Unified Communications Engineer

Job Description

• Are you passionate about supporting major business change in a leading technology company’s IT group? We are looking for a highly motivated individual to own staff adoption of all unified communications and collaboration products.
• You will stand out for this role if you are a strong communicator with:
• An affection for technology
• A can-do attitude
• Social and presentation abilities  
• Excellent stakeholder management skills
• Do you want to work on products that support the entire business, not just IT? Can you build links and work across Client* to deliver exceptional change? Do you feel passionate about compelling interactions between our people, every single day, however they choose to connect? We're looking for someone who is up for a challenge.

The Role

• We are looking for an experienced Unified Comms Engineer to join our team and provide engineering support expertise to our core platform consisting of Skype for business Online, Exchange Online, Office 365 E5 and ShoreTel.
• Key will be ensuring users within CLIENT* can communicate effectively with particular emphasis on audio and telephony.
• The successful contractor will have excellent skills around Skype for Business and ideally ShoreTel (or other equivalent PBX\telephony knowledge acceptable), with demonstrable experience of working on client sites where both have been deployed (SFB and legacy PBX). Strong commercial exposure to Exchange Online is also essential, as is experience supporting of Office 365.
• Previous experience of working in a large, fast-paced financial services environment is essential. A solid understanding of ITIL principles is also required.

Primary Duties / Responsibilities

• Within CLIENT* there will be the Architects who will set the strategic objectives and goals. The service desk who deal with L1 and L2 operational issues. Finally, the CLIENT* service delivery manager accountable for owning the service operationally
• You will be accountable for delivering the Architects vision into production. At the same time you are also expected to feedback and bring your subject matter expertise to help advice the architecture team.
• You will be involved with project activity relating to UC. For example, migrating users between systems. You will be accountable for carrying out the technical elements of this project work following CLIENT* process for change management.
• You will be expected to look at how to improve project activity continually evaluating how we can better serve our end users.
• You will be technically accountable for ensuring all project work is ultimately transitioned to the BAU team for ongoing support. This will entail developing processes that the service desk can follow and communicating this effectively to them.
• You will be expected to be able to communicate effectively at different levels verbally and via electronic communication. Communicating with the business how the technology meets their functional requirement through to being able to communicate with SDOs to ensure technical requirements are met.
• You will provide support, challenge and clarification to project managers to ensure they are confident in delivering the project’s key objectives
• Working with training leads you’ll develop the communications material for training deliverables and support project managers and workstream leads in engagement events, forums and workshops etc.
• You will be the escalation path for the service desk as the ultimate accountable technical resource. You will be expected to understand the end to end solution and its interactions. You will need to directly resolve issues escalated or ensure the correct SDO is engaged, be that Microsoft. Carrier etc.
• You will look to stop repeat issues occuring or create knowledge-based articles\procedures so that the service desk can resolve future issues without the need to escalate to you
• You will work with the SDO to look at overall system performance with the view of continual improvement. The framework you are expected to operate in is as outlined by industry best practice (For SFB\Teams Namely Practical Guidance for Cloud Voice (Formerly SOF) and ITL)
• You will be expected to participate in major UC incidents to return service to operation as quickly as possible. You will also be expected to carry out PIRs
• You will be accountable to set policy for areas where you are the technical authority. For example, number normalization and dial plans within CLIENT*. You will be expected to publish and maintain any and all such policies.
• You will be accountable for technically ensuring desk phones are operating at the correct firmware level, evaluating new firmware releases and new devices.
• Ultimately,  technically the buck stops with you for your area  of accountability.

Type of person

• We are looking for a person with a strong technical and operational background in the UC space.
• You will have a passion for technology, continual learning and improvement.
• You will have an eye for detail and a passion for industry operational best practice
• You will have the ability to understand complex technical solution and interactions and be able to explain in terms understandable to the audience of any level
• You will have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• A team player who can work collaboratively and build relationships with colleagues at a range of levels across the business.
• You will be a strong writer with good attention to detail, who writes with clarity and conviction.
• You will also need to think global and act local - understanding the strategic landscape and the context of the change and how your decision will have an impact at a local level.
• You will have a tenacious, resilient and positive personality with high levels of energy and enthusiasm. You will be self-organized and able to work at pace often in an environment of ambiguity.
• This role may involve some occasional global travel.
• An evangelist, you will be a key agent of change who collaborates to set the right culture and behaviours.