IT Manager

Secondary School Phase

We are looking for an experienced IT Manager to work as part of the Astrea Central IT team, supporting our Secondary phase schools, covering both South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire.

The successful candidate will be covering IT infrastructure, services, and solutions, where you will provide support to the Academy Trust organisation and the member academies within the Trust or other agencies supported by the Trust. You will assist with development, project management and implementation of new systems and be responsible for the day to day running of existing IT infrastructure and support delivery within an assigned group of academies. You will also be visiting each of your schools regularly ensuring that excellent service and opportunities to build relationships are never missed.

As part of the IT Leadership team at Astrea, you will facilitate an effective flow of information between your schools and IT teams relating to challenges, opportunities, and initiatives, in order to provide the best possible service to our academies drawing on the strength of the wider Astrea IT community. You will contribute to development and improvements in Astrea’s IT practices allowing you to make your mark on the service we deliver which affects thousands of our pupils and staff daily.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• You will lead the service delivery in your academies supporting school-based or field-based teams in the following duties:
• Ensure excellent IT Service Delivery
•  Supplementary support to established Academies & their IT support teams
• IT project delivery with responsibility for project management
• Build, manage and develop relationships with the Leadership Team of each School visited
• Line Management of the IT Support Team within your assigned schools
• Use and champion the use of service desk software to manage workflow and provide timely and appropriate feedback to clients and other members of the team
• Develop and implement new technologies in line with Astrea IT strategy and objectives
• Assure systems’ security
• Work as part of the Astrea IT support team
• Manage existing and implement new systems and solutions as directed
• Ensure accurate records are kept of all IT hardware, software and peripherals
• Develop effective working relationships within the Academies and central Trust team always ensuring rich and frequent communication
• Assist in and provide initial configuration and troubleshooting, installation and support services in the Astrea Trust Academies and partner organisations
• Deliver training where deemed appropriate to end users or technical staff
• Induct new starters to Astrea Academy Trust operating procedures and relevant policies
• Ensure compliance with data protection and related current legislation
• Ensure good practice is adhered to by users and IT teams.

Software

• To assist with the configuration, installation, and testing of required software
• To assist with making software and data available to appropriate users
• Ensure that anti-virus software is installed, kept up to date and working properly on all stations
• Ensure software and operating system updates are installed as appropriate
• To assure compliance in the provisioning and distribution of web-based or online systems
• Support website development
• Hardware
• To ensure IT hardware and peripherals are installed and configured according to Trust guidelines
• Maintain and troubleshoot academy systems as appropriate
• To ensure equipment is allocated correctly to members of staff
• To ensure that the school Asset registers are kept up to date
• Liaise with suppliers in relation to repairs of equipment under warranty or maintenance contracts 

IT Management

• Liaise with Central IT Support and suppliers regarding school-based support requests where needed
• Provide support to Academy IT Teams in the event of network failure or disruption
• To assist Academy IT teams in upgrading Networks and in project managing newly procured systems
• Ensure network maintenance tasks are carried out in line with the IT standard operating procedure
• Follow the Core IT / supplier’s recommended procedures

Other Specific Duties

• Basic clerical duties related to the post, including record keeping of conversations
• Facilitate conversations between Schools, Central IT and Suppliers where necessary
• Maintain, record, and update all aspects of the IT infrastructure
• Assist staff members with the use of IT software and hardware
• Line management of staff including objective setting in line with Trust’s plans and objectives; performance management in line with Astrea Performance Management Framework
• To comply with any reasonable request from your line manager to undertake work of a similar nature even if not explicitly named in the job description.

Please visit our website for further details and to apply.

The closing date for all applications is 21st December 2022.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check, medical clearance satisfactory references and right to work checks.