Infrastructure and Networks Manager

Infrastructure & Networks Manager – Job Description

Role Purpose

Own, operate and continuously improve the company’s core IT infrastructure, networks and end‑user services, ensuring they remain secure, stable and compliant within a regulated pharmaceutical environment.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role where the manager leads by example in design, build, troubleshooting and optimisation while coaching a small team and coordinating specialist partners.

Key Responsibilities

1. Hands‑On Technical Delivery
   
   • Administer and support servers, virtualisation platforms, storage, backups, networks, firewalls, Wi-Fi and cloud services (Azure, Microsoft 365).
   
   • Perform advanced troubleshooting for incidents and problems, owning major incidents end-to-end.
   
   • Implement patches, upgrades, hardening and configuration changes under ITIL and GxP change control.
   
   • Maintain monitoring, alerting, observability and capacity planning.
   
   • Ensure high availability and performance across on-prem and cloud environments.
   
   
2. Infrastructure & Team Leadership
   
   • Lead and mentor infrastructure and support engineers; set technical direction and priorities.
   
   • Foster ownership, documentation, standardisation and right‑first‑time delivery.
   
   • Coordinate with the Service Desk for escalation and knowledge transfer.
   
   • Champion automation, infrastructure as code and modern engineering practices.
   
   
3. Service Management, Projects & Continuous Improvement
   
   • Own SLAs, KPIs and service outcomes for infrastructure and networks.
   
   • Review performance data and drive improvements in resilience, reliability and user experience.
   
   • Plan and deliver infrastructure projects (network refreshes, server replacements, cloud migrations, DR tests).
   
   • Maintain documentation, runbooks, diagrams and configuration/asset records.
   
   • Lead root‑cause analysis and continuous improvement activities.
   
   
4. Security, Compliance & Pharma Requirements
   
   • Implement and maintain security controls: hardening, MFA, logging, SIEM, privileged access and patching.
   
   • Ensure infrastructure changes comply with GxP, validation, MHRA, audit and data protection requirements.
   
   • Own and regularly test backup and disaster recovery strategies.
   
   • Maintain appropriate risk controls and documentation for regulated environments.
   
   
5. Vendor & Cost Management
   
   • Manage day‑to‑day supplier relationships (MSPs, carriers, hardware/software vendors).
   
   • Review supplier performance and escalate issues as needed.
   
   • Support budgeting, forecasting and cost optimisation for infrastructure OPEX/CAPEX.
   
   • Evaluate new technologies and tools to improve reliability, security or cost-efficiency.
   
   Required Experience
   
   • 5–8+ years in infrastructure/operations roles with current hands‑on capability.
   
   • Strong experience with Windows Server, AD/Azure AD, M365, VMware/Hyper‑V, storage, backups and networking.
   
   • Experience leading a small team or acting as an informal technical lead.
   
   • Experience in regulated, manufacturing, healthcare or pharma environments is highly desirable.
   
   • Familiarity with ITIL processes and structured documentation.
   
   Skills & Attributes
   
   • Deep technical expertise with willingness to remain hands‑on.
   
   • Strong troubleshooting mindset; calm under pressure.
   
   • Clear communicator able to translate technical issues for non‑technical stakeholders.
   
   • Organised, documentation‑driven and improvement‑focused.
   
   • Comfortable challenging legacy systems and driving modernisation