Head of IT

Head of IT

Location: Cambridge

Salary: £55-60k

Contract: Full-time, permanent

We are looking for an experienced Head of IT to lead the operational management, technical development and ongoing improvement of IT services within a busy environment.

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role, responsible for ensuring that IT infrastructure, systems, support services and technical processes are secure, resilient, well documented and aligned with organisational priorities. The role will suit someone who can combine strong technical expertise with team leadership, service improvement, project planning and clear communication with senior stakeholders.

You will lead the IT Services team day to day, provide senior technical guidance across core infrastructure and security, and ensure reliable support for staff and wider stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation of IT Services, ensuring support is effective, timely, customer-focused and aligned with organisational needs.
• Manage, support and develop the IT Services team, including workload planning, regular team meetings, coaching, and performance reviews.
• Provide senior technical leadership across networking, virtualisation, Wi-Fi, servers, storage, Microsoft 365, endpoint management and related systems.
• Act as the senior technical lead for IT infrastructure, cyber security controls, service resilience, business continuity and disaster recovery.
• Maintain IT risk registers, audits, risk assessments and service reviews to identify weaknesses and strengthen systems, processes and controls.
• Ensure technical procedures, operating processes, support arrangements and key systems are clearly documented and kept up to date.
• Oversee routine maintenance activities including backups, updates, patching, monitoring, access controls and user account management.
• Manage SQL server environments, upgrades, access controls and backup arrangements.
• Contribute technical expertise to wider projects, ensuring IT implications, risks, dependencies and resourcing are understood early.
• Translate technical issues into clear, accessible advice for senior leaders, including options, costs, benefits, risks and recommendations.
• Lead IT budget planning, lifecycle replacement planning, capital bids, supplier relationships and contract management.
• Develop and maintain a medium-term technical roadmap covering infrastructure, systems, security improvements, lifecycle replacement and service development.
• Oversee hardware, software, network systems, Active Directory, group policy, device management and departmental software deployment.
• Manage internal penetration testing activity and ensure follow-up on identified vulnerabilities.
• Support access control systems, including maintenance, permissions, troubleshooting, reporting and security monitoring.
• Keep up to date with emerging technologies, infrastructure developments, cyber risks.
• Identify opportunities to use AI-enabled technologies to improve operational efficiency, service delivery and security.

Skills and experience required

• Experience leading or supervising an IT team.
• Strong hands-on technical background across IT infrastructure and support services.
• Experience designing, installing and configuring networks, including switches and firewalls.
• Virtual server experience, ideally Hyper-V.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft desktop and server technologies, including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Exchange, clustering and failover.
• Strong networking knowledge, including IP addressing, VLANs, routing, failover technologies, ACLs and core protocols such as TCP, UDP, HTTPS, SSL and TLS.
• Good understanding of cyber security methods, controls and best practice.
• Experience with firewalls, high availability, wireless technologies, backup systems and monitoring tools.
• Strong Microsoft 365, SharePoint and OneDrive knowledge.
• Ability to create clear documentation, audit trails, procedures and technical records.

Desirable experience

• Professional IT certifications such as Microsoft, Cisco, HPE or equivalent.
• Experience with AI-enabled technologies.
• Knowledge of Apple systems, IP telephony, SAN/NAS, PowerShell, scripting, mobile device management, SIEM, Syslog or monitoring tools