Infrastructure Manager

Great Places Infrastructure Manager will lead the Infrastructure team within IT Operations. With responsibility for direct reports, this is a key leadership role responsible for supporting the delivery, maintenance and continual improvement of a modern, secure and resilient infrastructure platform that enables colleagues to work effectively across the organisation. Great Places has a cloud-first approach and has already completed significant migration to Azure, Office 365 and SharePoint Online. Colleagues are equipped to work effectively across different locations, and the organisation continues to adopt proven modern technologies that improve service, resilience, security and colleague experience.

Our Infrastructure Manager works closely with the Head of IT Operations and wider operational team, including Service Desk, Cyber Security, alongside other internal and external stakeholders.  Our Infrastructure Manager will help ensure that Great Places’ infrastructure services are well managed, well documented, cost effective, secure, monitored and continually improved. The role combines people leadership, technical oversight, project delivery, service improvement, operational support and governance. 

What you’ll be doing

• Lead, manage, mentor and develop the Infrastructure team, setting clear priorities, building capability and creating a supportive environment where colleagues can take ownership and grow their technical skills.
• Work closely with the Head of IT Operations, Service Delivery Manager, Cyber Security Lead and wider Technology Services managers to provide joined-up operational leadership and consistent service outcomes.
• Own the day-to-day health, resilience, security and cost effectiveness of Great Places’ infrastructure services, ensuring platforms are well maintained, monitored and fit for purpose.
• Oversee core infrastructure operations including monitoring, alert response, backups, patching, maintenance, capacity, availability and continual service improvement.
• Lead infrastructure input into projects and new system delivery, working with suppliers, project teams and internal stakeholders to implement standardised, supportable solutions with minimal business disruption.
• Provide strong change management leadership, ensuring infrastructure changes are well planned, documented, risk assessed, communicated and delivered in line with service management expectations.
• Act as a senior technical escalation point for infrastructure incidents, guiding the team through investigation and resolution while ensuring the Service Delivery Manager has timely information for business communications.
• Work with Cyber Security to support secure configuration, vulnerability remediation, security monitoring, audit activity and reduction of operational risk.
• Manage and improve cloud-first services across Azure, Microsoft 365, Intune and related platforms, balancing resilience, performance, usability, security and cost.
• Support network services across Great Places sites and schemes, including Fortinet and Cisco Meraki technologies, ensuring connectivity is reliable, secure and well supported.
• Ensure new and existing infrastructure services are clearly documented, governed and delivered in a standardised way to support maintenance, knowledge sharing, audit readiness and effective handover.
• Support supplier management, cost control, contract awareness, FinOps thinking, audit activity and delivery of the IT Strategy through practical, well governed infrastructure improvements.

What you will need

• Proven experience leading an infrastructure function or team within a complex operational environment.
• Strong people management skills, with the ability to coach, mentor, develop and hold technical colleagues accountable while maintaining a positive team culture.
• Good understanding of ITIL methodology and service management principles, including incident, problem, change, request and continual improvement practices.
• Experience managing Microsoft cloud services, particularly Azure, Microsoft 365, Intune, identity, endpoint management and associated administration or governance processes.
• Strong knowledge of infrastructure operations, including networking, identity, endpoints, monitoring, backup, patching, resilience, disaster recovery and service continuity.
• Ability to lead technical incidents calmly and effectively, balancing investigation, escalation, communication, business impact and timely resolution.
• Ability to work confidently with suppliers, partners and stakeholders at both technical and non-technical levels, translating complex issues into clear, practical actions.
• Awareness of cyber security, operational risk, vulnerability remediation, secure configuration and audit-ready service delivery.
• Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting capability, supported by strong organisational, documentation, verbal and written communication skills.
• Commitment to maintaining accurate documentation, standardised delivery approaches and well controlled change to support reliable long-term service management.
• Awareness of budget management, supplier value, cost control, cloud cost optimisation and continual service improvement.

What we will need from you

• Visible, supportive leadership and a strong service focus.
• Ownership, accountability and attention to operational detail.
• A calm and structured approach to incidents, pressure and business-critical change.
• Commitment to documentation, governance, audit readiness and continual improvement. 
• Experience with CrowdStrike, PRTG, Freshservice, Fortinet and Cisco Meraki.
• Experience with Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, automation, scripting or Infrastructure as Code.
• Understanding of FinOps, cloud cost optimisation, disaster recovery, backup or resilience planning.
• Experience of supporting audits, supplier reviews, contract management or service improvement activity.
• Relevant Microsoft, networking, cyber security, project management or service management certifications.
• A commitment to understand the challenges and opportunities that exist in the communities in which we work. We particularly value lived experience in social housing
• A passion to advocate on behalf of people and communities
• A commitment to work in partnership with others for the benefit of Great Places
• A commitment to continuous learning and improvement
• Ability to work flexibly and when needed

What we give you in return for your hard work and commitment

• Pension ¦ DC scheme (up to 10% contribution from both colleagues and Great Places)
• WPA ¦ Healthcare scheme starts at no contribution level with £1250 of savings available per year (option to increase & add family members)
• Ways of Working¦ We offer some hybrid and flexible working
• Annual leave ¦Start at 26 days annual leave, increasing up to 30 days within 5 years + Bank Holidays
• Reward & Recognition ¦You Count Rewards are individual reward’s for going ‘above & beyond’  
• Professional fees ¦ The business pays the cost of one professional role related membership fee for each colleague
• The Market Place ¦high street, restaurant & supermarket discounts, gym memberships, cycle to work, smart tech loans and much more
• Wage Stream ¦ You can access savings opportunities and early access to wages
• Health and Wellbeing Initiatives ¦ Our colleagues enjoy wellbeing campaigns throughout the year, with activities designed around our four pillars of wellbeing, these include career wellbeing, mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing and financial wellbeing

At Great Places we believe the wellbeing of our colleagues is vital to enable them to deliver to great services, all your benefits can be used inside and outside of work.

INDMED

Great Places Housing Group exists to improve the lives of the people living in our 25,000 homes across the North West and Yorkshire. We are much more than just a landlord, providing a wide-range of services and promoting partnership work to create vibrant, sustainable communities.

You can find details of our story, our vision and our values here.

At Great Places, we are committed to using inclusive hiring practices. By embracing diversity and difference, we enrich our teams with varied perspectives, drive, and innovation to create an environment in which everyone can thrive.  We welcome applications from people of all identities, backgrounds, and cultures and are committed to fostering an environment in which everyone can be their authentic self; building a workforce that truly reflects the diverse communities we serve.

We want to create a recruitment process that allows you to perform at your best! Should you need any support or information throughout the process, please reach out to our recruitment team at recruitment@greatplaces.org.uk.