Lead VDI Engineer

Are you a Lead VDI Engineer looking for your next challenge?

We’re delivering a unique, highly secure, multi-tenant and multi-datacentre platform from our new Farnborough site and are seeking a hands-on VDI specialist to design, deploy, configure and maintain the EUC layer of a large-scale Wintel and VMware Horizon environment.

This platform underpins critical defence-sector systems and must meet stringent NCSC-aligned security and architectural standards.

You’ll take ownership of the VDI/EUC stack end-to-end from design and build through to deployment, hardening and ongoing optimisation, shaping the technical direction of the service and leading delivery across multiple lifecycle environments.

Office based in Farnborough with limited options to work from home.

You must be eligible for DV Clearance.

What you will be doing:

• Lead and drive the technical direction of the EUC/VDI services workstream.
• Design and implement multi-site, multi-tenant VDI farms using VMware Horizon.
• Produce and maintain design documentation, including Low-Level Designs (LLDs), release notes, and failover/disaster recovery procedures.
• Define and document build standards, processes and operational procedures, continuously reviewing and improving them.
• Lead end-to-end VDI service deployments across all lifecycle environments (development, test, pre-production and production).
• Own the stability, resilience and security posture of the virtualisation services platform.

What You'll bring:

• VMware certification (or equivalent hands-on experience).
• Proven experience designing and deploying enterprise VMware Horizon environments.
• Strong technical expertise across Horizon View, vCenter, ESXi and Unified Access Gateway (UAG).
• Experience with Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM), gold image management and App Volumes.
• Solid understanding of securely hardening virtualisation platforms in line with CIS/NIST (or equivalent) standards.
• Good working knowledge of Active Directory, networking fundamentals, and core services such as DNS/DHCP.

It would be great if you had:

• Design and build of EUC endpoint devices, including thin/zero/thick clients running Windows or Linux (e.g. Windows 11, BeCrypt Paradox).
• Supporting core Microsoft Windows Server services, including Active Directory, AD DS and AD FS (Federation Services).
• Working knowledge of Cisco-based network infrastructure and services.
• Administration of Microsoft DNS and DHCP in enterprise environments.

If you are interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Office based in Farnborough

Security Clearance Level: Eligible for DV Clearance

Internal Recruiter: Jane

Salary: Up to £70k

Benefits: 25 days annual leave with the choice to buy extra days, single private health cover, life assurance, pension, generous flexible benefits fund and £5400 car allowance.

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client’s goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK’s most complex safety- and security-critical markets.