Associate Director, General Insurance

Department Overview: Our Technology Infrastructure team operates globally and is responsible for every aspect of the firm's hybrid platform. This ranges from our EUC/Office environments to Trading and Core service Co-Location Data Centres, and extends to Public Cloud, delivering top-tier technology services to a dynamic and demanding Trading organisation. In addition to meeting the round-the-clock operational demands of the platforms, we continuously evolve and transform our platforms to maintain a competitive edge that our business requires. We innovate to provide valuable solutions and leverage our skilled Technology teams to deliver against rapidly changing business requirements. Role Overview:  The Platform Engineer, Network Services focus will be responsible for managing, supporting, and enhancing BlueCrest’s global network infrastructure, including data networks, telecommunications, network security, advanced IP services, and unified communications. This role sits within the Infrastructure Platform team and offers opportunities to work across other core platforms, including Linux, Storage, Windows and Hypervisors. As a result, a broad range of experience and a strong understanding of how wider technology infrastructure platforms integrate and co-exist would be beneficial. In particular, solid Unix operating system knowledge and operational experience would be an advantage. Additionally, we are looking for engineers who bring the experience and mindset needed to help us adopt modern technology practices, including Infrastructure as Code, AI-enabled operations, automation-led delivery, and SRE practices. As we continue to grow our hybrid networking capabilities across on-premise/colocation, Azure and AWS, we are seeking expertise in designing, building, and supporting robust, deterministic cloud network environments. Key Responsibilities: * Monitor, support, and maintain BlueCrest’s global networks and related systems. * Carry out BAU changes across all network systems in line with the change control process. * Design and build network products for on-premises data centres, colocation trading, offices, WAN, and cloud infrastructure. * Responsible for network security area, with experience operating and maintaining next-generation firewall platforms. * Develop and maintain network systems and associated code, following Infrastructure as Code and SRE practices. * Design and deliver project work across all networking disciplines and wider infrastructure platforms. * Contribute to the architecture and roadmap for BlueCrest’s networks and platforms. * Maintain data centre and communications room environments, including racking and patching network equipment. * Manage third-party vendors, data centre providers, and telecoms providers. Experience and Skills required:  An experienced network engineer with a minimum of 5 years of experience working in a financial institution/ fast-paced environment Essential Skills * Deep understanding of TCP/IP protocols and networking fundamentals, equivalent to CCNP level. * Strong Cisco hardware, switching, and routing experience across data centre and enterprise networks. * Cisco ACI * Cisco IOS-XE switches and routers * Cisco ACI * Cisco IOS-XE switches and routers * Experience with next-generation firewalls, particularly Palo Alto platforms. * BAU changes: Policies, NAT, Routing * Monitoring: analyse firewall logs with next gen features * BAU changes: Policies, NAT, Routing * Monitoring: analyse firewall logs using next-generation firewall features. * Proficient with fundamental Unix operating system knowledge, skills, and working experience. * Advanced Azure and AWS cloud networking experience. Desirable Skills * Infrastructure as Code and SRE for Network skills including using API, Programming, Scripting and Orchestration skills * Python, Ansible and Terraform * Rest APIs * CI/CD pipeline * Experience in office infrastructure design, build and migration. * Experience in Datacentre physical and logical migrations. * Network performance monitoring and packet capture. * Experience in support VoIP technologies. * Avaya Enterprise Call Managers or equivalent * Turret system or equivalent trade voice * Microsoft Teams About You: The ideal candidate will be joining a progressive and collaborative working environment that promotes teamwork, technical excellence, and innovative solutions. This role is particularly suitable for a team player who is highly motivated and thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced and demanding trading environment. We are seeking someone who can work autonomously, efficiently and methodically under pressure, multi-tasking and adapting quickly to learn new skills. An experienced platform engineer with networks focus and a minimum of 5 years of experience working in a financial institution or within a fast-paced dynamic environment would be a suitable fit for this role. This role may require flexible working hours to implement changes out of business hours in all regions (US/EMEA/APAC) and respond to P1 issue callout. The selected candidate will have access to the latest technology, opportunities to grow professionally and technically, as well as supporting training resources available to them.   BlueCrest is committed to providing an inclusive environment for its workforce. As an employer, we provide equal opportunities to all people regardless of their gender, marital or civil partnership status, race, religion or ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation or nationality.

