Infrastructure Support Analyst

The MRC's Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) is a scientific institute with a unique computing environment using Windows, Mac and Linux. In supporting world-class scientific research, the post-holder will contribute to an IT team responsible for delivering services that underpin pioneering scientific research.

• IT infrastructure focussed (3rd line) duties including maintaining and delivering solutions and support to the core IT infrastructure consisting of; network, firewalls, storage, HPC, and physical/virtual servers
• Assist and support the Head of IT in the delivery and improvements of all IT Services
• Contribute to a team that delivers IT services supporting world-class scientific research and enabling breakthrough discoveries. The role also collaborates with Imperial College London (ICL) and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; stakeholders in the work that takes place at the LMS
• Support client devices ranging from desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets
• Support a wide range of operating systems such as Windows, Mac and Linux
• Work within the Cyber Essentials, ITIL and PRINCE2 principles particularly to support change management; planning and implementing changes to the IT infrastructure, leading and assisting projects and providing support to the team
• Adhere to and promote legislative and LMS IT policies
• Utilise a professional helpdesk solution for all operational work, task prioritisation, handling support requests and incidents

Main Duties:

Supporting and working in a small multiskilled team dealing with range of tasks supporting day-to-day IT activities, and working on projects associated with IT infrastructure including:

• Demonstrate in-depth expertise in 3rd line IT support across multiple forms of hardware and operating system stacks and providing ownership in specialist areas when necessary and resolve Helpdesk tickets within agreed SLAs
• Contribute to the IT strategy, plans, policies, processes and infrastructure development
• Identify technical solutions for continuous improvement and to assist in the review of proposed IT infrastructure changes and their implementation
• Support IT team members by providing support at 2nd line when required and encourage inter-team working with stakeholders and colleagues
• Resolve incidents and requests reported to the IT Support Desk and deal with escalations
• Support and enhance the server, desktop and network estate to ensure maximum practical availability and efficiency
• Focus on customer satisfaction providing professional, efficient and effective service
• Balance the needs of clinical and research staff and their equipment and the associated computational infrastructure
• Complete project tasks to agreed timescales, quality and risk
• Detail IT processes and infrastructure within agreed timescales
• Continue personal development and training across all IT infrastructure and services and keeping abreast of latest developments, particularly the areas of in-depth expertise
• Coach and mentor team members through sharing of knowledge and experience
• Be a point of reference and lead in specialist areas and assist in the day-to-day activities of the IT Support Analyst's
• Support the Head of IT as Information Security Officer covering IT security and MRC security policy
• Have current knowledge of IT industry developments & standards including IT security
• Undertake any duties and tasks as required and agreed with the Head of IT

Team activities:

• Support inter-team working with stakeholders and colleagues
• Desire to understand and ability to balance the needs of clinical and research staff and their equipment and the associated computational infrastructure
• Support sharing of knowledge and experience
• Be up to date on current knowledge of IT industry developments & standards
• Contribute to team debate through the Head of IT, supporting the review of proposed IT infrastructure changes and their implementation
• Reviewing and implementing MRC IT security policies
• Any duties and tasks as required and agreed with the Head of IT, * 3rd line IT support and IT infrastructure management across the entire IT estate, including some 2nd line duties when required
• Managing and maintaining security aspects of infrastructure including administration and monitoring of firewalls, remote access solutions, anti-virus and various encryption methods
• Windows and Linux infrastructure server deployment and in-depth management
• Managing, creating, triaging and responding to IT requests to agreed SAL timelines via the IT ticketing system, IT helpdesk email and occasionally over the phone
• VMWare Virtualisation technologies management and maintenance
• Linux server and desktop operating system management, troubleshooting and maintenance
• Network infrastructure management and maintenance including; CISCO network administration, security and monitoring of the LAN and WAN connectivity including configuration, updating and monitoring of switches, routers and wireless access points
• Large scale data storage (NetApp, Dell) solution management including NAS, direct-attached and backup storage platforms
• HPC cluster configuration and administration within a Linux based environment
• Windows, Mac, and Linux device management utilising device management software including JAMF and ManageEngine
• Contributing to projects to agreed timescales, quality and risk with the support of the Head of IT
• HPC management and maintenance (including Linux queuing software systems such as SLURM)
• File sharing management using CIFS, SAMBA and NFS
• Installing new operating systems, updates and releases, for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Follow me printing infrastructure management
• Racking servers, patching fibre optic and CAt5/6A cables
• Contribution to the response to cyber security incidents, detection, mitigation and recovery
• Ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of all data used by applications across information systems
• Provide hardware/software solution quotations where required using trusted suppliers
• Make sure that the processes needed for applications to function are running smoothly
• Providing instructions and training to staff when necessary
• Analysing error trends and root causes aimed at reducing/minimising down time
• Backup solution management and maintenance
• Preparing and maintaining documentation of all systems and databases and applications linked to them

