Network Support Engineer

Location Newcastle-under-Lyme
Discipline: Network Engineering
Job type: Permanent
Salary: £up to 45k per annum depending on skills and experience

A national charity located in Newcastle-under-Lyme is seeking a Network Support Engineer to be part of their team on a permanent basis.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Established in 2000, the organisation is a national charity that works to transform the lives of disabled children and their families, enabling them to challenge the barriers they face throughout childhood by providing practical and emotional support. The Charity is going through an exciting period of growth having recently opened a new state-of-the-art facility for multi-disciplinary therapy programmes for childhood disability and research of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, within the grounds of Keele University. It provides a state-of-the-art base for the Charity’s therapies and an environment where ground-breaking research can be undertaken, potentially changing the way some disabilities are treated, affecting millions of people around the world. This is a fantastic and exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and fast moving Charity at a time when it will attract national and international attention. 

ABOUT THE ROLE

They are looking to expand their IT department and now need a Network Support Engineer to join their team due to ongoing projects and growth. This is an exciting opportunity to take the lead on IT technical queries and provide advanced IT support and maintenance to all users across the Charity. To be suitable for this role you must be experienced and comfortable working in a technical and hands-on role supporting a constantly evolving IT infrastructure. It is essential you are self-motivated, enthusiastic, and adaptable when working on your own and when working in a team.

The successful candidate must be well-versed in networking and server technologies and hold relevant qualifications (CCNA & MCSE) to be able to support the business effectively. You will be providing a mixture of preventative support as well as integration activity around Windows Server environment, Networking and more, as well as providing desktop and phone support to all staff across the organisation. You will tackle challenging, unique situations every day and work with other functions and employees within the organisation. You will be looked upon as a subject matter expert and advocate on making reliable technical decisions around the network infrastructure. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Install, back-up, manage, monitor and update all network switches, wireless access points, firewalls and server & computer systems to meet the organisation's current and future requirements.

  • Monitor infrastructure systems and identify performance issues proactively.

  • Work within strict time frames and elevate incidents within defined timeframes.

  • Test all changes to networks, hardware, software, and hosted applications.

  • Cater to doing infrastructure coordination related to design and setup activities at different stages of a project.

  • Work with various vendors and service providers to ensure productive environment.

  • Maintain the necessary project plans and documentation of all system builds and modifications.

  • Maintain a good working knowledge of current infrastructure and future trends.

Person Specification

  • DBS Check is a requirement for this role.

Essential Criteria:

  • Extensive networking experience including VLANs, segregation, switches, stacked switches, firewalls and WIFI.

  • CCNA network certification.

  • Solid technical background in a WINTEL environment including infrastructure networks, hardware, software and telecommunications.

  • Knowledge of Microsoft Active Directory, DNS, DHCP.

  • Office 365, Azure AD, MABS / MAR, Cloud Migration

  • Virtualisation experience using Hyper-V

  • Perform daily infrastructure checks to proactively monitor, log, troubleshoot and resolve issues.

  • Proactive ability to identify trends in order to elevate incidents in accordance with standard protocols.

  • Ability to work in a team environment.

  • Enthusiastic, can-do attitude to provide good working relationships with colleagues.

  • Good analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills.

  • Good attention to detail, testing and documentation.

  • Ability to maintain good working relationships with third-party service providers and vendors. 

Desirable Criteria:

  • Microsoft MCSE.

  • Experience of working in the Charity/Third Sector would be advantageous.

  • Experience of working in CQC/ISO regulated organisations would also be advantageous.

  • Occasional UK travel may be required.

  • Flexibility to meet the needs of the business may be required.

  • A general knowledge of Health & Safety regulations would be advantageous. 

Schedule

  • 8 hour shift

  • Day shift

  • Monday to Friday (37.5 hours per week)

BENEFITS

  • Flexible start and finish times (in-line with policy)

  • Purpose built neurodiversity friendly building

  • Good work-life balance

  • Health and wellbeing initiatives

  • Free on-site exercise classes

  • Walking and running groups

  • A collaborative working environment

  • Casual dress code for non-client facing roles

  • Opportunities for volunteering

  • Opportunities for training and development

  • Support with professional CPD

  • Employee awards

  • Volunteer awards

  • Attendance and timekeeping awards

  • Welcome gifts for new starters

  • Long service awards

  • Occupational sick pay after qualifying period

  • Employee Assistance Programme

  • Reimbursement for eye tests and contribution towards frames

  • Free on-site parking

  • Free charge points for electric car

  • Above statutory minimum holidays (increasing with length of service)

  • Social events

  • Quarterly circle days

  • Fancy dress days

  • Recommend a friend scheme

  • Workplace pension scheme

  • Christmas party and gift boxes

  • Christmas shut down

  • Free tea and coffee