Infrastructure Operations Team Leader

Farrer & Co is synonymous with the highest quality legal advice and service.

We advise individuals, families, businesses, financial services, educational and not-for-profit organisations on every aspect of the law, wherever the need arises. From our offices in London we work with trusted professionals around the world to deliver a seamless international service.

Our clients present us with complex and varied challenges. Whether that's a complicated family trust issue, a multinational corporate transaction, or an emerging threat to their reputation, they need clear thinkers who can advise on the best solutions, fast thinkers when speed is of the essence and agile thinkers who can produce a fresh approach to get the job done. That's why they choose us.

Our clients value our in-depth knowledge, technical excellence and diversity of disciplines. But what really binds our long-standing relationships with them is our approach: pragmatic, plain speaking and always steadfast in our values, which we hold dear. Values which mean we gain our clients' trust, always strive to do the right thing, and aim for the best results for them.

Superb client service sits at the heart of everything we do. We are modern lawyers with timeless values.

As a progressive technology team, Farrers IT have delivered a number of industry firsts. We lead on cloud based systems and mobility, delivering projects and managing systems which allow our staff to work regardless of their location. Technology is key to our business, so proactive and forward thinking IT staff are essential elements in our success.

The firm has worked hard on its cloud first strategy, and this should be at the forefront of all we do. The role will work closely with colleagues and the head of IT systems to continue this strategy and steer us forward with new technology. The team leader’s role is to manage their team’s workload, support team members and encourage good working practice. The team leader will also be expected to take a lead in the design of our network and management of our key systems. 

• Awareness of team members’ workload, workstreams and priorities.
• Be the conduit for work requests into the team and assignment to individuals with appropriate skills, capacity, or interest for successful and timely completion.
• Act as the escalation point for team members and others.
• Encourage compliance of firm and departmental policies, processes, and good working practices to ensure consistency.
• Develop systems and/or repositories for team knowledge, materials, and tools.
• Through example, inspire an exceptional customer service ethos in team members.
• Involvement in recruitment process in respect of team members.
• Work closely with line management to develop the team and provide regular updates on all current work streams.
• Manage and maintain the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure.
• Manage the server and systems estate ensuring full service is maintained at all times.
• Design and support the firm's network infrastructure to ensure availability, performance and security of all connected systems and services.
• Working with the IS team, maintain the firm’s information security systems, ensuring we have a proactive, well managed and layered security model. Keep abreast of security issues and respond to any events in a timely manner in accordance with documented procedure.
• Manage cloud-side systems and services ensuring best possible availability, recoverability, economy, performance and security. Work with service providers as required to leverage available features to provide a stable and progressive platform.
• Manage systems maintenance work, upgrades and rollouts following the firms change management process.
• Use server management software to manage the release of software updates (service packs, patches and security updates) to the server estate in line with the policies in place.
• Management of third-party support calls.
• Problem Management – assist in the Root Cause Analysis and resolution of known problems.
• Documentation of IT systems, working practices, methods, known issues and resolutions.
• Implementation, periodic testing and documentation of full IT disaster recovery plan.

We would expect a team member to have experience in at least 5 of the following:

• Microsoft Azure experience including the implementation, management and support.
• Building and supporting servers running Windows Server up to current version.
• Checkpoint firewall management including VPN, IPS, Identity Awareness, DLP & URL blades.
• High level experience of switches and routers (ideally Extreme), with a complete understanding of IP routed networks.
• Experience managing Active Directory and AAD, defining and applying group policies.
• Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 email administration and management.
• Office 365 – applications management.
• Voice over IP telephony/Teams, in particular Cloud UCX.
• Server virtualisation technology, ideally MS Azure and Hyper-V.
• Storage Area Networks management & server backup strategies and technologies.
• Microsoft based single sign on and ADFS/SAML.
• Appreciation of, and adherence to, appropriate ITIL methodologies and departmental/firm policies, procedures and working practices.

• Standard working hours are 09.30 to 17.30 Monday to Friday but it is essential that the applicant is committed, flexible and prepared to work beyond the normal working hours when necessary and in response to demand.
• On-site or remote evening and weekend working should be expected as part of the role to accommodate system maintenance and support where necessary.
• You will be expected to follow the firm’s agile working policy, which embraces home working but will require employees to spend a minimum number of days each week in the London office.
• Farrer & Co is an equals opportunity employer who welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We look to employ the best candidates regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, social or economic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other protected characteristic.
• We are keen to ensure candidates have the best interview experience possible, if you require any adjustments during the interview or application process please let the recruitment team know.

Farrer & Co conducts a pre-employment screening which consists of a Criminal History Background and Credit Check for successful candidates.