We’re First Central Insurance & Technology Group (First Central for short), an innovative, market-leading insurance company. We protect the things customers love so they can get on with what matters to them in life.
Data drives us. It fuels our outstanding distribution, finance, technology and legal services. Our underwriting skills are built on data expertise; it creates the insights we need to give the right cover to the right customers at the right price. But, it’s the people inside and outside our business that power us. They make us stand out, help us succeed. We’re ambitious. We’re growing. We’ve won awards.
Fancy a new career in a fast-paced and dynamic workplace? If so, this could be your lucky day! We’re looking for an Infrastructure Lead, to join our technology and data teams.
We’re looking for a strong leader who’ll work as our Infrastructure Lead, leading the delivery of the technology business plans, providing reporting into the Infrastructure Manager to support executive management. Using your strong leadership skills, you’ll lead a team of experienced Infrastructure Engineers and analysts in day-to-day BAU operation, resource coordination and escalations, always ensuring a stable, reliable, secure, and scalable infrastructure environment across the estate. Other aspects of the role include monitoring the health of the environment using tools, alerting capabilities, and supporting key applications.
Working flexibly, you'll spend most of your time working from home, with occasional trips to the office (so living within a commutable distance to Haywards Heath, West Sussex, Salford Quays, Manchester, or Guernsey would be perfect). But of course, it’s your choice - if you prefer to be in the office more - that's good with us too.
We’d love to have you on the team if:
- You have a strong technical infrastructure background including but not limited to; administration of Windows domains and Windows Server technologies, Azure Cloud and data centre infrastructure, network and firewall knowledge and IT security / Cyber controls.
- You enjoy leading teams – possess strong people management skills and thrive on ensuring you get the best out of your team to support their development and ongoing training.
- You have worked within an Operations team in a busy and complex environment.
- You possess experience of Agile ways of working.
- You have Insurance or Financial services industry knowledge; this is highly desirable but not essential.
Making it happen Together.
What’s involved:
- Provide leadership to the infrastructure team, including monitoring of internal KPI's and SLA's, carrying out 121’s and providing input to staff performance reviews, development plans and training requirements.
- Ensure the team provide Infrastructure services in all areas needed: storage, networking, load balancing, Operating System, system security, network security, directory services, server virtualization using system backup and restore, system and network monitoring via SNMP (and others as appropriate).
- Standard system administration duties including server install, System/Application install and patch management, Windows problem determination and resolution, log analysis, etc.
- Manage out of hours upgrades / implementations and testing in conjunction with Business Change, Technology teams and other stakeholders.
- Ensure vulnerabilities, Pen Test / audit findings are managed and resolved within agreed SLA’s.
- Manage the team including providing coaching and support, supporting performance review with the Infrastructure Manager, objective setting etc.
- Promote a team culture and resolving any issues with the support of HR when required.
- Help to create and maintain documentation as it relates to server and network topology, equipment, and configuration(s).
- Participate in the creation, maintenance, testing, and execution of the Disaster Recovery plan.
- Participate in & manage after-hours upgrades, troubleshooting, and/or on-call availability as needed.
- Assist with service level reporting required across the Group applications.
- Provide capacity monitoring & management planning across the Group Application Infrastructure and help the Infrastructure Manager in planning changes to in terms of infrastructure performance & capacity.
- Suggest continuous improvements both to the service delivery processes and the group infrastructure as they become apparent and support the Service Delivery Manager in the execution of their duties.
- Build peer relationships with other key departments.
- Provide management reporting and any other reasonable duties as required.
Experience & knowledge
- Leadership ability to engage employees in a high-pressure environment.
- Excellent understanding and experience of Infrastructure Administration, including Windows, Office 365, and Azure.
- Analytical & problem-solving skills, identifying root causes and offering solutions.
- Good line management and organisation skills.
- Knowledge of service level and operational level agreements & service delivery.
Skills
- Strong technical infrastructure background including but not limited to; administration of Windows domains and Windows Server technologies, Azure Cloud and data centre infrastructure, network and firewall knowledge and IT security / Cyber controls.
- Experience in leading an Operations team in a busy and complex environment.
- Excellent communication skills – interpersonal, verbal and written.
- Experience with Agile ways of working and of the insurance industry preferable.
- Understanding of the Insurance industry preferable
Behaviours
- Strong Leadership, target & results driven.
- Commercially focused.
- Self-motivated and enthusiastic with a flexible approach and positive attitude.
- Calm under pressure.
- Organised and pro-active and demonstrates an attention to detail & accuracy.
- Takes ownership and possesses the confidence to make decisions.
- Ability to work on own initiative and to be collaborative as part of a team.
- A flexible approach and positive attitude.
- Strives to drive business improvements to contribute to the success of the business.
Ambitious team players can make their mark here. Sound like you? You’ll fit right in
What can we do for you?
People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.
Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.
