Second Line Engineer (Bristol IT MSP)

I’m recruiting a Second Line Engineer for a growing, family-run IT Managed Service Provider in North Bristol.

What you’d actually be doing:

You’ll pick up escalated tickets from the first line team. Real problems that need someone who knows what they’re looking at, not password resets.

Alongside that, you’ll work on projects: Cyber Essentials assessments, Microsoft Copilot rollouts, workflow automation, hardware builds. The project work rotates across the team so everyone gets a mix. That’s deliberate. It keeps the work interesting and it keeps everyone’s skills current.

The service desk books your time, so your day has a shape to it. You know what you’re working on and when. There’s a documented framework behind how they deliver, which means you’re learning how a well-run MSP actually scales.

Tech stack:

• HaloPSA,
• NinjaRMM,
• ConnectWise Control,
• SentinelOne,
• Huntress EDR,
• Microsoft 365,
• Microsoft CoPilot,
• Claude,
• As well as hardware.

Client sites: occasional, roughly once a month. You’ll need a driving licence., If you work with second line engineers or MSP professionals in the Bristol area and have someone who fits, get in touch. I’m open to referral arrangements and to building longer-term partnerships with recruiters who take culture fit as seriously as technical skills.

• 2 - 3 years in IT support, ideally in an MSP or supporting multiple clients. You understand triage, SLAs, and the difference between support work and project work.
• Solid fundamentals: Windows Server, M365, core networking, comfortable across an MSP stack.
• Security tooling or Cyber Essentials exposure, or a real appetite to learn it.
• You like learning. New certs, new tech, keeping current. This is the single biggest thing they hire on. Their standout hire last time had no MSP background at all, but had been working through certifications while between jobs. That attitude got the job.
• You work well in a small team. You’re comfortable with process and you understand why it matters when a business is growing.
• You’re honest. If you don’t know something, you ask. If something goes wrong, you own it and fix it.

Pulled from the full job description

• Sick pay
• Free parking
• Additional leave
• Company pension
• Casual dress
• On-site parking, There’s a published skills matrix. You can see what level two looks like and what you need to demonstrate to get there.

Salary starts at £30,000, moves to £32,000 after a successful probation at six months, and there’s a step to £32,000-£35,000 at twelve months. Reviews at both points with real development conversations attached, not a form someone fills in.

Certifications are supported where they line up with the business. You can propose courses. There’s a repayment clause if you leave shortly after, which is standard., Why people stay:

• It’s a small, tight-knit team.
• Your manager knows what you’re working on.
• Leadership is accessible and knows your name.
• Their values are Fairness, Accountability, Mentorship, Innovation, Long-term thinking, and People First. I’ve sat with this team. They can recite those from memory and they use them in how they hire and manage. That’s rarer than you’d think.
• They’re growing through acquisition, so there’s genuine headroom above this role., 20 days holiday plus bank holidays, 10 days sick leave from day one, pension, branded uniform you choose yourself from a range, Friday breakfast, stocked kitchen, team socials.

This might not be the one for you if:

• You want full autonomy and no process. They’re process-driven because they’re scaling.
• You want to work fully remote. There’s flexibility, but this is a team that spends real time together in the office.
• You’re chasing a title rather than the work.

The process

• A 30-minute chat with me - your background, what’s missing where you are now, and whether this is genuinely the right shape of role for you.
• TestGorilla assessment - technical plus a DISC profile, so they understand how you work.
• Technical conversation with the IT Manager.
• Office visit. Meet the team, see the place, decide if it feels right.

Interested?

Send me your CV or just message me and we’ll talk it through. I’m happy to answer questions before you commit to anything, including telling you who the client is.

Helen Wingrove-Sanders