Job Title: Network Support Engineer (Intermediate)
Location: Dublin 1, Ireland (Hybrid working Model – 2-3 days per week onsite)
Start Date: Mid-October
Contract Duration: This is a full-time contract position for an
initial period of 35 weeks (approximately 173 working days).
Subject
to business requirements and contract extension, the engagement may be extended
to 46 weeks (approximately 230 working days).
Role
Overview:
The
organisation is seeking an experienced Infrastructure, Network & Azure
Consultant to provide specialist technical capability and operational
resilience within the ICT Infrastructure & Networks function.
The
primary purpose of the role is to reduce the organisation's current dependency
on a limited number of infrastructure specialists and provide additional
capability across Azure, VMware, Windows Server, networking, infrastructure
security, backup/recovery and hybrid infrastructure.
The
consultant will work alongside existing ICT staff to:
- Provide operational cover and
technical support for critical infrastructure services.
- Reduce key-person and
single-point-of-failure risks.
- Support the operation and
development of the organisation's Azure and hybrid infrastructure.
- Provide specialist technical
expertise for complex incidents and infrastructure changes.
- Improve infrastructure
documentation and operational procedures.
- Transfer knowledge and
capability to ICT staff.
- Identify infrastructure risks,
dependencies and opportunities for improvement.
- Support the transition towards
the organisation's future ICT Target Operating Model.
The role is therefore both operational and developmental, with a
strong emphasis on resilience, knowledge transfer and sustainable capability
Scope of Services
The
successful consultant will be expected to provide services across the following
areas.
A.
Azure Infrastructure
Provide technical
support and advice covering:
- Azure Virtual Machines.
- Azure networking.
- Azure storage.
- Azure Backup and recovery.
- Azure monitoring.
- Azure security configuration.
- Azure resource management.
- Azure identity and access
dependencies.
- Azure hybrid connectivity.
- Infrastructure performance and
optimisation.
- Azure architecture and
resilience.
- Azure cost and resource
optimisation where appropriate.
The
consultant should be capable of diagnosing complex Azure infrastructure issues
and recommending appropriate solutions.
B.
VMware and On-Premises Infrastructure
Provide specialist
support for the existing on-premises infrastructure environment, including:
- VMware infrastructure.
- Windows Server.
- Virtual machines.
- Active Directory and related
infrastructure services.
- DNS/DHCP and core
infrastructure services.
- Server performance and
capacity.
- Storage infrastructure.
- Backup and recovery.
- Infrastructure monitoring.
The
consultant will be expected to support the transition and appropriate
integration between on-premises and Azure environments.
C.
Network Infrastructure
Provide technical
support and expertise covering:
- LAN/WAN infrastructure.
- Routing and switching.
- Firewalls and network security.
- VPN and remote connectivity.
- Network segmentation.
- Wireless infrastructure where
applicable.
- Network monitoring and
troubleshooting.
- Network resilience and
redundancy.
- Performance and capacity
analysis.
The
consultant should be capable of investigating complex network incidents and
working with third-party network/service providers where required.
3. Operational Support
The consultant will
provide additional technical capacity for the operation of ICT infrastructure
services.
This may include:
- Investigating and resolving
complex infrastructure incidents.
- Supporting service restoration.
- Troubleshooting infrastructure
failures.
- Supporting planned maintenance.
- Supporting patching and
infrastructure upgrades.
- Monitoring infrastructure
health.
- Supporting backup and recovery
activities.
- Assisting with infrastructure
changes.
- Providing technical escalation
support.
- Supporting major incidents
where infrastructure expertise is required.
The
consultant will work within the organisation's existing IT service
management, change management, incident management and security processes.
4. Infrastructure Resilience and Risk Reduction
A key objective of
the engagement is to reduce infrastructure operational risk.
The consultant
will:
- Identify critical
infrastructure dependencies.
- Identify single points of
failure.
- Assess infrastructure
resilience.
- Identify undocumented or poorly
documented infrastructure components.
- Review operational processes.
- Identify areas of technical
debt.
