R&D IT Infrastructure Specialist

Purpose of the Role The R&D IT Infrastructure Manager will be responsible for planning, deploying, operating, and continuously improving IT infrastructure services that support research, engineering, product development, testing, simulation, laboratory, and innovation environments. The role requires a strong blend of infrastructure technology expertise, project execution capability, operational governance, cybersecurity awareness, and stakeholder management to ensure reliable, secure, scalable, and high-performance IT services for R&D teams. Key Responsibility Areas - Own the end-to-end management of IT infrastructure services for R&D facilities, including network, compute, storage, backup, collaboration, endpoint, and laboratory IT environments. - Partner with R&D, engineering, product development, manufacturing, cybersecurity, enterprise IT, and external vendors to understand business requirements and translate them into infrastructure solutions. - Lead infrastructure projects for new R&D labs, test environments, engineering workspaces, simulation platforms, and specialized technology zones. - Ensure high availability, performance, reliability, and security of critical infrastructure supporting R&D workloads, design applications, test systems, and engineering data platforms. - Develop and maintain infrastructure roadmaps aligned with R&D growth plans, technology refresh cycles, cybersecurity standards, and business continuity requirements. - Manage IT assets, lifecycle planning, capacity planning, licensing coordination, inventory governance, and infrastructure documentation. - Drive incident, problem, change, and service request management in line with ITIL-aligned practices and internal governance standards. - Coordinate with cybersecurity teams to implement access controls, segmentation, vulnerability remediation, patching, monitoring, and compliance requirements for R&D environments. - Manage vendors, service providers, OEMs, and implementation partners to ensure timely delivery, SLA compliance, cost optimization, and quality of service. - Support audits, risk assessments, compliance reviews, disaster recovery planning, and business continuity testing for R&D IT infrastructure. - Lead continuous improvement initiatives, including automation, monitoring, AIOps, standardization, documentation, and operational excellence. - Mentor and guide infrastructure engineers, support teams, and project resources involved in R&D infrastructure delivery and operations. - Partner with scientific, engineering, and laboratory teams to support the onboarding, integration, and operation of laboratory equipment, instrument control systems, and integration with LIMS and scientific data platforms. - Lead IT infrastructure readiness and handover activities for new laboratories, test facilities, manufacturing pilot environments, and R&D equipment deployments, ensuring infrastructure dependencies are identified and resolved prior to go-live. - Collaborate with R&D leadership to prioritize infrastructure investments, manage demand, and align infrastructure roadmaps with organizational goals. Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics, Engineering, or a related discipline; master's degree preferred. - Experience in IT infrastructure, site IT operations, technology project management, or enterprise infrastructure delivery. - Experience managing infrastructure teams, vendors, or cross-functional technology programs. - Experience supporting R&D, engineering, manufacturing, laboratory, simulation, automotive, battery, electronics, or industrial technology environments is preferred. - Strong knowledge of enterprise networking, data center infrastructure, server and storage platforms, virtualization, cloud services, endpoint management, backup, monitoring, and disaster recovery. - Experience in laboratory commissioning, technology onboarding, operational readiness, and infrastructure deployment within R&D or manufacturing facilities. - Good understanding of cybersecurity principles, network segmentation, identity and access management (IAM), vulnerability remediation, and compliance controls. - Proven ability to manage complex cross-functional programs involving R&D, Facilities, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Procurement, Enterprise IT, and external partners. - Exposure to ITIL processes, project management methodologies, vendor governance, budgeting, and service delivery frameworks. Key Skills and Competencies Key Skills And Competencies - Infrastructure architecture and solution design - R&D and engineering systems support - Project planning, execution, risk management, and stakeholder communication - Vendor management, negotiation, and service governance - IT operations management and service excellence - Cybersecurity and compliance awareness - Analytical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making - Leadership, team development, and cross-functional collaboration - Documentation, reporting, and executive communication - Continuous improvement and automation - Stakeholder management and commercial leadership Key Performance Indicators - Infrastructure uptime, availability, and performance against agreed service levels - On-time and within-budget delivery of R&D infrastructure projects - Reduction in recurring incidents and improvement in mean time to restore service (MTTR) - Compliance with cybersecurity, audit, patching, and vulnerability remediation targets - Effective capacity planning and technology lifecycle management - Vendor SLA adherence and service quality improvement - Stakeholder satisfaction across R&D, engineering, and business teams - Documentation completeness and operational readiness for new services Key Stakeholders - R&D leadership and engineering teams - Site IT and Enterprise IT infrastructure teams - Cybersecurity and compliance teams - Manufacturing IT/OT teams - Application owners and product development teams - Procurement, finance, and vendor management teams OEMs, system integrators, managed service providers, and technology partners Preferred Certifications - ITIL Foundation or higher - PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification - Cisco, Microsoft, VMware, Azure, AWS, or equivalent infrastructure certifications - Cybersecurity certifications such as ISO 27001, CISSP, CISM, or equivalent exposure