Infrastructure Analyst – Platforms

The role:
At Simmons & Simmons LLP, our staff and our clients are at the forefront of everything we do. To continue to build on this foundation and to promote our successful data strategy, we are recruiting a talented and experienced Infrastructure Analyst to join our team. They will be responsible for deploying product updates, identifying production issues and implementing cloud integrations to meet our needs.

What will you do:
Infrastructure Development and Maintenance

• Building and setting up new development tools and infrastructure.
• Planning of technical infrastructure projects and being involved in project management decisions.
• Perform ongoing performance tuning, hardware upgrades, and resource optimization as required. Configure CPU, memory, and disk partitions as required; maintain cloud environmental and monitoring resources.
• Contribute to the maintenance, support and optimisation of Simmons & Simmons Global IT infrastructure and non-application systems to agreed targets (SLA, OLA or others).
• Participate in the design, implementation and management of workload automation initiatives.

Cloud Solutions and Automation

• Build, deploy, maintain and lead the implementation of cloud solutions across the public cloud offering using infrastructure as a code (IAC) CI/CD pipeline and Bicep code deployment.
• Develop, enhance, and maintain automation of cloud enablement tools.
• Implement and refine cloud future state architectures and roadmaps including architecture standards, guidelines, and industry best practices.

Security and Compliance

• Ensuring that systems are safe and secure against cybersecurity threats.
• Collaborate with internal network team, security team and CISO to ensure security posture is well maintained and remains complainant.
• Adhere to firm Change Management, Problem Management policies.
• Identify, suggest and action any continual improvements, enhancement and benefits towards our cloud technologies.

Problem Solving and Issue Resolution

• Identifying technical problems and developing software updates and 'fixes'.
• Recognize and resolve all business issues and impact.
• Assess urgency of issues and facilitate follow-up and resolution accordingly including service quality initiatives to support a "five nines" product availability environment.
• Solve complex technical information system problems to ensure information system integrity and performance according to agreed levels.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

• Working with technical architects, application developers and Cloud SMEs to understand their needs and ensure that development follows established processes and works as intended.
• Contribute to the delivery of 24x7x365 technical support of the Simmons & Simmons Global IT infrastructure, according to the requirements of the Simmons & Simmons business.

Continuous Improvement and Strategy

• Participate in technology evaluation and reengineering teams to support strategy-definition and continuous process improvement activities.
• Act as a technical project lead around further software defined services and offerings.

What we are looking for:
Experience:

• BSC in Computer Science, Engineering or relative field.
• Experience in an engineering role +2 years (ideally).

General skills:

• As a member of such a dynamic team, you should be an effective communicator and a resilient, resourceful person.
• Ideally conversant with the ideas contained in appropriate best practice processes and documentation frameworks, such as ITIL.
• Demonstrate a logical and analytical mindset, with the flexibility to draw on a mixture of general experience and specific knowledge to tackle the variety of challenges described in the brief.
• The role includes interaction with non-technical users, so requires an ability to relay complex topics in plain English, and with the rigor required in a professional services environment.
• Effective at scheduling and prioritising work, as well as in estimating effort and risk, so that a commitment, once made, is kept.
• You should be self-motivated, have a problem-solving attitude, and a collaborative team spirit.

Application/technical skills:

