Senior Server Specialist
Job Description
Job summary
Job overview
The South Devon Health Informatics Service is seeking a Senior Server Specialist for an 18 month period to cover the secondment of an existing member of staff into another role.
The Senior Server Specialist is responsible for developing, managing and maintaining the Trusts server Infrastructure and providing third line technical support through the service desk.
The role also has responsibility for supporting the Server Specialist roles in their technical duties and personal development.
Please note this role has a requirement to participate in a weekly on-call rota, providing 24/7 emergency support for Torbay and South Devon and the wider healthcare community. If you have any queries around this on-call requirement, please get in touch with Damion Dishart (damion.dishart@nhs.net).
Main duties of the job
Main duties of the job
- Ensure design and delivery of robust and reliable IT services which meet clinical needs, and which comply with defined service levels.
- Assist the Server & Cloud Infrastructure Lead in the installation, management, configuration, and technical support of the Server environment.
- Undertake the build, configuration, documentation and integration of new server components as part of the stakeholder's ongoing technology expansion.
- Ensure the availability and effective performance of the server infrastructure.
- Identify, recommend and implement changes to server infrastructure systems to improve capacity and performance and address potential security risks as agreed with internal teams and stakeholders.
- Provide high quality technical support as required, to all users connected to the customer's IT environment using diagnostic tools and fault finding techniques to identify root causes.
- Repair infrastructure faults where feasible or to recommend appropriate solutions acknowledging and describing the implications for the customer and for internal HIS teams.
- Undertake the management and contribute to the planning, scheduling and implementation of IT Projects to enable the HIS to meet the business requirements of its customer organisations.
- Support the Server Specialists and IT Apprentices in their technical and personal development.
See the job description for further details.
About us
The Server Team is a 7-person team in the IT Operations department, responsible for the development, deployment, maintenance and day-to-day running of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust's server, storage and back-up infrastructure.
We also provide services to the wider health community in the South Devon area.
We are a dynamic team, who share responsibility for all our functions. We encourage our staff to develop their skills and look to improve the service that is provided.
We are a self-motivated and caring team who are flexible and promote a healthy work/home life balance.
Why work with us
Job responsibilities
Detailed job description and responsibilities
Communication and Working Relationships
- Build productive working relationships with stakeholders such as clinicians, customer organisations, other technical or non-technical teams, other NHS organisations and suppliers.
- Maintain effective communication within and between teams, reinforced by timely and professional documentation.
Planning and Organisation
- Plan work tasks efficiently and employ effective time management.
- Organise conflicting priorities within own workload.
- Ensure effective scheduling and deployment of resources including scheduling the teams activities.
Responsibility and Accountability
- Responsible for development, operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of the server and datacentre infrastructure.
- Accountable to Server & Cloud Infrastructure Lead, IT Section Managers, IT Operations Manager and HIS Director.
- Take accountability to external parties where necessary, for example project stakeholders, external customers such as the CCG/GP practices and be accountable for the service quality delivered by the Server Team.
Policy and Service Responsibility
- The development and review of policies relevant to server and datacentre operations, with input from other stakeholders where appropriate (e.g. Information Governance).
- Take responsibility for delivering services to contractual SLAs.
- Ensure services are delivered in compliance with established standards such as ITIL Service Management.
Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources
- Responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of the datacentre environment.
- Contribute to the design and purchasing of IT systems including full lifecycle procurement activities for hardware, software and service contracts where necessary.
Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership and Management
- Supervise the activities of the Server Specialists including performing regular performance and development reviews.
- To provide support and training to Server Specialists and other HIS staff in order to develop their infrastructure support skills and knowledge.
- Required to act as champion for certain systems/technologies, develop detailed knowledge and cascade to wider team.
Information Technology and Administrative Duties
- Extensive use of common IT products & technologies for office productivity tasks.
- Display the highest levels of technical proficiency in server and datacentre operations.
- Organise and manage meetings, producing appropriate documentation to professional standards.
- Maintain documentation and systems within the department.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to a minimum of degree level or relevant equivalent experience
- To have or be working towards a relevant technical certification e.g. Microsoft Certified Software Administrator or VMware Certified Professional
- Full UK driving licence
Desirable
- Prince II / Agile Foundation
- ITIL v4 Foundation
- ILM Level 3
- VMware Datacentre & Virtualisation Professional 2024 (VCP-DCV)
Knowledge
Essential
- In-depth knowledge of all aspects of server hardware and software, including layered products and networking
- In-depth knowledge of the Windows Server Operating System (Windows 2016+)
- In-depth knowledge of VMware vSphere 7 environment
- In-depth knowledge of Active Directory
- Experience of working with fibre channel networks (including NVMe over fabric) and connected systems
- Experience of working with iSCSI storage networks
- Working within a highly technical secure network
- Ability to interpret infrastructure plans and customers' needs in order to identify appropriate technological solutions and contribute to strategic planning
- Ability to monitor the performance and capacity of the server infrastructure and undertake activities to secure and enhance the availability of services
- Ability to apply effective backup and security procedures
- Ability to use diagnostic tools to undertake fault finding on infrastructure services
- Ability to carry out modifications to correct faults
- Ability to identify risks to services or opportunities to improve service performance
- Ability to maintain documentation in accordance with established procedures
- Ability to build and configure infrastructure components
Desirable
- Knowledge of Brocade FC switches
- Proven experience in line managing and developing technical personnel
- Experience of managing Linux servers
Skills
Essential
- Experience managing complex computing environments across multi-protocol networks within a multi-disciplinary team
- Excellent organisational ability and good interpersonal and motivational skills
- Presentation skills
- Good reporting skills
Desirable
- Substantial, proven experience working in an IT infrastructure / operations role
- Substantial, proven experience within ICT service delivery
- Proven experience of NHS systems, organisational structures and culture
Requirements due to work environment/conditions
Essential
- Extended periods of concentration
- Ability to deal with frequent interruptions
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