Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager

Job Title: Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager

Department: Technology Solutions and Services

Reports to: Systems and Support Manager

Supervises: Technical Support Associate

Start date: ASAP

LoE: Full time**

Job Location: London – United Kingdom

Type of Contract: Permanent

Salary £59,107 (D4) per annum

About Internews:

Internews works to ensure access to trusted, quality news and information that empowers people to have a voice in their future and to live healthy, secure, and rewarding lives. We envision a world where everyone can communicate freely with anyone, anywhere, and exchange the news and information they need to shape their communities and the world.

For 35 years and in more than 100 countries, we have worked with our local partners to build hundreds of sustainable organizations, strengthened the capacity of thousands of media professionals, human rights activists, and information entrepreneurs, and reached millions of people with quality, local information, improving lives and building lasting change. On issues ranging from health and the environment to conflict and governance, Internews has developed approaches that harness the power of media and information to create positive change.

Internews is a charity operating internationally, with administrative centres in California, Washington DC, London, and Paris as well as regional hubs in Bangkok and Nairobi. Formed in 1982, Internews currently has offices in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

Our commitment to a culture of belonging:

Internews is passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams, and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, the self-taught, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, and socio-economic backgrounds. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, abilities, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and actively welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

About the role:

Internews seeks a creative problem solver and service-oriented individual who is enthusiastic about using technology to help others be more productive in their work! Under the supervision of the Systems and Support Manager, the Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager provides supervision and support to the regional Technology specialists. This position also provides mentorship, guidance, and direction to the regional techs as well as local Technology staff. The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager serves as a point of escalation for global support issues and provides first level technical support for Internews’ London office, help desk support for Internews worldwide staff and support for Internews global Technology infrastructure as needed. The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager helps cover regions and offices when other specialists are on leave or have excessive workload.

Duties and Key Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.

The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager will monitor and respond in a very timely manner to requests for technical assistance received in the Internews Technology Help desk system. They will also take requests via Microsoft Teams Chat and will log tickets in the system on behalf of the user as needed when request come in over Chat. They shall be responsible for monitoring and maintaining tickets in the Internews Technology Help desk system for the regional IT support team.

This position will also assist in monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting Internews’ global Technology Infrastructure including but not limited to critical business systems and project office Technology architecture. A very high level of customer service is expected. This includes prompt and polite responses to internal customers.

The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager may be required to travel to other Internews offices to lead the technical set-up of new offices, and to train staff and assist in rollouts of new software and policies. The Support Coordinator may occasionally serve as a project management assistant for office opening and closing; helping keep associated tasks, schedules, and communications on time.

The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager will work closely with the VP of IT, Sr. Systems and Network Manager and Systems and Support Manager to develop procedures, processes, solutions, and policy related to various areas of IT. They will then ensure all support staff understand these materials and policies.

The Senior Technology Specialist and Support Manager works collaboratively with other members of the ‘Technology Solutions and Services’ department and other departments to develop and provide business solutions for Internews’ needs.

Due to the nature of this position, work is generally to be performed between standard office hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm local time, Monday – Friday. However, due to the global nature of this position, occasional work outside these hours might be required.

Day to day tasks will include:

Network Configuration, Monitoring & Maintenance

• Assist with project office IT infrastructure setup and maintenance.
• Install and update applications to project office servers and end user devices as requested.
• Initiate third party vendor support requests if required.
• Work under the direction and with the assistance of HQ IT staff to maintain Internews business systems.
• Perform data recovery as needed and implement disaster recovery procedures.
• Contribute to documentation related to company procedures.
• Maintain physical environment for network hardware.
• Assist with off-hours emergencies and time-sensitive issues when required.
• Provide first level support for Internews project office IT infrastructure.

End User Support:

• Provide technical support for Internews staff globally.
• Monitor and maintain client issues using Internews help desk system.
• Set up and configure end user desktop, laptop, and mobile computing devices to Internews HQ standard.
• Assist with off-hours emergencies and time-sensitive issues when required.
• Provide support and set-up assistance with mobile devices.
• Learn new tools and best practices and adapt quickly to better support end users.
• Train and support new and existing staff with the use of core technologies such as Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, Egnyte, conferencing tools, and other applications supported by Internews.
• Take a lead role in ensuring the adoption and proper use of collaboration tools in accordance with best practices set by Technology department.

Departmental Administration and People Skills

• Assist with tracking software, hardware, and licensing inventory.
• Provide strong, clear, and concise written and verbal communication to colleagues and customers.
• Build appropriate rapport and have a positive and professional working relationship with co-workers and consultants.
• Manage crisis situations using excellent communication with affected staff and management.
• Respond to support requests with a professional and friendly tone.
• Provide daily reports to Technology Solutions and Services Manager.
• Respond to support requests with an appropriate sense of urgency.
• Ask questions quickly from HQ when assistance is needed!
• Work within Internews approved communication tools.
• Actively participate in testing new software and hardware as requested by the Information Technology Manager.
• Follow procedures precisely and thoroughly.
• Supervise regional Technology support staff.
• In all duties, demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values .

Qualifications:

• Fluent in English
• Fluent in French or Arabic is desired
• Extensive knowledge of Windows 10, 11, and Mac OS
• Highly proficient in Microsoft 365 Suite
• Proficient in use of Office 365 applications and administration tools, including but not limited to: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, Forms, SharePoint, 2FA, and Admin Consoles
• Mobile phone/mobile device configuration and support experience
• Familiarity with computer systems from end user perspective
• Broad knowledge of computer hardware, network operations and maintenance
• Knowledge of telecommunications systems
• Knowledge of emerging technology trends
• Knowledge of computer software applications
• Willingness to continue developing professional skills that benefit Internews and the individual
• Detail oriented, with demonstrated ability to follow all policy and procedures

RECRUITMENT TIMELINE

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply soon.

Candidates must submit a succinct covering letter of no more than 2-pages explaining how they satisfy the requirements of the person speciation in addition to a CV highlighting relevant experience. The successful candidate will also be asked to provide three professional referees, one of whom must be from their most recent employer.

The above noted job description is not intended to describe, in detail, all the tasks that may be assigned but rather to give the job holder a general sense of the responsibilities and expectations of his/her position. As the nature of business demands change so, too, may the essential functions of this position.

This is a UK based position and therefore the successful applicant must obtain the Right to Work in the UK to commence their employment