Softwire
Head of Infrastructure, Security & Service Desk
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Head of Infrastructure, Security & Service Desk
About Softwire
Softwire is a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy. From enterprise to government, we help visionary organisations turn strategic ambitions into results at scale. Our practices cover AI transformation, data platforms, systems engineering advanced CX and experience design.
Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market-leading.
And it seems to be working - We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.
A big part of this is our culture and values and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:
- That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly
- That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun
- That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike
- That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules
Team leadership & people management
- Lead, manage, and develop a team of engineers, fostering a collaborative, high-trust, and accountable team culture
- Plan and prioritise the team’s workload, assigning work appropriately based on priority, complexity, and individual development needs
- Mentor and coach team members, supporting their technical growth and career development through regular one-to-ones, feedback, and objective-setting
- Act as the senior point of escalation for the team, providing technical guidance
- Own resourcing, capacity planning, and the balance between project work and business-as-usual operations
- Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, representing the team and its priorities across the business
- Build and maintain documentation, standards, and ways of working that allow the team to operate consistently and at pace
- Own and manage the first-line support service desk, ensuring colleagues receive timely, high-quality support and that requests and incidents are logged, triaged, and resolved against agreed service levels (SLAs)
Technical responsibilities
You will be supported by a Senior Internal Infrastructure Engineer and a team of Service Desk and Infrastructure Engineers and will have overall accountability for the following areas
Service desk & end-user support:
- Run the first-line support service desk, overseeing ticket logging, triage, prioritisation, and resolution against agreed SLAs, and driving continuous improvement of the end-user support experience
- Own the technical onboarding of new joiners, including provisioning and configuration of accounts, devices, and access in line with role requirements, so new starters are productive from day one
- Own the offboarding of leavers, ensuring prompt revocation of access, recovery and secure wiping of devices, and decommissioning of accounts, working in coordination with HR and the identity and access management process
- Maintain end-user documentation, self-service guidance, and a knowledge base to deflect repeat issues and support consistent, efficient resolution
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Endpoint & device security:
- Manage endpoint security across all corporate devices, including antivirus, EDR tooling, device encryption, and mobile device management (MDM), ensuring consistent policy enforcement and prompt response to endpoint threats
Identity & access management:
- Own identity and access management (IAM) across internal systems, including joiners, movers, and leavers processes, role-based access control, privileged access management (PAM), and periodic access reviews
Network security:
- Design, implement, and maintain network security controls, including firewalls, network segmentation, VPN, and intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS)
Patch & vulnerability management:
- Manage patch management processes across all internal systems, infrastructure, and devices, ensuring vulnerabilities are remediated within risk-based timeframes and in line with organisational policy
- Identify, assess, and remediate vulnerabilities across internal infrastructure through regular scanning, prioritisation, and tracking to resolution
Secure configuration & hardening:
- Ensure secure configuration of servers, cloud infrastructure, and network devices in accordance with recognised hardening standards (e.g. CIS Benchmarks)
- Ensure all hosted applications are hardened against attack by keeping patching up to date, enforcing least-privilege access, and putting controls in place to identify and respond to malicious activity
Resilience: backups & disaster recovery:
- Manage backup processes for internal systems, ensuring backups are performed, tested, and recoverable, and that retention aligns with business and regulatory requirements
- Maintain and regularly test Disaster Recovery (DR) documentation and runbooks, ensuring recovery objectives (RTO/RPO) are defined, understood, and achievable
Monitoring & incident response:
- Implement and manage logging and monitoring across internal systems, ensuring security events are captured, alerted on, and investigated in a timely manner
- Lead the technical response to internal security incidents, including containment, eradication, and recovery, ensuring root cause analysis and corrective actions are completed following any significant event
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Compliance, audit & reporting:
- Ensure internal infrastructure and systems comply with organisational security policies, standards, and applicable regulatory requirements
- Report on the status of internal security controls, vulnerabilities, and incidents to the CISO, escalating material risks as required
- Support external audits (e.g. ISO 27001, client audits) where internal infrastructure is in scope
- Own the Cyber Essentials Plus certification process, coordinating the annual self-assessment and verified external audit
Experience and qualifications
Essential:
- Proven experience leading or managing a technical team, including workload allocation, mentoring, and performance development
- Experience managing a service desk or first-line support function, including SLA management, ticket triage, and end-user onboarding and offboarding
- Strong hands-on background in IT infrastructure and security across the areas listed above (endpoints, IAM, networking, patching, hardening, backup/DR, monitoring, and incident response)
- Practical experience securing and managing cloud infrastructure as well as on-premises systems
- Working knowledge of recognised security frameworks and standards (e.g. ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus)
- Experience leading or coordinating security incident response end-to-end
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical risk clearly to both technical teams and senior stakeholders
- Sound judgement around risk prioritisation and remediation in a business context
Desirable:
- Relevant certifications (e.g. CISSP, CISM, security or cloud platform certifications)
- Familiarity with scripting / automation to improve operational efficiency
Package
Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance
- Base salary is based on experience in role and ranges from £92,100-£120,600
- You can expect to receive an average of between £15,000 & £25,250 in profit share depending on your experience and company performance.
- Pension: Additional 5% of salary
Additional benefits
- 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)
- 3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities
- AIG income protection
- Travel card loan scheme
- Zero emission car scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Enhanced maternity/paternity pay
- Time off for charitable activities
- Sabbatical available on request
- Payroll charity donations
- Headspace plus
- Free annual eye test
- Long service awards
- Flexible working options and patterns
(Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)
(Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)
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