R&D IT Infrastructure Specialist
2 days ago
Oxford
The R&D IT Infrastructure Manager will be responsible for planning, deploying, operating, and continuously improving IT infrastructure services that support research, engineering, product development, testing, simulation, laboratory, and innovation environments. The role requires a strong blend of infrastructure technology expertise, project execution capability, operational governance, cybersecurity awareness, and stakeholder management to ensure reliable, secure, scalable, and high-performance IT services for R&D teams. • Own the end-to-end management of IT infrastructure services for R&D facilities, including network, compute, storage, backup, collaboration, endpoint, and laboratory IT environments., • Partner with R&D, engineering, product development, manufacturing, cybersecurity, enterprise IT, and external vendors to understand business requirements and translate them into infrastructure solutions., • Lead infrastructure projects for new R&D labs, test environments, engineering workspaces, simulation platforms, and specialized technology zones., • Ensure high availability, performance, reliability, and security of critical infrastructure supporting R&D workloads, design applications, test systems, and engineering data platforms., • Develop and maintain infrastructure roadmaps aligned with R&D growth plans, technology refresh cycles, cybersecurity standards, and business continuity requirements., • Manage IT assets, lifecycle planning, capacity planning, licensing coordination, inventory governance, and infrastructure documentation., • Drive incident, problem, change, and service request management in line with ITIL-aligned practices and internal governance standards., • Coordinate with cybersecurity teams to implement access controls, segmentation, vulnerability remediation, patching, monitoring, and compliance requirements for R&D environments., • Manage vendors, service providers, OEMs, and implementation partners to ensure timely delivery, SLA compliance, cost optimization, and quality of service., • Support audits, risk assessments, compliance reviews, disaster recovery planning, and business continuity testing for R&D IT infrastructure., • Lead continuous improvement initiatives, including automation, monitoring, AIOps, standardization, documentation, and operational excellence., • Mentor and guide infrastructure engineers, support teams, and project resources involved in R&D infrastructure delivery and operations., • Partner with scientific, engineering, and laboratory teams to support the onboarding, integration, and operation of laboratory equipment, instrument control systems, and integration with LIMS and scientific data platforms., • Lead IT infrastructure readiness and handover activities for new laboratories, test facilities, manufacturing pilot environments, and R&D equipment deployments, ensuring infrastructure dependencies are identified and resolved prior to go‑live., • Collaborate with R&D leadership to prioritize infrastructure investments, manage demand, and align infrastructure roadmaps with organizational goals., • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics, Engineering, or a related discipline; master's degree preferred., • 8-10 years of experience in IT infrastructure, site IT operations, technology project management, or enterprise infrastructure delivery., • Minimum 3-5 years of experience managing infrastructure teams, vendors, or cross‑functional technology programs., • Experience supporting R&D, engineering, manufacturing, laboratory, simulation, automotive, battery, electronics, or industrial technology environments is preferred., • Strong knowledge of enterprise networking, data center infrastructure, server and storage platforms, virtualization, cloud services, endpoint management, backup, monitoring, and disaster recovery., • Experience in laboratory commissioning, technology onboarding, operational readiness, and infrastructure deployment within R&D or manufacturing facilities., • Good understanding of cybersecurity principles, network segmentation, identity and access management (IAM), vulnerability remediation, and compliance controls., • Proven ability to manage complex cross‑functional programs involving R&D, Facilities, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Procurement, Enterprise IT, and external partners., • Exposure to ITIL processes, project management methodologies, vendor governance, budgeting, and service delivery frameworks., • Infrastructure architecture and solution design, • R&D and engineering systems support, • Project planning, execution, risk management, and stakeholder communication, • Vendor management, negotiation, and service governance, • IT operations management and service excellence, • Cybersecurity and compliance awareness, • Analytical thinking, problem‑solving, and decision‑making, • Leadership, team development, and cross‑functional collaboration, • Documentation, reporting, and executive communication, • Continuous improvement and automation, • Stakeholder management and commercial leadership, • Infrastructure uptime, availability, and performance against agreed service levels, • On‑time and within‑budget delivery of R&D infrastructure projects, • Reduction in recurring incidents and improvement in mean time to restore service (MTTR), • Compliance with cybersecurity, audit, patching, and vulnerability remediation targets, • Effective capacity planning and technology lifecycle management, • Vendor SLA adherence and service quality improvement, • Stakeholder satisfaction across R&D, engineering, and business teams, • Documentation completeness and operational readiness for new services, • Key Stakeholders, • R&D leadership and engineering teams, • Site IT and Enterprise IT infrastructure teams, • Cybersecurity and compliance teams, • Manufacturing IT/OT teams, • Application owners and product development teams, • Procurement, finance, and vendor management teams, • ITIL Foundation or higher - PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification, • Cisco, Microsoft, VMware, Azure, AWS, or equivalent infrastructure certifications, • Cybersecurity certifications such as ISO 27001, CISSP, CISM, or equivalent exposure #J-18808-Ljbffr