Job summary
- Main area
- IM&T
- Grade
- Band 8b
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 205-7401389
- Employer
- University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Royal Stoke University Hospital
- Town
- Stoke on Trent
- Salary
- £64,455 - £74,896 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 25/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Head of Network Infrastructure
Band 8b
Job overview
The Head of Network Infrastructure has responsibility for all Network infrastructure operations , ensuring the operational integrity of the Network and Telephony services whether delivered in-house or via service providers.
The Head of Network Infrastructure is a hands-on technical / management role - fully involved throughout transition and service delivery. The role acts as a technical point of escalation for all aspects of Network technical IT infrastructure environment.
Main duties of the job
The IT infrastructure Manager is responsible for;
· Managing the delivery of highly available, resilient and secure Network/Telephony IT services
· Leading and developing a highly skilled multidisciplinary Network/Telephony IT team ,
· Developing and establishing IT Network infrastructure standards and procedures seeking formal independent external accreditation where possible.
· The analysis, design, deployment, and operations of network software, hardware, networking and cloud computing systems supporting the business
The ideal candidate must have both leadership and technical skills to effectively and efficiently manage Network/telephony Infrastructure technologies and team.
Working for our organisation
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust is one of the largest and most modern in the country. Based across two sites, Royal Stoke in Stoke-on-Trent and County Hospital in Stafford, we are proud to serve around three million people and we're highly regarded for our facilities, teaching and research. We are the specialist centre for major trauma for the North Midlands and North Wales.
All of our employees make a valuable contribution regardless of role here at UHNM and we are proud of our wide range of development packages aimed at ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their true potential.
UHNM create and encourage a culture of inclusion, providing equal opportunities for career development that are fair and transparent. We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer and foster a culture in which all staff feel valued and respected. In return we ask all of our employees to make a commitment to the values, co-created by or staff, patients and carers, and that unite us as a Trust.
At University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust we know that investing in, supporting and developing our staff has a direct impact on the quality of care that we deliver. Our employees are as important as our patients and the population that we serve.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
-
- To provide support and training to Network/Telephony Infrastructure Engineers and other I.T staff in order to develop their Network/Telephony infrastructure support skills and knowledge
· To lead the Network/Telephony Infrastructure Engineers to carry out infrastructure tasks as well as co-ordinate project resource, develop training programmes, recruitment, disciplinary and appraisal processes as required..
· Liaise appropriately with external product suppliers and contractors, and with other NHS and Social Care organisations, departments and divisions to ensure that needs are met and that technological solutions are appropriately matched to current and planned Network/Telephony infrastructure plans and IT strategies.
· Lead Technical relationships with key Technical Stakeholders, communicating highly complex technical issues ensuring they are kept informed and consulted about future longterm technical strategy and developments. Engaging with non IM&T Technical teams to ensure their future direction is included in the ICT Services technical strategy.
· Responsibility for the entire Network and Telephony infrastructure and associated monitoring of the systems that report on performance, accessibility and availability that provides the foundation technology of the trust-wide and departmental systems.
· Responsible for delivering complex technical projects with an organisational impact including developing and implementing test plans, effective document management, appropriate policies such as Internet Usage, network security and release plans with User and Support Acceptance.
· To work collaboratively with the IM&T Senior Management team to ensure all services are integrated at the point of delivery and at the strategic planning level.
· Use persuasion and negotiation skills to gain agreement where multiple options exist.
· Formulates the infrastructure longterm technology strategy and IT architectural principals and communicate the vision for innovation, and the development of infrastructure tools that underpin the reliability, security, availability and effectiveness of the Network/Telephony infrastructure estate.
· Maintains a current view of the Network/Telephony IM&T infrastructure and able to articulate this at all levels.
· Oversee the troubleshooting of any complex Network/Telephony problems that require systematic changes to resolve.
· Negotiate with service owners on service issues and fixes, negotiating downtime where required, explaining the need for downtime and ultimately persuading the owners to agree.
· Negotiate with customers/service owners regarding schedule of downtime for maintenance of servers and applications.
· Provide 3rd line support for all Network/Telephony related calls – ensuring a means of escalation is available at all times
· Analyses highly complex data that demonstrates organizational systems performance from the multiple Network/Telephony infrastructure, and use of appropriate tools to act in a proactive manner to minimise any impact to services.
· Incident lifecycle management including incident allocation and monitoring.
· Analyse highly complex sets of results, information, feedback and situations and makes decisive and informed decisions for the benefit of IM&T and the wider organisation as a whole.
· Identifies when others with more specialist knowledge are required to inform to ensure the best decision is made, takes overall accountability and responsibility for making the decision.
· Evaluate Network/Telephony infrastructure focused projects from a technical standpoint, ensuring that the approach used is based on best practice and is in line with the Trusts architectural principals.
· Provide extensive specialist knowledge to assist direct reports and colleagues with Trust wide system related issues and determining fixes and necessary workarounds.
· Imparts specialist knowledge of Network/Telephony infrastructure technical design including (although not exhaustive) firewall management, network services, Network cyber security, performance monitoring to inform standard operating procedures for the Network/Telephony infrastructure team that underpins the foundation technology for the organisation
· Identify the requirements to facilitate the establishment of new strategic service provider partnerships that would aid the delivery of IM&T services.
· Interpret business requirements from users and ensure that benefits are realised from the implementation of supporting technology.
· Advises on projects and issue resolutions using own judgment that assesses risk of impact, technical solutions, resource, impact to the business, timescale and cost.
· Analyses the performance of own team and identifies areas for improvement and puts in place actions plans or develop longterm strategies to improve overall performance.
