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The LMS is an Institute funded by the MRC and is a Division of the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College. Based on the Hammersmith Hospital Campus in West London (W12), the LMS has first class facilities and provides investigators from clinical and basic science backgrounds with the opportunity to pursue innovative, multidisciplinary research within the established clinical base of Imperial College.

For more information, visit www.lms.mrc.ac.uk.

Overall Purpose

The MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences is a scientific institute with a unique computing environment using Windows Mac and Linux. Supporting world class scientific research, the post-holder will be part of a team that delivers IT services that enable pioneering science to take place.

To support and work within a small team of IT Support Analysts in the LMS Computing Facility. Based at the new London Institute of Medical Sciences Building at Hammersmith Hospital, the role provides IT Support to the LMS user community. The role also liaises with Imperial College London (ICL) and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and stakeholders in the work that takes place at the LMS and shared IT resources with ICL. The computing infrastructure at the LMS reflects this complexity.

Assisting and supporting the Technical Head of IT in the delivery and development of IT Services with focus on scientific applications. This includes administration, monitoring and maintenance of software infrastructures and applications across all endpoints, as well as supporting the team to ensure integrity, safety and availability of all data and applications as part of organisations' information systems.

Contributing to and leading on project tasks as required and adhering to legislative and MRC ICT security policies.

A professional helpdesk is in operation, which the role forms a core part of. Responsible for prioritising own tasks, managing support requests, contributing to change & problem management and delivering excellent customer service.

Working Relationships

The post-holder will report to the Technical Head of IT and be responsible for performing all tasks and projects allocated by the Head of Computing.

The post-holder will work with all LMS research and administrative staff in their IT support and project activities as well as ICL and NHS Trust stakeholders.

The post-holder will work as part of a team with the other IT Support Analysts and other IT team members. They will occasionally work with Imperial College IT staff for IT Imperial for shared infrastructure issues or queries.

The Technical Head of IT will oversee the allocation of tasks across the team, when necessary assessing prioritisation over the team and reassigning duties where appropriate.

Main Duties

Carry out a range of tasks supporting the day-to-day activities of the IT Support Analysts and resolving queries/issues reported to the IT Helpdesk.

Supporting and working in a small multiskilled team dealing with daily IT issues and working on projects associated with IT infrastructure including:

• 1st-2nd and some 3rd line IT support across the entire IT infrastructure


• Participate in application design and development discussions with clients and management to determine client needs and ensure that product adheres to established specifications and standards


• Provide staff with appropriate IT support on all hardware and application issues in Windows, Mac and some Linux mixed computing environment


• Provide training and support to staff in safe and secure use of applications


• Perform problem resolution and moderately complex analysis, diagnosis, modification, testing and debugging tasks on vendor supplied utilities and packages to ensure fit with current operating environment


• Carry out testing and implementation of new applications and ensure this is compliant with good cybersecurity practice


• Managing and triaging incoming IT requests via the ticketing system, emails and phone


• Produce, review and edit program and user documentation for applications developed within the department to ensure that client access to product is efficient and user-friendly


• Deliver customer support to the user community


• Support the team to deliver storage and backup solutions in line with applications functionality


• Assist with the implementation of project plans with the support of the Technical Head of IT

Team activities:

• Support inter-team working with stakeholders and colleagues


• Support sharing of knowledge and experience


• Be up to date on current knowledge of IT industry developments & standards


• Contribute to team debate through the Technical Head of IT, supporting the review of proposed IT infrastructure changes and their implementation


• Implementing MRC IT security policies


• Any duties and tasks as required and agreed with the Technical Head of IT

Key responsibilities

• Act as a technical point of contact to fix application and systems issues


• Ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of all data used by applications across information systems


• Managing, monitoring, creating and responding to IT requests via the IT ticketing system, IT helpdesk email and occasionally over the phone


• Make sure that the processes needed for applications to function are running smoothly