- Recommend improvements to
resilience and recoverability.
- Support implementation of
agreed improvements where appropriate.
Particular
attention should be given to reducing the organisation's reliance on individual
staff members for critical technical knowledge.
5. Documentation and Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge transfer
is a mandatory requirement of the engagement.
The consultant will
be expected to work collaboratively with ICT staff and not operate as an
isolated technical resource.
The consultant
will:
- Review existing infrastructure
documentation.
- Update inaccurate or incomplete
documentation.
- Create missing documentation
for critical infrastructure.
- Document infrastructure
architecture and dependencies.
- Develop operational runbooks.
- Document key administrative
procedures.
- Document troubleshooting and
recovery procedures.
- Conduct structured
knowledge-transfer sessions.
- Demonstrate critical procedures
to relevant ICT staff.
- Ensure knowledge is transferred
before completion of the engagement.
Documentation
should be maintained in the organisation's approved documentation repositories
and in formats that can be maintained by ICT staff after the consultancy ends.
6. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
The consultant will
support the review and improvement of infrastructure recovery capability,
including:
- Identification of critical
infrastructure services.
- Review of backup arrangements.
- Review of recovery procedures.
- Identification of recovery
dependencies.
- Support for disaster recovery
testing.
- Identification of gaps in
recovery capability.
- Recommendations for improving
infrastructure resilience.
- Documentation of recovery
procedures.
7. Cyber Security
The consultant will
work closely with the ICT cyber-security function and relevant managed service
providers to ensure infrastructure is operated securely.
Activities may
include:
- Infrastructure security
hardening.
- Patch management support.
- Vulnerability remediation.
- Secure configuration.
- Privileged access
considerations.
- Network security.
- Azure security configuration.
- Support for cyber-security
remediation activities.
- Support for investigation of
infrastructure-related security events.
The
consultant will be expected to operate in accordance with the organisation's
security policies and applicable regulatory requirements.
8. Project and Change Support
The consultant may
be required to provide infrastructure expertise to ICT projects and programmes.
This may include:
- Infrastructure design.
- Technical assessment.
- Solution implementation.
- Migration activities.
- Azure deployments.
- Network changes.
- Server migrations.
- System upgrades.
- Production deployment support.
- Technical testing.
- Troubleshooting during
implementation.
- Post-implementation support.
The consultant will
coordinate changes through the organisation's established change-management
processes.
9. Future ICT Operating Model
The consultant may
also be required to provide technical input into the development of the future
ICT operating model.
This could include
providing an assessment of:
- Current infrastructure
capability.
- Technical skills and capacity.
- Infrastructure support
requirements.
- Azure capability requirements.
- Network capability
requirements.
- Opportunities for automation.
- Opportunities for managed
services.
- Internal versus external
capability.
- Future skills requirements.
- Infrastructure service
management requirements.
The consultant will
not determine the future organisational structure but will provide objective
technical evidence and recommendations to inform the ICT Review and Target
Operating Model
Requirements
Mandatory Requirements (Pass / Fail): Candidates MUST meet ALL of the
following:
Experience: It
is a mandatory requirement, that the resources proposed has the equivalent of
grade level 2 (Intermediate)
Availability: Must be
available to start from Mid-October 2026.
Qualifications: It
is a mandatory requirement, that the Resources proposed hold the following
qualifications or equivalents:
Essential
- Azure infrastructure
administration and architecture.
- VMware administration.
- Windows Server administration.
- Enterprise networking.
- LAN/WAN technologies.
- Firewalls and network security.
- Active Directory.
- Virtualisation.
- Backup and disaster recovery.
- Infrastructure monitoring.
- Troubleshooting complex
infrastructure incidents.
- Hybrid cloud environments.
- Infrastructure security.
- Change and incident management.
- Technical documentation.
- Knowledge transfer.
Desirable
Experience with:
- Azure Arc.
- Azure Site Recovery.
- Microsoft Entra ID.
- Microsoft Intune.
- Microsoft Defender.
- PowerShell.
- Infrastructure automation.
- Azure Monitor.
