Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Yorkshire

Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Yorkshire

Next

About the Role:

Are you looking to work with a dynamic & innovative team, focusing primarily on Linux & Windows server support? Next Distribution is a fast‑paced environment supporting over 5,000 users in 10 warehouses and several satellite sites around the UK and beyond. The Infrastructure & Cloud Services Warehouses team supports all server and storage hardware and software systems that allow the organisation’s user base to do their jobs.

These systems include Linux and Windows Servers, Citrix, VMware, Brocade, Netscaler, IBM SAN, SQL Server and many more.

Job Description:

We’re recruiting for an experienced Senior Linux Infrastructure Engineer to provide technical expertise, either independently or by involving colleagues, through excellent written and verbal communication. Each day you will make judgment calls regarding incidents and projects, prioritising to maximise your effectiveness. The Infrastructure & Cloud Services Warehouses team is responsible for the support, installation and maintenance of the server computing environment within Next Distribution warehouses and satellite sites.

• Get involved in incident, change, problem and request management and resolution.
• Use physical and virtualised server platforms, deploying services using scripted/automated builds; involve in disaster recovery, upgrades to existing servers and systems, and maintain environmental records of Next’s infrastructure.
• Implement new projects for the business.
• Provide regular reporting to the management team, keeping them informed of major outages/issues and resolutions.
• Support Red Hat Linux platforms, documenting all resolutions and improvements.
• Liaise with Next Technology teams to triage and resolve customer issues.
• Take part in a weekly call‑out rota; overtime and shift changes expected, as many systems can only be installed or changed outside normal business hours.

• Demonstrated experience supporting Linux server operating systems in a large, enterprise‑level organisation.
• Ability to lead and project manage the delivery of medium to large platform solutions.
• Ability to learn quickly, thrive on change and handle the pressure of a customer and partner‑facing role, meeting delivery goals and timelines.
• Strong customer and social skills, good relationship‑building abilities, process‑driven, able to manage multiple work streams, good prioritisation, and independence.
• Flexibility to work planned/unplanned overtime as required.

• Strong experience with Red Hat Linux (RHEL 7.x, 8.x, 9.x), including advanced troubleshooting and kernel‑level understanding.
• Proficiency in Linux failover clustering (Pacemaker, DRBD).
• Solid hands‑on experience with Red Hat Satellite, Red Hat Ansible (including complex playbooks, roles, and collections), and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles.
• In‑depth knowledge of TCP/IP networking, routing, firewalls, and network security.
• Good familiarity with VMware platforms, including vSphere, vCenter, and advanced features.
• Ability to work independently, make critical decisions, and lead in a fast‑paced, complex environment.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills, root cause analysis, and attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, capable of presenting complex technical information to diverse audiences.
• Proven experience with IaC, management at scale, and CI/CD pipelines (ADO).
• In‑depth knowledge and experience with Ansible.
• Experience with containerisation technologies (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, Open Shift).
• Basic understanding and experience with SELinux policy management and enforcement.
• Good knowledge of monitoring tools like Zabbix, Dynatrace, Prometheus, and Grafana.
• Strong familiarity with GFS2 and/or other distributed file systems.

• Strong programming experience with YAML, Terraform, and Python (for automation and tool development).
• Proficiency with GFS2 and/or other distributed file systems.
• Good experience with capacity planning, performance tuning, and SAN technologies (preferably HP/IBM/EMC based).
• Good knowledge of various HP server hardware generations and blade systems.
• A highly…