Job Description

The role

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Within the University our IT Services department is currently on an exciting journey. Our mission is to positively impact the University by empowering our people to provide expertise, innovative solutions and sustainable digital services as a world-class Digital Services Partner. As part of this, we have a vacancy for a Head of Digital Infrastructure.





In this position you will be responsible for advancing the Enterprise Infrastructure Platform portfolio for the University and provide an effective digital-first strategy, roadmap and support service to meet the demands of the business.





Our portfolio is diverse and delivered through traditional and hybrid-cloud deployment models and includes many business-critical applications across education, research and shared business services. You will report to senior leadership on the status and performance of the entire Digital Infrastructure portfolio, assess the capability of current systems and emerging technologies to continuously improve the portfolio and advise the business effectively.





The successful candidate will build, lead and develop a skilled team, support them in their day-to-day operational work and support their career development. They will ensure that resources are effectively managed and planned, leveraging infrastructure as a code (IaaC) and end-to-end automation practices and providing technical leadership to projects and change. The successful candidate will leverage strategic supplier partnerships to deliver Digital Services where appropriate, ensuring services are delivered in line with their contractual obligations and meeting the requirements of the University.

What will you be doing?

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Defining and executing the Infrastructure Platform portfolio strategy as part of the overall IT Operations strategy. This includes the vision for how digital services will drive positive student experiences, foster greater collaboration and better support learning, teaching and research. Acting as the initial point of contact for best practice on Digital Infrastructure. Providing technical architectural expertise, direction, advice and inspiration to your team and others. Staying abreast of emerging technologies and standards to ensure the delivery of robust, secure and performant Digital Infrastructure services to the business. Developing investment plans and operating budgets for the enterprise infrastructure portfolio that reduces technical debt and increases innovation and speed to market. Formulating IT policies, processes and Service Level Agreements relating to Infrastructure Platforms in conjunction with the IT Operations Director. Ensuring up to date Production Systems Architecture diagrams and Support Models exist for each infrastructure platform within the portfolio alongside standard IT Technical documentation deliverables throughout the system life cycle. Planning and providing resources and expertise to support the delivery of larger infrastructure projects and programmes. Developing and maintaining a consistent approach to modern enterprise infrastructure architecture standards that emphasise continuous integration and continuous delivery. Maintaining the enterprise Digital Infrastructure portfolio risk register, pro-actively mitigating and/or escalating risks to the IT Operations Director as required. Driving maturity assessments and improvements across the Digital Infrastructure function.

You should apply if

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Significant experience leading large-scale traditional and hybrid-cloud infrastructure engineering functions; compute, storage, network, unified communications, databases, middleware, vSphere, VMware Cloud Foundation, Kubernetes containers, M365, end user computing / edge services and manage print functions. Extensive experience of working as an infrastructure lead in traditional and/or hybrid-cloud environments. Demonstrable experience in developing and embedding sound practices for enterprise infrastructure, automation, high availability and beyond metro disaster tolerance. Technical knowledge of enterprise infrastructure platforms in both on premise and externally hosted solutions. A strategic mindset, with the ability to define and sell a vision and bring others on the journey. Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage, influence and motivate teams in the successful delivery of complex continuous improvement. Good understanding of technology trends and how to apply game changing innovations to deliver positive outcomes for the business. Extensive experience of managing a complex and distributed IT function, including balancing priorities, scheduling, and forward planning of work and resources to meet supply and demand. Ability to explain complex technical issues to both a technical and non-technical audience for small and large audiences. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including proven report writing skills. Extensive experience in an ITIL aligned service delivery. Ability to multi-task and prioritise effectively, strong sense of urgency.




Benefits of working for the University include-


32 days of annual leave per year (plus bank holidays) Automatic entry to an extremely generous pension scheme Hybrid working environment Inclusive culture, valuing the diversity of thought, beliefs and background

Additional information

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For informal queries please contact Steve Edginton -

IT Operations

Director - steve.edginton@bristol.ac.uk

This advert will close

at

23:59 UK time

on Monday 28th July 2025.

Our strategy and mission

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We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision and values.

The University of Bristol aims to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an

inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential.

We want

to attract, develop, and retain individuals

with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives - particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people - because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.


JOB NUMBER

SUPP112347

CONTRACT TYPE/WORK PATTERN

Open ended / Full time

POSTING END DATE

28 Jul 2025

FACULTY/DIVISION

IT Services

SALARY

73,795 - 87,151 per annum