Platform and Services Manager

We are a world-class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Salary: Salary in the region of £47,000 per annum.

Closing Date: This opportunity will close when we identify a suitable candidate. We will contact you within five working days of your application to advise you of the shortlisting outcome.

The Role

Over the last two years, we have reimagined the way we deliver our University IT Services, building a world-class IT department responsive to the needs of our global community. We’re growing significantly and we’ve created new opportunities and made changes to how we work.

Our people have been at the centre of this change, with a particular focus on development and opportunities to learn new skills.

You will be responsible for managing and leading a team of subject matter experts in the design, implementation and support of the infrastructure that underpins the University’s critical services. Reporting to the Head of Infrastructure you will have the opportunity to implement cutting edge technology to meet the needs of the University’s stakeholders while ensuring operations run smoothly and staff remain engaged and motivated. You will act as a point of escalation and provide subject matter expertise to guide and shape the operational efficiency of the Platform and Services team.

You will be accountable for the platforms and services hosted in a hybrid environment spread between our datacentres here in the UK, Malaysia and Cloud services provided in Microsoft 365 and Azure. To support continued professional development, you will be encouraged to participate in conferences and other networking activities, such as attendance at Microsoft events, Special Interest Groups, and Vendor roadmaps. This rewarding and challenging post will provide an opportunity to work in a personable, varied, and richly collaborative environment, adding value to your career path by providing exposure to large enterprise IT at the cutting edge of research and teaching.

The University is an exciting and dynamic place to work, dedicated to world-leading education and research. Benefits include excellent pension; flexible working options; a minimum of 37 days holiday (including public holidays); discounted travel for the Metro and local bus services; and discounts for national retailers. You can find out more on our benefits web page.

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment and we would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible and/or blended working.

Informal enquiries may be made to Gary Atkinson, Head of Infrastructure, at gary.atkinson@newcastle.ac.uk .

Key Accountabilities

• Leadership and management of a team of IT professionals, accountable for the delivery of enterprise-wide systems and services which underpin IT for learning teaching and research across all faculties and professional support departments
• Influence and implement technologies to support the successful delivery of the goals identified in the IT strategy. Plan appropriate resource and ensure skill set availability
• Create and maintain a Technology Roadmap for the Platforms and Services area to clearly indicate areas of risk, show upgrade paths and timelines and feed into overall IT Service  planning processes. Own the technology landscape within the scope of this area, be a subject matter expert, and have a deep understanding of current and future technologies
• Take responsibility for all service provision within this team, ensure there are systems and processes to deliver the required level of support and to recover from support issues as quickly as possible. Ensure cost-effective delivery of platforms and services to meet University needs and respond with the agility required to address changing business priorities
• Lead the team to ensure they are motivated, engaged and have personal development plans, carry out annual appraisals and ensure there is a people plan for the whole team
• Ensure that the work of the team is properly prioritised, resourced, managed and executed efficiently and effectively
• Engage with stakeholders across the IT Service and the University to build and maintain good working relationships and ensure there is a clear understanding of University requirements within the team
• Ensure that all necessary proactive and reactive processes and procedures are in place – including for example, performance monitoring and tuning; load balancing; major software or hardware upgrades; installation and configuration; disaster recovery planning and management; contingency planning and any other activities required to ensure service continuity and effectiveness
• Act as a trusted advisor, building robust and collaborative relationships with other IT and University leaders to develop a clear understanding of business needs
• Lead on any project or change related activity as part of wider IT Service or Newcastle University project teams
• Manage the budget (people and third party spend) assigned to this area
• Champion the team’s involvement in the IT organisation's innovation efforts and its role in experimenting with new solutions to take advantage of business opportunities
• Be responsible for developing best-practise policies, standards, procedures and guidelines for management of the IT Service’s platforms and services, guided by the IT Service’s standards and other stakeholders
• Any other reasonable duties that fall within the scope of the post, as allocated by the line manager

The Person

• Extensive technical background in our core technologies including physical and virtualised server management, Windows, UNIX/UNIX-like, Azure cloud services, SQL database management, Windows and UNIX/UNIX-like user administration
• Experience of supporting and delivering platforms and services in a complex and geographically diverse organisation
• Experience of working with third party vendors and delivering an effective service using their services
• Experience of working with information security teams and other governance groups to ensure that University assets are protected from internal and external attacks. A working knowledge of cybersecurity processes and practices is essential
   

Newcastle University is committed to being a fully inclusive Global University which actively recruits, supports and retains staff from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from everybody, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, as well as being open to flexible working practices.

The University holds a silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. The University also holds the HR Excellence in Research award for our work to support the career development of our researchers, and is a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.