Senior IT Infrastructure Lead

📢Full Job Description: Senior IT Infrastructure Lead (May to need be accessed via Desktop or our Careers website: https://www.ardent-management.com/current-vacancies )📢

Role: Senior IT Infrastructure Lead

📍 Location: Birmingham

⏰ Full Time - Permanent

🏢 Division: Digital

💼 Salary: Competitive

About Us:

Ardent is the UK’s leading provider of land, consent management, and stakeholder engagement services, supporting major infrastructure and regeneration projects from concept to delivery. We are passionate about delivering life-improving change for communities and future generations.

Role Purpose:

As a Senior IT Infrastructure Lead the role will involve owning and managing Ardent's technology infrastructure and ensuring the seamless operation of our co-managed toolset. You will act as the technical gatekeeper for changes, approve or reject MSP-proposed changes, and verify MSP performance on the toolset. The role requires you to manage vendor and licensing relationships and ensure the security, resilience, and scalability of infrastructure services. You will be responsible for designing, implementing, and continually improving enterprise infrastructure platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, virtual environments, storage, servers, and network services.

Key Responsibilities:

• Technical Authority: Act as Ardent’s senior internal technical authority for infrastructure, cloud, identity, security, networking, backup, disaster recovery, and core technology services.
• Infrastructure Management: Design, implement, manage, support, and continually improve enterprise infrastructure platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, virtual environments, storage, servers, network services, and cloud resources.
• Security & Resilience: Ensure infrastructure services remain secure, resilient, scalable, supportable, and aligned to business requirements, technical standards, and future-state architecture principles.
• Lifecycle & Planning: Own and maintain infrastructure lifecycle plans, technology refresh roadmaps, capacity planning, storage and licence forecasting, and annual infrastructure budget inputs.
• Microsoft 365 & Identity: Act as technical owner for Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, licensing optimisation, and service configuration standards. Administer and govern Entra ID, Active Directory, Conditional Access, MFA, role-based access controls, identity governance, privileged access, and identity security controls.
• Co-Managed Platforms: Hold, safeguard, and periodically test Ardent’s top-level administrative access to co-managed platforms. Verify MSP performance and manage vendor and licensing relationships.
• Network Management: Manage firewalls, network infrastructure, secure connectivity, SD-WAN, VPN, Wi-Fi, WAN services, DNS changes, and network monitoring. Troubleshoot complex network issues and review proposed network changes.
• Backup & Recovery: Own backup, recovery, and disaster recovery arrangements, including backup monitoring, restore testing, DR documentation, RPO/RTO targets, recovery procedures, technical runbooks, and business continuity testing support.
• Incident Management: Act as the highest internal technical escalation point for complex incidents, major incidents, problem investigations, and supplier escalations. Lead P1 incidents and security incidents, coordinating internal teams, MSP resources, vendors, and independent security support.
• Supplier & Vendor Management: Provide technical oversight of MSPs, vendors, and third-party suppliers, including validation of technical recommendations and review of contractual performance. Manage toolset vendor relationships and licensing activity

Skills & Competencies:

• 5+ years in infrastructure engineering, including significant time at the 3rd line level.
• Deep hands-on Microsoft 365 and Azure/Entra ID administration, including conditional access, Intune, and tenancy security.
• Strong networking knowledge: firewalls, switching, Wi-Fi, DNS/DHCP, VPN/remote access.
• Hands-on experience administering an RMM platform and an EDR/endpoint protection platform.
• Experience with backup platforms and demonstrable involvement in restoration testing/DR exercises.
• PowerShell scripting for administration and automation.
• Experience operating formal change control and privileged access management in a production environment.
• Experience managing or working within an outsourced/MSP arrangement — ideally on the client side of a co-managed model.
• Strong commercial judgement: able to scope, challenge, and validate professional services work and invoices.
• Vendor and licensing management experience.

Desirable:

• ITIL v4 Foundation certification.
• Microsoft certifications (e.g., AZ-104, MS-102, SC-300).
• Security certifications (e.g., Security+, CISMP) or SIEM/SOC exposure.
• Experience holding a technical lead role in an MSP transition or re-tender.

Pay Range and Compensation Package:

✨ Hybrid working

✨ 25 days of annual leave (with options to buy or carry over)

✨ Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

✨ Company pension scheme

✨ Benenden Health Care (mental health support, 24/7 GP services, physiotherapy, optical and dental cover, personal accident protection)

✨ Cycle to Work scheme, electric car leasing, recognition awards, long service leave, discretionary annual bonus scheme

Equal Opportunity Statement:

🌈 We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer, and we’re passionate about creating a workplace where you’re empowered to bring your authentic self to work every day. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive team where everyone belongs. We welcome talent from all backgrounds and actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups.

🚀 If you’re ready to grow with a business that’s scaling rapidly and making a real impact, you’re in the right place!