Group is Azure-based and increasingly reliant on cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365, secure access, data platforms, telephony, integrations, modern workplace, office IT and business-critical systems. As the Group grows, the infrastructure function needs stronger ownership, clearer standards, safer infrastructure, stronger resilience, proactive risk management and consistently high internal customer service.

This role exists to ensure the Group's infrastructure is secure, scalable, recoverable, cost-effective and fit for future growth. Disaster recovery is critical: the role will improve and regularly test recovery arrangements, help manage actions from the risk register, and use AI and automation to improve scalability, monitoring, support and service quality.

Role Overview

This is a genuinely hands-on infrastructure leadership role, not a management-only or coordination role. You will be expected to get into the detail of Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, endpoint management, networking, monitoring, incidents, controls and supplier escalations, personally resolving issues and improving the environment where needed.

The role requires technical depth, operational discipline and a strong customer-service mindset. You will speak the language of internal customers, not technical jargon, while still being technically capable enough to challenge suppliers, diagnose issues, review configurations and deliver practical fixes yourself.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Group's IT infrastructure and modern workplace environment, ensuring systems are safe, secure, reliable, well-documented, recoverable and fit for purpose.
• Be hands-on in the day-to-day technical work, including troubleshooting, configuration review, incident resolution, monitoring, checks, documentation, supplier challenge and practical improvement of the infrastructure environment.
• Manage and improve Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, endpoint policies, secure access controls, networking, monitoring, backup, recovery and cost management.
• Own Office IT and help manage the modern workplace across the Hammersmith office and hybrid working environment, ensuring colleagues have stable, secure and effective technology.
• Ensure joiner, mover and leaver processes are reliable, timely and secure, including device readiness, access provisioning, access removal, onboarding support and audit evidence.
• Own IT asset management, including laptops, peripherals, licences, warranties, lifecycle planning, inventory accuracy and secure disposal.
• Lead infrastructure operations, including incidents, problems, change control, patching, monitoring, continual service improvement, issue prevention and safe operational practice.
• Lead infrastructure-related major incident coordination, ensuring clear communication, disciplined escalation, root-cause analysis, lessons learned and follow-up actions.
• Own the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly infrastructure checks, ensuring they are completed, evidenced, reviewed and improved.
• Lead IT audit preparation and evidence gathering, working with Cyber Security, Compliance, Finance, suppliers and internal stakeholders as required.
• Help manage and implement infrastructure, security and resilience actions from the risk register, ensuring ownership, progress and evidence are clear.
• Own and continually improve disaster recovery and business continuity for infrastructure, including recovery objectives, documented processes, regular testing, lessons learned and improvement actions.
• Maintain and regularly test backup, restore, failover and recovery processes across infrastructure and key business systems.
• Manage the relationship with the Group's third-party MSP and other suppliers, ensuring service quality, clear accountability, recovery capability, security and commercial value.
• Build clear IT performance reporting and dashboards, using data from monitoring, service desk, infrastructure checks, MSP reports, incidents, uptime, risks, projects and improvement actions.
• Drive weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting on IT performance, including service levels, incidents, uptime, checks, risks, supplier performance and improvement actions.
• Ensure IT training and induction are happening effectively so new and existing colleagues understand the systems, controls and support processes they need to work well and securely.
• Use AI and automation to improve scalability, efficiency, monitoring, alerting, incident response, root-cause analysis, documentation, knowledge management and service quality.
• Improve internal customer service by reducing recurring issues, improving communication, shortening response times and using support data to identify trends.
• Work closely with Cyber Security to make infrastructure safe by design and ensure controls support security, compliance, resilience, data protection and regulatory requirements.
• Provide technical input into wider business and technology projects so infrastructure, security, service, risk, recovery and modern workplace implications are considered early.

Skills and Experience

• Strong hands-on experience managing Microsoft Azure environments in a business-critical setting.
• Willing and able to remain technically hands-on, not just manage through others, with the confidence to investigate issues, review configurations, challenge suppliers and deliver fixes directly.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, conditional access, endpoint management, identity governance, modern workplace and Office IT operations.
• Experience managing joiner, mover and leaver controls, IT assets, software licensing, device lifecycle and secure disposal.
• Good understanding of Windows environments, endpoint security, patching, networking, firewalls, VPNs, Wi-Fi, DNS, DHCP and secure connectivity.
• Experience improving and regularly testing backup, disaster recovery, business continuity, monitoring, logging and operational resilience arrangements.
• Experience managing IT audits, control evidence, routine operational checks, major incidents and IT performance reporting.
• Ability to work with recovery time objectives, recovery point objectives, system dependencies, critical service priorities, risk register actions and uptime expectations.
• Experience working with third-party MSPs, telecoms providers, software vendors and other technology partners.
• Strong troubleshooting skills, with the ability to diagnose root causes rather than repeatedly fixing symptoms.
• Clear customer-service mindset, able to communicate with internal customers in plain language and focus on the business impact of IT issues.
• Practical interest in using AI, automation, scripting or infrastructure-as-code to improve infrastructure management and service delivery.
• Experience building service reporting, dashboards and trend analysis across monitoring, service desk, supplier and infrastructure data.
• Experience improving IT processes, documentation, controls, service management practices, user support, modern workplace adoption and supplier performance.
• Ability to manage infrastructure projects from planning through to delivery, coordinating stakeholders and suppliers.
• Good commercial awareness, including cost control, licensing, supplier performance and infrastructure optimisation.
• Experience in a regulated or security-conscious environment, and with telephony, contact centre or Azure-hosted business applications.

Personal Attributes

• Customer-service led, able to translate technical issues into plain language that internal customers understand.
• Calm under pressure, especially during incidents or business-critical service issues.
• High ownership mindset, with a 100% controllable uptime mentality and strong accountability for infrastructure safety, security, resilience and reliability.
• Practical, structured and hands-on, able to move between strategy, planning, checks, reporting and technical delivery.
• Roll-up-your-sleeves approach, comfortable moving from senior stakeholder conversations into technical detail and practical problem-solving without passing everything to others.
• Proactive and improvement-focused, able to spot weaknesses and fix them before they become major problems.
• Curious and pragmatic about AI, with the ability to identify practical use cases that improve scalability, efficiency, resilience and service quality.
• Collaborative and service-minded, with a strong understanding that infrastructure exists to enable the business and protect client service.
• Organised and disciplined, with a strong focus on documentation, standards, audit evidence, risk actions, DR testing, follow-through and operational control.

Why Join Smart Currency Group

• A profitable, privately owned business that invests in its own long-term future.
• A role with scope to professionalise the Group's infrastructure, modern workplace, Office IT, reporting, audits, checks, service performance, asset controls and supplier management.
• A varied technology landscape spanning regulated financial services, fintech integrations, consumer-facing platforms and international growth.
• An opportunity to strengthen disaster recovery, regular recovery testing, risk register action management, business continuity and operational resilience where continuity of service really matters.
• An opportunity to use AI and automation in a practical, business-focused way to improve scalability, operational efficiency and service quality.
• A founder-led, close-knit and collaborative working environment based in Hammersmith, London.