Do you have experience in macOS?, * Degree level qualification in Computing/related field or equivalent professional experience

• ITIL v4 Foundation or equivalent professional experience
• Formal Windows training/Member of Windows Professional Inst. of equivalent professional experience
• Formal Linux training/Member of Linux Professional Inst. or equivalent professional experience
• Formal VMWare training/Member of VMWare Professional Inst. or equivalent professional experience, * Expertise and experience of working in and supporting an IT Support Helpdesk at a 3rd line and infrastructure level
• In-depth understanding and experience of managing Virtualised infrastructure i.e VMWare
• Hands-on experience of server racking, fibre optic and Cat5/6 cabling and patching
• Expertise and advanced management of IT network infrastructure and switch management (CISCO)
• Expertise and experience in managing and configuring network firewalls
• Expertise and in-depth knowledge Windows, Linux, and Mac server and desktop environments, including shell scripting within mixed-platform systems
• Experience in managing and maintaining HPC clusters and queuing systems (i.e SLURM)
• In depth expertise in the use and administration of device management solutions, specifically JAMF and ManageEngine
• Advanced capability in designing and managing a variety of storage technologies, with strong expertise in file sharing and authentication across Windows, macOS, and Linux environments (e.g., PAM, NIS, NFS, SAMBA, LDAP)
• Experience with administering and maintaining backup technology solutions
• Knowledge and support of IT security matters
• Excellent written communication skills with a good command of the English Language

Desirable:

• Experience in resolving customer complaints and conflict resolution
• Knowledge of Cyber Essentials standard
• Supporting IT projects using project management techniques
• Experience of optimisation of applications such as R, Matlab, Nagios, SLURM, Docker, Cognos, Open Stack, Cuda, Sigmaplot, Graphpad, Shiny Apps

Personal skills / Behaviours / Qualities (will be assessed at the interview):

Essential:

• Excellent verbal communication skills in English
• Effectively plans, multitasks, and prioritises workload to achieve results, adapting quickly while maintaining control in challenging situations
• Able to organise and prioritise resources to ensure short- and long-term targets are met
• Be highly motivated, flexible and innovative in their approach to work
• Capable of remaining productive and focused when working under pressure
• Ensures appropriate engagement of colleagues with relevant stakeholders and issues
• Able to self-motivate when working independently, on projects, and collaboratively within a team
• Able to develop and encourage cross-boundary working relationships
• Values diversity and demonstrates respect for other team members
• Contribute positively to IT and cross-functional teams and shares knowledge and skills

Desirable:

• Experience of contributing to team debate to help identify future opportunities and team development
• Displays ability to build appropriate networks and manage a range of stakeholder interests

The MRC's Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) is a scientific institute with a unique computing environment using Windows, Mac and Linux. In supporting world-class scientific research, the post-holder will contribute to an IT team responsible for delivering services that underpin pioneering scientific research., The MRC is a unique working environment where scientific researchers and professional support staff can actively partake in world class innovation and collaboration opportunities and their skills and knowledge through accessing a wide catalogue of training & development, including professional registration with the Science Council. In addition, MRC (part of UKRI) provides its community of employees access to a whole host of useful benefits, including a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement (30 days plus 2.5 privilege days & 8 bank holidays), family friendly policies (6 months full pay maternity & adoption leave), a range of shopping/travel discounts, access to our Employee Assistant Programme Scheme, Health and Wellbeing Support and a salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. Our success is dependent upon our ability to embrace diversity and draw on the skills, understanding and experience of all our people. We warmly invite people from diverse backgrounds and heritage, including people who identify as having a disability, to apply for a role that excites them. As "Disability Confident" employers, any candidate who opts into the scheme and best meets the essential criteria, will be shortlisted for interview. UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs. We will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check. The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.   You must create an Indeed account before continuing to the company website to apply