Principal IT Infrastructure & Security Specialist

Aioi R&D Lab – Oxford is an AI R&D company based in Oxford, on a mission to harness AI to understand, predict, and manage risk, helping build a safer, more resilient society.

We sit at the intersection of academia and industry, working with Oxford's professors, researchers, and graduates alongside commercial spinouts and partner companies, to turn frontier research into AI that actually ships rather than just gets published.

Our work spans applied AI for insurance and adjacent industries, including supply chains, nature, autonomous driving, and the emerging challenges nobody's solved yet, alongside deep research of our own into agentic AI, privacy-preserving technologies, trustworthy AI, complex systems modelling, and quantum computing.

We build AI products and solutions for insurers, businesses, and public-sector organisations worldwide, and run innovative research projects that push these technologies further, helping people make better decisions in an uncertain world.

You’ll be providing technical leadership for the design, implementation, operation and continual improvement of the company's IT infrastructure, ensuring it remains secure, resilient, scalable and aligned with business objectives.

If you’d like to be part of our brighter future, and share in our success, we’d love to hear from you.

Be The Next Big Thing, Now.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of the company's heterogeneous IT infrastructure, including Windows, MacOS and Linux platforms, ensuring high levels of availability, resilience and security.

• Translate business, operational and information security requirements into practical technical solutions, producing infrastructure designs and implementation plans that align with company policies, standards and recognised best practice.

• Establish and maintain technical standards for the organisation's IT infrastructure, ensuring solutions are secure, supportable, resilient and consistent with company architecture and security policies.

• Design, implement and maintain technical security controls across the organisation's IT environment, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, Intune, endpoint management, identity and access management, networking and cloud services.

• Act as the principal technical authority for infrastructure and security, providing expert advice to the IT Manager on technology selection, architecture, technical risk and operational improvements.

• Plan, coordinate and oversee the day-to-day technical work of IT staff, providing mentoring, knowledge sharing and technical guidance, whilst acting as the escalation point for complex incidents and infrastructure issues.

• Design, implement and maintain secure office network infrastructure, including wired and wireless networking, internet connectivity, firewalls, network segmentation, remote access and associated security technologies.

• Lead the administration, governance and security of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, Intune, collaboration platforms and business applications, defining technical standards, security baselines and operational procedures.

• Specify, evaluate and implement IT hardware, software and cloud services, providing technical input into procurement decisions and managing the lifecycle of infrastructure assets and software licensing.

• Develop and maintain technical standards, infrastructure documentation, operational procedures and disaster recovery documentation to support the effective management and resilience of the IT environment.

• Support the development, implementation and continual improvement of the organisation's Information Security Management System (ISMS), implementing technical controls that contribute to compliance with ISO/IEC 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus and other required standards.

• Monitor the security, health and performance of the IT environment, identifying risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvement, and leading the implementation of corrective actions.

• Evaluate emerging technologies and make recommendations to improve the organisation's IT infrastructure, security posture and operational efficiency.

• Provide technical leadership during infrastructure projects, technology deployments and major incidents, ensuring solutions are delivered to agreed standards, timescales and security requirements.

Knowledge, Experience & Qualifications:

Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

• Experience translating business and security requirements into practical technical solutions and infrastructure designs.

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical options, make sound architectural decisions and justify recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Significant experience designing, implementing and supporting enterprise IT infrastructure in a principal technical or infrastructure engineering role.

• Ability to balance usability, developer productivity and information security when designing and implementing technical solutions.

• Strong knowledge of enterprise networking, including switching, routing, wireless networking, firewalls, VPNs and network security principles.

• Proven experience designing, implementing and securing Microsoft 365 environments, including MS Entra ID, Intune, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and MS Teams.

• Experience implementing and administering Microsoft Intune, including device enrolment, compliance policies, application deployment and mobile device management.

• Experience designing and implementing identity and access management solutions, including Microsoft Entra ID, Single Sign-On (SSO), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and role-based access control.

• Experience designing and implementing secure cloud infrastructure and services, ideally Amazon Web Services (AWS).

• Experience administering and supporting heterogeneous IT environments comprising Windows, MacOS and Linux systems.

• Experience supporting the implementation, operation or continual improvement of an Information Security Management System (ISMS).

• Good understanding of information security principles and experience implementing technical security controls aligned with recognised frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus.

• Experience mentoring or providing technical leadership to junior IT professionals.

• Experience with infrastructure automation or scripting using technologies such as PowerShell, Bash or Python.

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to diagnose and resolve complex infrastructure and security issues.

• Excellent technical documentation, communication and stakeholder management skills.

Why Join Us?

We're committed to your growth, providing the support to excel in your current role whilst offering opportunities to step into new challenges and drive your career forward.

We realise that we need to be a good fit for you above all else – so here’s what you can enjoy about AND-E:

• Recognised as the Best Large Insurance Employer: We are proud to have been named the Best Large Insurance Employer for 2023 at the prestigious British Insurance Awards.

• Unmatched Work-Life Balance.

• Competitive Salaries and Benefits Package: We offer competitive salaries that recognise your skills and expertise.

We champion choice, flexibility, and balance in both work and home life. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion ensures everyone feels valued and supported — including embracing neurodiversity and providing the tools needed to thrive.

We like to think our benefits package is one of the best, focusing on colleagues’ health, wealth, and lifestyle. We offer:

• 28 Days annual leave with the option to buy/sell up to 5 days holiday*

• Private Medical & Permanent Health Insurance*

• 4 x Annual salary Life Assurance*

• Health and Wellbeing Benefits: Including money back on health-related expenses (optician, dental, physio, etc.), Flu Jab vouchers, Virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme, and enhanced family-friendly policies (baby bonus & pension advisory service)

• Financial and Lifestyle Support: Offers financial flexibility through Wagestream*, annual season ticket loans*, cycle scheme*, and £250 towards driving lessons for you and dependents*.

• Subject to company performance and completion of probation

Aioi Nissay Dowa Europe is committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment. Employees and job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (Protected Characteristics)

At AND-E, equal opportunity is more than a policy—it’s a promise. We welcome applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

Reasonable adjustments: If you require any adjustments to support you during our recruitment process, please let us know. We’re committed to making the process accessible and are happy to help