Senior Infrastructure Engineer (Windows & Virtualisation)

Applicant Portal

:

Job Details: Senior Infrastructure Engineer (Windows & Virtualisation)

Full details of the job.

Vacancy Name Senior Infrastructure Engineer (Windows & Virtualisation) Vacancy No VN971 Function Syn - Delivery & Operations Work Location One St Peter's Square, Manchester, M2 3DE Basis Permanent Full Time/Part Time Full time Employment Duration - Hours Per Week 35.00 Drivers Licence Required No Benefits Competitive Salary and Benefits package will be provided to the successful candidate. About the Role

Position Overview

As a Senior Infrastructure Engineer (Windows & Virtualisation) at Synapse360, you are the operational backbone of managed services delivery across Windows Server and VMware platforms.

You will own the end-to-end patching lifecycle for Windows Server estates — approximately 1,290 servers across 14 physical locations — deployed via WSUS/SCCM, as well as Azure VM patching via Azure Update Manager. You will manage and remediate Veeam Backup & Replication operations, Azure Backup and ASR, implement standard and normal changes across both cloud and on-premises platforms, and handle escalations from the Infrastructure team.

This is a demanding, hands-on engineering role requiring strong proficiency across Microsoft Azure, VMware vSphere, Windows Server, and enterprise backup technologies.

You will participate in the weekly on-call rota and must be capable of independently resolving P2 incidents and supporting the Infrastructure Lead during P1 major incident response.

What We Expect

• Minimum of 5–7 years of experience in enterprise infrastructure engineering, ideally within managed services or a multi-customer MSP environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of large-scale Windows patching programmes, including scheduling, deployment, validation, remediation, and compliance reporting.
• Hands-on experience with Veeam Backup & Replication — including job management, repository monitoring, SureBackup validation, and restore operations.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Azure — specifically VM management, Azure Update Manager, Azure Backup, Recovery Services Vaults, NSG/UDR configuration, and basic Azure networking.
• Strong VMware vSphere skills — VM lifecycle management, snapshot operations, resource pool management, and basic vCenter troubleshooting.
• Experience with Windows Server (2016–2022) at an intermediate to advanced level, including Active Directory, Group Policy, clustering, and performance troubleshooting.
• Experience with HPE ProLiant servers and iLO remote management.
• Willingness to participate in a 1-in-5 weekly on-call rotation providing 24×7 P1 incident response.
  
  

Areas of Responsibility

• Patching: Own the monthly patching cycle for Windows servers across 14 physical locations. Deploy patches via WSUS/SCCM. Manage patch scheduling, pre-patch snapshots, deployment waves, post-patch validation, and remediation. Achieve >95% patching compliance SLA. Manage Azure Update Manager policies for the Windows Azure estate — configure maintenance windows, deploy OS-level patches, validate compliance, and remediate failures. Manage base image updates (weekly or on-demand for critical patches).
• Backup Management: Manage Veeam Backup & Replication operations — remediate failed backup jobs, monitor repository capacity, manage backup copy jobs, perform restore testing, and maintain backup policies. Target >98% backup success rate. Manage Azure Backup policies, monitor Recovery Services Vaults, perform restore testing, and maintain ASR replication health. Support DR runbook execution and ASR test failover exercises (biannual).
• VM Lifecycle Management: Provision, configure, snapshot, resize, and decommission virtual machines on both Azure (IaaS) and VMware vSphere. Manage VM templates and ensure compliance with customer standards.
• HPE Server Administration: Manage HPE ProLiant servers (Gen 7–10) via iLO. Perform firmware updates using SPP, coordinate break-fix with HPE support, and manage Smart Array configurations.
• SQL VM Support: Perform SQL VM patching, OS-level maintenance, and basic SQL health monitoring. Coordinate with application teams for maintenance windows.
• Change Management: Prepare and implement standard and normal RFCs. Document changes fully including risk assessment, rollback procedures, and post-implementation reviews. Attend weekly CAB as required.
• T1 Escalation Handling: Receive and resolve incidents escalated by T1 engineers. Provide guidance and knowledge transfer to T1 team members.
• ServiceNow & Reporting: Maintain accurate ticket records, contribute to SLA reporting, and ensure all work is logged against the correct customer and category.
  