Department Overview: Our Technology Infrastructure team operates globally and is responsible for every aspect of the firm's hybrid platform. This ranges from our EUC/Office environments to Trading and Core service Co-Location Data Centres, and extends to Public Cloud, delivering top-tier technology services to a dynamic and demanding Trading organisation. In addition to meeting the round-the-clock operational demands of the platforms, we continuously evolve and transform our platforms to maintain a competitive edge that our business requires. We innovate to provide valuable solutions and leverage our skilled Technology teams to deliver against rapidly changing business requirements. Role Overview:  As a member of our London-based Infrastructure and Platform Engineering team, this position encompasses the design, engineering, and support of our multi-tenant private and public cloud initiatives. The role is integral to delivering services to our core business sectors globally, including Trading, middle and back office, and Technology. The role demands a comprehensive understanding and experience across various platforms, including Windows, Virtualisation, GenAI, and their associated technologies, delivered via On-Premise, Hosted and Public Cloud platforms. It requires proficiency in system integration, support, and continuous improvement, with an emphasis on standardisation and repeatability through high levels of automation and orchestration. The candidate will be expected to provide exceptional service levels to our stakeholders, comprehend key business processes, and understand how the solutions we deliver contribute to and enhance our expanding business. The role is designed with the intention of planning, implementing, and supporting new, diverse, and current technology initiatives with the candidate working independently or as part of a team, demonstrating excellent communication and organisational skills. Key Required: * A minimum of 5 years of industry experience. Prior experience in a similar role within a Financial institution will be advantageous. * Comprehensive platform engineering and support experience biased towards the Microsoft server technology portfolio, including On-premise bare metal hardware deployments (preferably HPE), Advanced virtualisation design, architecture and support across VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms, together with container technologies such as Kubernetes. This should also include enterprise integration experience with security, high availability, networking, load balancing aspects to deliver applications and infrastructure. * Experience administering Microsoft 365 services including Exchange Online, Entra ID, Teams and SharePoint Online. * Experience and proficiency in translating requirements through to providing and supporting solutions and environments for both proprietary and commercial software * Platform engineering and support experience with public cloud platforms, preferably with a major Hyperscaler like Microsoft Azure or AWS. * Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code methodologies with On-Prem and Cloud IaaS, achieved through automation and orchestration of cross-platform services using tools such as Source Control, Ansible, Jenkins, Terraform and ServiceNow. * Demonstrable scripting or programming skills in languages such as PowerShell, Python and familiarity with APIs and data structures in JSON/YAML or similar. * Experience with GenAI technologies via Public Cloud, OpenAI, AWS, etc. About You: The ideal candidate is analytical and methodical, with a proven track record in problem-solving, critical BAU, advanced engineering and technology service delivery in a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment. You should be passionate about emerging technology trends, innovations and directions, and eager to suggest and implement new solutions to enhance our technology performance. You should also understand the need for rapid delivery while appreciating business risk and constraints to ensure adherence to service levels. The candidate should have extensive experience working both independently and as part of a diverse team, meeting both broad and specific project/BAU objectives. This role requires excellent organisational skills, open communication, and a collaborative approach. Your commitment to continuous improvement should be evident, both in learning from others and sharing knowledge to enhance our team's capability and function.   BlueCrest is committed to providing an inclusive environment for its workforce. As an employer, we provide equal opportunities to all people regardless of their gender, marital or civil partnership status, race, religion or ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation or nationality.