- Microsoft 365.
- Enterprise backup platforms.
- Network monitoring platforms.
- ITIL/service management
environments.
English
Language Proficiency (MANDATORY):
- Native English speaker OR
- CEFR C2 Proficiency/Mastery (or
equivalent)
- If there is no certificate,
fluency will be assessed at presentation stage
Key Deliverable:
The following non-exhaustive list of Key Deliverables,
are applicable to this Role.
1. Infrastructure
current-state assessment.
2. Infrastructure
risk and dependency assessment.
3. Azure environment
documentation.
4. Network
infrastructure documentation.
5. VMware/on-premises
infrastructure documentation.
6. Infrastructure
architecture and dependency maps.
7. Operational
runbooks and procedures.
8. Backup and
recovery documentation.
9. Disaster recovery
recommendations.
10. Knowledge-transfer
programme.
11. Infrastructure
resilience improvement plan.
12. Identification of
technical debt and improvement opportunities.
13. Recommendations
for future infrastructure capability.
14. End-of-engagement
handover and transition report.
The precise deliverables and priorities will be agreed
at mobilisation based on the organisation's existing environment and immediate
operational requirements.
Expected Outcomes
At the conclusion of the engagement, the organisation
should have:
Reduced operational risk
The dependency on a single infrastructure resource
should be materially reduced.
Improved knowledge resilience
Critical infrastructure knowledge should be
distributed across the ICT team rather than concentrated with one individual.
Improved documentation
Critical infrastructure, dependencies and operational
procedures should be documented and accessible.
Improved Azure capability
The organisation should have greater understanding,
resilience and operational capability across its Azure environment.
Improved infrastructure resilience
Identified infrastructure risks and single points of
failure should have been assessed and, where practicable, addressed.
Improved recovery capability
Critical infrastructure recovery procedures should be
documented and tested where appropriate.
The successful supplier must demonstrate how the
proposed consultant will reduce key-person dependency and leave a sustainable
increase in organisational capability. Knowledge transfer, documentation and
handover are therefore core deliverables of this engagement and not optional
additional services.
Key
Experience/Competencies/Skillsets:
The following Experience/Competencies/Skillsets are
applicable to this Role.
The consultant should demonstrate substantial
practical experience in:
· (Networking): Experience managing enterprise routing, switching, and
firewall infrastructures. (200 marks)
· (Infrastructure): Proven experience administering enterprise Windows
infrastructure, storage arrays, and directory services (Active Directory /
Entra ID). (200 marks)
· (Azure Cloud): Experience of configuring and troubleshooting
cloud-native environments, specifically Azure Virtual Networks (VNets),
Hub-Spoke topologies, ExpressRoute/VPN Gateways, and Azure Network (300
marks)
Essential
· Azure infrastructure administration and architecture.
· VMware administration.
· Windows Server administration.
· Enterprise networking.
· LAN/WAN technologies.
· Firewalls and network security.
· Active Directory.
· Virtualisation.
· Backup and disaster recovery.
· Infrastructure monitoring.
· Troubleshooting complex infrastructure incidents.
· Hybrid cloud environments.
· Infrastructure security.
· Change and incident management.
· Technical documentation.
· Knowledge transfer.
Desirable
Experience with:
· Azure Arc.
· Azure Site Recovery.
· Microsoft Entra ID.
· Microsoft Intune.
· Microsoft Defender.
· PowerShell.
· Infrastructure automation.
· Azure Monitor.
· Microsoft 365.
· Enterprise backup platforms.
· Network monitoring platforms.
· ITIL/service management environments.
· Public-sector or regulated environments.
· NIS2/security compliance requirements.
Required Professional Experience
The consultant should have:
· At least 5 years' relevant professional experience in infrastructure
engineering/consultancy, preferably in complex enterprise environments.
· Demonstrable experience managing hybrid Azure/on-premises environments.
· Demonstrable experience supporting enterprise networks.
· Experience resolving complex infrastructure incidents.
· Experience designing or implementing infrastructure improvements.
· Experience documenting complex technical environments.
