The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business. With over 285 staff based across our London, Oxford, Wolverhampton and German offices we publish over 300 distinctive, engaging, accessible new books each year, and have nearly 3000 titles in print. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling That’s not my… series to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Holly Bourne – with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between.

The Department

Usborne’s IT Department is essential to the operation and growth of the company and is responsible for designing and maintaining the company’s IT Business system and infrastructure and for providing efficient support to our internal clients at all our sites. You will be joining the team at an important time as we are in the midst of a digital transformation programme, implementing digital solutions that will drive our business forward. 

The Role

Working as part of a small team of technology professionals and reporting to the IT Manager, the IT Systems Engineer is responsible for the smooth running of the IT, network, cloud and in-house infrastructure, business systems, cyber-security and the timely provision of support to all of our users.

Responsibilities

• To setup and manage the Azure and AWS infrastructure, including AzureAD, VMs, virtual networks, etc.

• To manage Microsoft 365 and the Enterprise Mobility and Security E5 capabilities

• To ensure all aspects of the IT services are monitored and appropriate alerting mechanisms have been setup, and to be responsible for the monitoring and coordination of the response to alerts.

• To provide fault troubleshooting and resolution for assigned incidents within a timely manner, ensuring incidents are updated in the current IT service management tool.

• Provide end-user support, managing and respond to IT requests from staff via our ServiceDesk system

• Perform system installation, configuration, management, patching and monitoring of hardware and software (cloud, on-premises, SaaS)

• Administration and monitoring of all company infrastructure, including Cloud, Networks, Wi-Fi, storage, endpoints, AV equipment, applications, event logs, etc.

• Management of Intune, SharePoint, cloud telephony and Microsoft Teams

• Provide technical assistance to support business projects

• Produce and maintain operational and technical documentation for systems and software

• Ensure security, backup, and redundancy processes are always fully operational

• Liaise with vendors, 3rd parties, and other IT personnel for problem resolution

• Be able to travel to and work from any of our other sites (currently Oxford and Wolverhampton) when required and to work flexibly outside of core work hours when required.

Skills

Teamwork and good communication are essential for this role as well as being a fast learner and adaptable team member. 

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a similar role using Microsoft technologies

• Must have excellent experience managing Azure and/or AWS infrastructure, VMs, vnets, etc.

• Self-motivated person with the ability to work with tickets and triage support cases with external partners.

• Good Experience managing and supporting: MS O365, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, MS Intune, MS Active Directory, AzureAD, SSO

• Adept in Windows 10 deployment, configuration, Patching and Trouble shooting

• Experience and knowledge of IT infrastructure (Cloud, Network, Wi-Fi, Cyber-security)

• In depth experience of network security, security tools and best practices

• Working Knowledge of networks, TCP/IP, VPN, VLANS, Firewall, DNS, DHCP including LAN, WAN and Wireless networks

• Experience creating run books and documentation

• Hands on experience with root cause analysis of technical issues and capable to problem solve whilst managing multiple tasks in a busy IT department

• Ability to demonstrate working knowledge of the ITIL framework

Desirable skills

The skills below are not essential for the role, however, they would be an advantage for the candidate

• Good working knowledge of any of the following: PowerApps, Power Automate, PowerBI, Adobe Creative Cloud, Mimecast, Auth0, Cloudflare or Zscaler

• Experience supporting integrations between platforms SSO/SAML, Azure AD/Amazon IAM

• Experience of managing network monitoring tools (i.e. PRTG, Nagios or similar)

• Relevant Microsoft certifications MCP/MCSA/MCSE

• Prior Implementation experience of ERP (SAP B1/MS Dynamics), CRM, Digital Asset Management systems would be an advantage

• Prior experience of ISO 27001 or Cyber-Essentials plus

Location and Benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from our Farringdon offices in London with flexibility on some working from home after a successful induction period.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits including:

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement plus bank holidays increasing with service

• Healthcare Scheme for you and your dependents

• Comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme

• 50% Discount on Company Books 

• Industry leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance

We particularly encourage applications from Black and minority ethnic candidates who are currently under-represented within this area.