Research Cloud Services Lead Engineer

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.

Overview of Role -

As a Research Cloud Services Lead Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in supporting and leading the day-to-day running and development of the university’s Research cloud-based services, which are to be delivered to a high standard and in accordance with defined service level agreements.

You will utilise your expertise in DevOps practices and Microsoft Azure technologies to lead the design and deployment of Research based services into the Cloud. From there, the role includes proactive management and maintenance of these services and appropriate response to operational incidents and service requests.

You will look for opportunities to continually improve services, standards, and processes, ensuring the university has appropriate and available Research Cloud Services to support its ongoing needs.

You will also support the Research Cloud Services Manager with regards to the delivery of new services into the Cloud, as well as continual refinement of deployment processes.

Some travel will be required for meetings to King’s College London, predominantly between King’s Service Centre, Cornwall, and university campuses in London.

Accountabilities -

Key Responsibilities:

• Responsible for leading the design, deployment, maintenance and support of Azure based research services within a Service Management framework and in line with the agreed university standards and Service Levels.
• Responsible for developing/implementing Azure DevOps best practices.
• Responsible for identifying, designing, and building CI/CD pipelines to improve the efficiency of software delivery for Research based services.
• Responsible for providing subject matter expert (SME) guidance, technological change, training, and support on Microsoft Cloud technologies, fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous learning and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Responsible for creating/reviewing comprehensive technical documentation (high-level designs; architectural statements; standard operating manuals (SOM)).
• Responsible for leading and complying with the security, resilience, backup, and monitoring standards/policies.
• Represent Research Cloud Services in Change Advisory Board meetings, daily and weekly Service Review meetings.
• Responsible for identifying and undertaking Service Improvements.
• Responsible for working closely with the other teams within IT to provide an excellent IT Service.
• Responsible for contributing to proposed solutions to ensure they are fit for purpose and provide optimal value for money.
• Responsible for responding to customer improvement activity.

Key Objectives:

• To deliver Research Cloud services in line with the agreed service levels.
• To ensure all Research Cloud services are maintained to the correct architectural and technical best practice specifications.
• Be a stakeholder in determining whether a new release, affecting a service in production, is ready for promotion.
• Contribute to the delivery of updates or solutions to the Research Cloud Services environment.
• Possess a detailed understanding for all King’s College London’s Research Cloud services and the associated platforms/infrastructure.
• To operate in line with the College IT Operating Model and Values and to promote these within the Research Platform Services Team.
• To contribute to the Research Cloud Services service/product roadmap.
• To assist the Research Cloud Services manager to deliver & prioritise the product backlog for new releases to our customers.
• To drive operational excellence across Research Cloud Services.

Communication & networking:

• Develop and maintain collaborative and inclusive relationships with peers, key College stakeholders, management, and colleagues.
• Develop and maintain good morale within the Research Cloud Services Team.
• Utilise effective communication skills to ensure that opportunities for service improvement, issues and impediments to success are clearly understood by the Research Cloud Services Manager.

Decision making, planning & problem solving:

• To develop and continually improve the college Research Cloud services.
• To deliver statistical information about Research Cloud services leading to improved services.
• Ensure the root cause of all Research Cloud services P1, P2 and escalated incidents are obtained for the services you support and actively seek to eliminate such root causes through a practice of continuous improvement.
• Identify and aid the implementation of service improvements for the Research Cloud services that optimise costs, resources and service delivered.

Architectural and service delivery:

• Adhere to a best practice Service Management and Architectural framework (ITIL)
• Ensure that user experience and satisfaction is at the forefront of all activities.
• Drive customer satisfaction to over 90% and ensure SLA attainment is consistently above minimum requirements for the Research Platform services.
• Keep abreast of changing trends and market developments of current and future technologies.
• Identify new Research Cloud service technologies that can provide benefit to the College.

Key skills and experience required -

(E) – Essential

(D) – Desirable

• Experience of designing, deploying and maintaining Azure based services, ideally via Azure DevOps (E)
• Proven ability to write technical documentation (High/Low Level Designs, Runbooks, How to Guides) (E)
• Experience of supporting, maintaining, and developing Windows & Linux OS environments & applications within Azure (i.e. WAMP/LAMP) (E)
• Experience of maintaining and developing cloud-based solutions adhering to OWASP developer best practices (E)
• Experience of the following languages/middleware (Asp.Net, Python, PHP, Apache) (E)
• Experience of managing SQL (Azure DB, Managed SQL, MS SQL & MySQL) databases (E)
• Experience of designing and building solutions to meet customer requirements (E)
• Experience of supporting 3rd party applications and maintaining appropriate lifecycle management (E)
• Excellent troubleshooting skills and knowledge of problem resolution methodologies (E)
• Experience of working with ITIL based Service processes and functions including Service Desk and Service Process Managers (E)
• Experience of working with enterprise scale applications, infrastructure, and software (E)
• Knowledge of IT Security protocols, processes, policies, and standards (E)
• Experience of managing small projects (E)
• Willingness to update professional knowledge and a commitment to continuous improvement (E)
• Ability to identify and manage priorities (E)
• Excellent written and oral communication skills (E)
• Excellent relationship and interpersonal skills (E)
• Demonstrated flexibility and positive attitude towards the support of technical services in a fast-paced environment with inherent risks and several stakeholders with differing views of success (E)
• Experience with Microsoft EntraID and associated components such as Group Policy & DNS (D)
• Experience in operational IT planning and execution (D)
• Experience and knowledge of supporting technical solutions in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment (D)
• Good knowledge of industry technical standards (D)
• Experience working in an Agile environment to deliver service improvement (D)
• Good knowledge of PowerShell scripting, JSON and ARM templating. (D)
• Experience of supporting University faculties & schools in all aspects of IT support (D)
• AZ 104 Certified (D)
• AZ 204/400 Certified (D)
• ITIL v3/4 Qualification (Foundation Minimum) (D)
• Education to degree standard and/or equivalent qualifications/experience (D)

Equality, diversity and inclusion -

We are an inclusive and welcoming employer that encourages a wide range of applicants. We embrace diversity and want everyone to be able to bring their whole selves to work and succeed.

This is in line with KCL.

Flexible Working Requests -

For all our roles we are open to discussing the possibility of part time work, reduced hours, hybrid working and flexible start and finish times. Unfortunately, we cannot promise to agree to your original request, but we do promise not to judge you for asking and to consider the possibility.

Employee Benefits -

• Hybrid Working - Minimum of 5 days per month in the office
• 10% Performance related bonus
• 30 days holiday and a maximum of 8 public holidays (pro-rata) this includes 2 Wellbeing days per year.
• Sick pay
• 4 Discretionary Christmas Closure Days
• Contributory pension scheme
• Income protection scheme
• Life Assurance cover
• Service time - 3 Volunteer days per year
• Free onsite parking & Bike racks
• Annual leave purchase scheme - up to a maximum of 10 days (subject to national minimum wage requirements)
• BHN Extra Discounts
• CycleScheme
• TechScheme
• Opportunities for formal training and professional certification
• Free access to Linkedin Learning
• Free access to Future Learn short courses
• Potential for internal promotion and advancement