· Liaise with the IM&T managers to ensure staffing requirements are met to provide the service.
· To lead on core Network/Telephony IT Projects from inception to completion ensuring that any technical requirements are met and project plans are created.
· Work with third party suppliers to implement both new solutions and updates to current applications.
· Supervision of a geographically dispersed team.
· Ensure that the organisations core infrastructure meets the quality and availability needs of the organisation and that infrastructure change is planned and co-ordinated with the relevant stakeholders.
· Assist with the formulation of long term strategic IM&T plans.
· Accountable for the allocation of work with the IM&T Network/Telephony Infrastructure team ensuring that all work is undertaken in a timely manner.
· Highlight exceptions and risks ensuring any mitigating action can be taken to keep projects on track.
· Provide business continuity for the Infrastructure team – both in terms of systems but also personnel and skill distribution.
· Accountable for changes made to the Network/Telephony infrastructure, ensuring that changes are made in the appropriate manor, going through a clear change management process.
· Accountable for developing and maintaining configuration and inventory management systems
· Actively performing problem management, finding solutions and workarounds to known problems and escalating where appropriate.
· Ensure new policies, processes and procedures are documented and then implemented.
· Responsible for ensuring all technical standards and procedures are rigidly adhered to and are common across all sites utilising ITIL best practice, policies and procedures.
· Assist the IM&T Senior management team with managing change within the department.
· Stay abreast of local and national IT strategies and advise on developments within the technology and health sector.
· Contribute to the process of risk management within the department.
· Work toward compliance with all relevant legislation and regulation
· Assist in the overall organisation, planning and control of the Network/Telephony Infrastructure to ensure cost effective service provision and the continuing achievement of value for money.
· Ensure that all infrastructure assets are managed and compliant to any defined standards and those records are up to date in order to support effective change management.
· Liaise with suppliers in the specification and procurement of hardware, upgrades and incidentals.
· Assist with the delivery of Cost Improvement Programmes (CIP).
· The post holder will have overall responsibility for the management and leadership of the Network/Telephony infrastructure Team
· Undertake formal appraisals in line with Trust policy and to access training as identified in appraisal and in the generation of a Personal Development Plan.
· Ensure all their staff are working to their required level of technical competence, developing staff to attain competence as highlighted at appraisal.
· Ensure a culture of teaching and learning is in place.
· Undertake and organise staff training and personal development
· Provide induction to departmental working practices and tools.
· Participate in regular one to one support and supervision sessions and team meetings.
· Accountable for the operation, support and development of existing and future infrastructure focused services
· Responsible for the identification, development and on-going management of new infrastructure technology.
· Work with suppliers to deliver technical solutions appropriate for the department and to meet requirements but flexible enough to cater for new needs in the future.
· Keep up to date with emerging technologies and best practice and share knowledge with direct reports and other teams as appropriate.
· Support and implement changes required for the effective and efficient development of the IM&T Directorate
· Develop a portfolio of Network/Telephony technology services to enable the most efficient use of time, space and money for the organisation including the provision of performance and resilient solutions for our end users
· Be a senior point of escalation for IM&T Technical Infrastructure Issues which are raised and provides upwards advice to Senior Management
· Accountable for the overall journey into service of all new Network/Telephony solutions ensuring that robust, repeatable and referenced documentation is produced in accordance with good practice.
· Budget management of Operational infrastructure
Person specification
Q,KST
Essential criteria
- • Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert CCIE or CCNA/CCNP with 10 years or more experience working on large mission critical enterprise networks.
- • Computer Science related Degree or equivalent experience
- • Network Infrastructure Design: Designing and implementing complex Cisco network architecture including WAN, LAN, and IP telephony systems
- • Network deployment and configuration: Deploying, configuring, and managing Cisco networking equipment such as routers, switches, and NG Firewalls to ensure optimal performance and security.
- • Experience of clinical practices and working within specialist environments.
- • Produce and deliver high quality documentation and network diagrams
- • Management and monitoring of large enterprise Wi-Fi network services to provide optimal performance
- • Network troubleshooting: Diagnosing and resolving network issues, performing root cause analysis, and implementing corrective actions to minimise downtime and ensure network stability.
- • Experience of working with public cloud service providers Azure or AWS
- • Team Leadership and Mentoring: Providing technical guidance and mentorship to Network/Telephony engineers and support to Senior Engineers.
- • Experience of being responsible for financial or physical assets.
- • Positive mindset in respect of supporting organisational change; learning, and continuous improvement.
- • Effective interpersonal and intrapersonal skills including high degree of self-awareness and self- regulation.
- • Takes responsibility and is accountable for delivering to agree objectives.
- • Consistently professional, collaborative, and compassionate in their approach.
- • Acts to support and enable effective teamwork.
- • Delivers work of consistent and predictable high quality,
- • There is a frequent requirement for prolonged concentration when facilitating.
- • Emotional effort: the post holder will at times be exposed to distressing and emotional circumstances.
- • Ability to travel to and work across multiple sites.
Desirable criteria
- • Cisco (CCCA) Certified or other recognised cyber security certification (CISSP)
- • Evidence of continuing professional development, either academic (e.g. MSc) or in an industry standard qualification (e.g. MSCD).
Technical
Essential criteria
- Telephony System Management: Managing and maintaining telephony systems such as Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), Call Manager and VOIP technologies, to ensure reliable and efficient communication services, using QoS enable networks.
- • Network deployment and configuration: Deploying, configuring and managing Cisco networking equipment such as routers, switches and firewalls to ensure optimal performance and security.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- David Tudor
- Job title
- Head of Service Delivery & AI
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07500 064622
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