  

On-Call Commitment

This role participates in a shared five-person weekly on-call rotation. Each engineer is primary on-call for one week in every five. During on-call periods, you are expected to respond to P1 critical alerts within 15 minutes (24×7), independently resolve P2 incidents, and support the Infrastructure Lead during major incident response. On-call compensation is provided in line with Synapse360's standard on-call policy.

Ideal Candidate Characteristics

Important Attributes

• Patching Ownership: You are the patching authority for Windows and VMware estates. Full lifecycle ownership — scheduling, risk assessment, deployment, validation, remediation, and compliance reporting. Patching is a critical SLA metric (>95% compliance) and must be treated as a controlled change.
• Multi-Platform Proficiency: You must be equally comfortable working in Azure Portal/CLI and VMware vCenter. The role demands daily context-switching between cloud and on-premises environments. Strong understanding of Windows Server operating systems is essential.
• Backup Operations: Beyond daily validation, you own the remediation of failed Veeam jobs, Azure Backup failures, and ASR replication issues. You must understand backup architectures well enough to troubleshoot repository capacity, proxy performance, and policy misconfigurations.
• Change Management Discipline: You will prepare and implement standard and normal RFCs, ensuring full documentation, risk assessment, rollback plans, and post-implementation validation. You will attend and present at the weekly CAB as required.
  
  

Escalation Handling: You are the escalation point for T1 engineers. You must be able to receive a partially triaged incident and drive it to resolution without unnecessary re-escalation to Infrastructure Lead.

Experience

Required Technical Skills & Experience Technology Area Required Skill Level Azure VMs / Azure Networking Proficient — VM lifecycle, NSGs, UDRs, Load Balancers, VPN Gateways Azure Update Manager Proficient — policy configuration, maintenance windows, compliance reporting Azure Backup / ASR Proficient — policy management, restore testing, replication monitoring VMware vSphere (7/8) Proficient — VM management, resource pools, DRS/HA, basic troubleshooting Veeam Backup & Replication Proficient — job management, repository monitoring, SureBackup, restore operations Windows Server (2016–2022) Proficient — AD, GPO, clustering, performance troubleshooting, certificate services WSUS / SCCM Proficient — patch deployment, compliance reporting, server group management HPE ProLiant / iLO Proficient — firmware updates (SPP), remote management, Smart Array configuration FortiGate Firewalls Awareness to Proficient — rule review, basic rule changes, logging review Azure Sentinel Awareness — alert review, basic investigation ServiceNow Proficient — incident, change, and request management PowerShell Proficient — scripting for automation, health checks, reporting Networking (TCP/IP, VLANs, DNS) Proficient — troubleshooting, VLAN configuration, DNS resolution ITIL Processes Proficient — incident, change, problem, and release management Desirable Skills

• VMware VSAN health monitoring and basic troubleshooting
• VMware NSX awareness (security groups, firewall rules)
• Dell VxRail awareness (cluster health monitoring via VxRail Manager)
• HPE MSA 2050 SAN awareness (volume monitoring, basic administration)
• Azure Arc for hybrid server governance
• SQL Server administration basics (Always On availability groups, backup strategies)
• Dell OpenManage Enterprise familiarity
• Experience with LogicMonitor advanced configuration (custom datasources, escalation chains)
  
  

Education

Qualifications

Required:

• Microsoft AZ-104 (Azure Administrator Associate) or equivalent demonstrated Azure experience
  
  

Desirable:

• VMware VCP-DCV (Data Center Virtualisation) or equivalent
• Veeam VMCE (Veeam Certified Engineer)
• CompTIA Security+ or equivalent security awareness certification
  
  

Close Date 12 Jul 2026

Please click here to read and review our Privacy Policy.