• Any experience working with Azure virtual networking, including of the following: VNETs, VWAN, Express Route, Virtual Network Gateways, (P2S and S2S), Hub & Spoke Network Topology.
• Good Understanding of Application Gateways, Load Balancer, Azure Firewall and Front Door.
• Good Understanding of Azure Security Principals, including Managed Identities, Key Vaults, Conditional Access and Azure Security Centre.
• Good Knowledge of Azure Compute, Storage, Webapps, Azure Migrate (ASR), Azure Site Recovery and Azure Native and Rubric Backup.
• Any experience of working with any of these: infrastructure as a code, Bicep, Pipelines and Azure Devops.
• Good work knowledge of PowerShell CLI in Azure.
• Knowledge of a range of enterprise IT application technologies, including a demonstrated track record in operating and administering or working with infrastructure applications such: Microsoft Application Stack such as Exchange 365; Active Directory, AD connect, Azure site recovery (ASR) and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
• Experience of working with interdependent services and shared application enablers (such as Active Directory), with a proven ability to identify and manage the dependencies between these components and the end user services they support.
• Evidence of a strongly practical focus, using pragmatic solutions that balance adherence to technical best practice. Experience of working with VMware vSphere, HPE Servers & Storage, upgrades and maintenance.
• Knowledge of data centre technologies, such as virtualisation (VMWare) V2V. Experience of working with a third party IaaS/private cloud provider would be advantageous.
• An understanding of the ITIL framework is desirable.

Other requirements:

• Flexibility and ability/willingness to work out of hours and work overtime, if required, to support the implementation of changes.
• Willingness to work on-call on a rotational basis for out of hours support.
• Willingness to Travel on occasion to other offices within the UK, EMEA and APAC territories.

Career Level:
The career level assigned to this role is level 3. The career level framework provides a formal structure for the business services functions at the firm. The framework, which ranges from level 1 to level 7, clearly defines the responsibilities, skills and competencies required at each level.

Here at Simmons & Simmons:
Simmons & Simmons is a place where dynamic minds thrive. Our culture is built on work that matters, you will work on inspirational and thought-provoking projects, using your influence to create positive impact for our clients, society and the planet. We also ensure that everyone's voice is heard from day one, irrespective of job title, qualification, or background. You'll be encouraged to have an enquiring mind and share ideas that can drive the firm forward. Through innovative learning and development opportunities, you will be provided with a platform to excel, enabling you to exceed your career ambitions and do things you never thought were possible.

Some key information:

• We offer a competitive package including bonuses dependant on role/level, private medical insurance and pension contribution.
• Our global skills academy provides our people, regardless of their role and location, with excellent learning opportunities (including live workshops, podcasts, short videos and practical learning experiences).
• We have adopted a hybrid working approach with a requirement for a minimum of three days in the office with flexibility dependant on role/team/client demands.
• We bring together the best legal advice from our established legal teams with non-traditional capabilities via Simmons & Simmons Solutions that enhance, expand and differentiate the Simmons offering.
• We are proud to rank as a Stonewall Top Global Employer and a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility.
• We have a range of social and sports committees, summer and winter parties and monthly get togethers.
• We have a range of diversity networks to connect people and celebrate our differences which is integral to our inclusive culture.
• All UK offices have their own artwork collections – including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin pieces in the London office. We have a long-standing history in supporting the art community especially up-and-coming artists.
• We have recently introduced a Strategic Advisory Council which is a mix of associates and business services who will propose strategic initiatives that align with our firm's mission and support the delivery of our Business Plan, shaping the future of our next-generation law firm.

Equal opportunities:
We are committed to fostering equality, diversity and inclusion within our firm and to ensuring equal employment opportunities. We believe that this commitment creates a vibrant and rewarding work environment. We are therefore committed to:

• Upholding equal opportunities, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, gender identity, marital status, or pregnancy, including maternity and paternity. This commitment extends to addressing any instances of perceived or associative discrimination and harassment. We also ensure fair treatment during recruitment and selection processes for those who are serving or have served in the armed forces, along with their families.
• Accommodating requests for flexible working arrangements whenever possible. We encourage you to discuss your needs with us if this is something you require.
• Making our roles accessible to individuals with diverse abilities. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know so we can meet your needs.
• We offer a range of employee networks to support our colleagues. More information about these networks can be found in the D&I Information booklet that candidates are sent when invited to interview.

We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. We are looking for individuals who are passionate and eager to learn and grow with us. Your unique experiences and perspectives could be a great addition to our team.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you're interested in finding out more about this position, please contact the Recruitment Team. To apply for the role, click on the link at the bottom of the page or visit our career page for more details.