Infrastructure Management / IT Networking

For candidates interested in physical and virtual infrastructure, network architecture and the processes behind running it reliably and securely, infrastructure management and IT network roles could be the answer. These cover the broader responsibility for the governance of an organisation’s technological estate.

Operationally, these positions mean monitoring, maintaining and troubleshooting the systems and networks that keep business operations going, which means applicants need to be familiar with ITSM frameworks, particularly ITIL. Job descriptions also frequently reference monitoring and observability tools such as Nagios, Zabbix, Datadog or similar. The rise of cloud services means that most roles expect a comfort with working in a hybrid environment, both with on-premesis infrastructure and in the cloud.

More senior infrastructure roles will focus on the design of resilient, scalable environments, and consider both current and future business requirements. These need experience with cloud architecture, data centre management, network design and security, reflecting the combination needed to deal with integrated modern infrastructure. Applicants are frequently expected to have certifications such as CCNA, CCNP, CompTIA Network+, or relevant cloud architecture credentials.

Leadership-level IT infrastructure management roles involve vendor relationships, responsibility for the budget, capacity planning and aligning the infrastructure strategy with organisational and digital transformation objectives. This means it’s important for employees at this level to be able to communicate infrastructure risk and investment requirements to non-technical stakeholders.