• Identifying organisational need for new applications


• Preparing technical specification for software


• Implementing, testing and integrating new applications


• Performing routine system backups and upgrades


• Installing new operating systems, updates and releases


• Providing instructions and training to staff when necessary


• Triaging helpdesk tickets and emails accordingly


• Booking in delivered hardware items according to the booking in process for hardware/software to be deployed across the institute


• Investigating and diagnosing system faults and errors


• Resolving technical issues


• Analysing error trends aimed at reducing/minimising down time


• Assisting with backup solution maintenance


• Scheduling and running regular tests to enhance the current systems and applications


• Identifying and implementing functionality changes where required


• Preparing and maintaining documentation of key databases and applications linked to them


• Focus on customer satisfaction providing professional, efficient and effective service. Resolving and actioning IT Helpdesk queries to agreed SLA timelines


• Desire to understand and ability to balance the needs of clinical and research staff and their equipment and the associated informatics, bioinformatics and computational infrastructure


• Contributing to project tasks to agreed timescales, quality and risk with the support of the Technical Head of IT


• Supporting and contributing to the IT Advisory Board, regularly inputting ideas and best practice


• Provide hardware/software quotations where required using trusted suppliers


• Continuing personal development and training across all IT infrastructure and services and keeping abreast of latest developments, particularly the areas of in-depth expertise

Education / Qualifications / Training required (will be assessed from application form):

Essential:

• Degree level qualification in Computing/related discipline or equivalent professional experience

Desirable:

• ITIL v3 Foundation or equivalent


• PRINCE2 Practitioner or equivalent project management qualification

Knowledge and experience (will be assessed from application form and at interview):

Essential:

• Experience of working in and supporting an IT Support Helpdesk. Managing, monitoring and responding to IT requests


• Working experience of Mac and Windows, with some Linux, mixed environment


• Ability to use Line Manager and stakeholder feedback to make improvements to the delivery and of ICT services


• A high level of customer service and communication skills when dealing with internal and external colleagues and stakeholders


• Experience of virtualisation technologies


• Experience with backup technologies


• Understanding of the computer cluster hardware with the ability to coordinate the repair of hardware failure


• Excellent written communication skills with a good command of the English Language

Desirable:

• Experience in resolving customer complaints and conflict resolution


• Awareness and understanding of equal opportunities and diversity


• Working knowledge with High Performance Computing, GPU Applications and Tools support


• Ability to improve speed and reliability of Computing Systems through application optimisation


• Supporting IT projects using project management techniques


• Experience in working with HPC clusters


• Knowledge and support of ICT security matters


• Experience of optimisation of applications such as R, Matlab, Nagios, PBS, Open Stack, Cuda, Sigmaplot, Exceed, Graphpad, Cognos, Shiny Apps, Docker


• High level experience in storage technologies, backup and networking configuration and protocols Experience of shell scripting

Personal skills / Behaviours / Qualities and competences (will be assessed at the interview):

Essential:

• Excellent verbal communication skills with a good command of the English Language


• Assesses own strengths and weaknesses and impact on others


• Plans, multi-tasks & prioritises own time effectively and efficiently to achieve results and to switch between tasks quickly staying in control of problematic situations


• Able to organise and prioritise resources to ensure short and long term targets are met


• Be highly motivated, flexible and innovative in their approach to work


• Aligns work to overall strategic direction and LMS objectives supporting the MRC brand profile


• Ensures appropriate engagement of colleagues with relevant stakeholders and issues


• Able to self-motivate when working independently, as well as part of a team


• Able to develop and encourage cross-boundary working relationships


• Values diversity and demonstrates respect for other team members


• Contributes positively to ICT and cross-functional teams and shares knowledge and skills

Desirable:

• Ability to support teams and encourage inter-team working with stakeholders and colleagues


• Experience of contributing to team debate to help identify future opportunities and team development


• Displays ability to build appropriate networks and manage a range of stakeholder interests