Senior Cloud Infrastructure Specialist

Ascent is proud to be trusted in setting up and scaling out a Centre of Excellence in Sofia that is fully integrated into BDO Global Office’s core operations.  


About BDO Global Office 

BDO invests heavily in people, motivating and supporting talented teams across the globe. In 2015 they made the strategic decision to extend their core technical infrastructure team with a nearshore insourcing approach, bringing on high quality talent that could be fully integrated into the global world-class team of employees delivering outstanding service to their member companies.  

BDO’s focus was on quality and cultural fit, building out a team of great people committed to working for BDO for the long term, developing and acquiring new skills and responsibilities, and adding consistent value to the entire BDO Global Office team.  

Ascent helped to build out BDO Global Office’s core infra team and cloud support resources in Sofia, originally focused primarily on Microsoft cloud (Azure/ Office365) technology. The team expanded rapidly in both volume and discipline and today BDO’s team includes application support, business analysts, data analysts, project managers, solution architects and various business support roles, split across Bulgaria, Portugal, and the UK.  
 

About Ascent   

Ascent is a design-led software, data and cloud business that specializes in advanced analytics and AI.  We are an engineering business. We design, build and manage cloud-native products, solutions, platforms & experiences on Azure.  

Our pan-European community of engineers, architects, data scientists and digital consultants helps customers take on challenges and opportunities, so they can do something new, or do existing things better.  

From global insurance, consultancies, pharma, healthcare and retail to smart home devices, space exploration and cricket - we get to work with some of the sharpest minds in the brightest businesses.
 

About the Role 

The fundamental purpose of this position is to provide quality IT services to end-users to support the cloud environment in accordance with BDO Global IT service management processes, to agreed service levels. 

In addition to serving as a point of contact for end-users and delivering the efficient classification, prioritisation and resolution of customer incidents & service requests, and as the application champion for all core line of business services it is vital to the role to ensure all other IT Support Team Staff are capable of supporting the core Global IT Services. 

Key Accountabilities

• Implement and manage cloud infrastructure. This involves creating, deploying, managing, and scaling resources using Infrastructure as Code (IaC). 
• Automate and optimize cloud-based processes, ensuring cost-effective solutions and improving system performance. This includes conducting system performance evaluations, monitoring, and fine-tuning 
• Ensure the security and compliance of the cloud environment according to industry standards and best practices. This involves monitoring the health and availability of services and identifying areas for improvement 
• Collaborate with team members and stakeholders to define and design cloud solutions that meet business needs. Provide technical support and troubleshooting for cloud-based system issues 
• Provide user account setup and configuration to allow users access across the Office 365 services, Including on boarding user Management Tenancy Support 
• Create and maintain documentation for cloud processes and procedures. Stay updated with advancements in cloud technologies and utilize them to improve business processes 
• Address client connectivity, client software, and mobility installation issues 
• Address service availability issues within BDO Global’s organizational span of control 
• Monitoring of escalated incidents and service requests and liaising with support teams to drive issue resolution and enhance communication with the client 
• Participating in testing of new services or new releases, including focusing on ascertaining supportability requirements and gaining hands on experience 
• Automating common procedures used to resolve Incidents and Change Requests 
• Creating knowledge management records to document identified workarounds, known errors and related procedures. 
   

Qualifications, Experience and Skills 

• Tertiary qualifications in Information Technology or a related discipline (e.g. University degree), entry-level vendor-aligned certification (e.g. MCP/MTA) required. 
• In depth knowledge of Microsoft365 and associated cloud-based technologies 
• Extensive experience working with Microsoft 365/Azure and services in a similar type of environment and role 
• 8+ years of experience delivering Information Technology support in a complex, professional environment 
• Understanding of systems architecture and design principles, including the ability to develop and implement scalable, reliable, and secure network infrastructures 
• Knowledge of the ITIL framework and or/other IT Service Management methodologies; 3+ years’ experience working in an environment with processes based on the ITIL framework preferred, including: 
• delivery of services and support to defined service levels, and 
• experience using IT Service Management systems, preferably Service Now 
• Knowledge of Microsoft Operating Systems  
• Knowledge of MS Office productivity, communication & collaboration technologies 
• Ensuring the security and compliance of the cloud environment according to industry standards and best practices 
• Effectively demonstrate the ability to quickly acquire knowledge of the support of complex line of business applications and services 
• Effectively demonstrates teamwork, problem solving, initiative and integrity 
• Ability to collaborate with team members and stakeholders to define and design cloud solutions that meet business needs 
• Excellent knowledge of the English language and good interpersonal communication skills 
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Working at Ascent  
At Ascent we promote a healthy work-life balance by offering flexibility in where you work whilst promoting mingling with colleagues. We also promote well-being and provide access to Well Being Coaches and a number of communities. 

It is a fun, supportive and modern workplace where we really live by our company values of Empathy, Energy and Audacity!  Ascent also offers a variety of benefits in each of our countries.

Ascent is an equal opportunities employer. We take intentional steps to ensure inclusion and belonging are something real here, not just something we talk about. No person will be treated less favourably because of their gender, pregnancy, and maternity status, marital or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, or disability status. If you require any reasonable accommodation, please let us know when you apply.