Infrastructure Specialist

Barclays Group; Knutsford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services company is looking for an Infrastructure Specialist to join their global team in Knutsford. The role focuses on designing and implementing a managed Kafka streaming platform across regions. Ideal candidates will have deep Kafka expertise, along with strong experience in cloud platforms and container orchestration. This position requires collaboration with teams to ensure the infrastructure is reliable, scalable, and secure.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Kafka architecture with focus on cluster design and performance tuning.
• Strong experience in container orchestration and cloud platforms.
• Experience in financial services and large-scale environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain infrastructure platforms ensuring reliability and scalability.
• Monitor IT infrastructure performance to resolve potential issues.
• Implement automated tasks to improve efficiency and reduce manual workload.

Skills

Kafka architecture

Container orchestration

Cloud platforms (AWS / Azure)

Enterprise middleware integration

Endpoint security solutions

Agile methodologies

Job description

Join us as an Infrastructure Specialist in a newly formed global team driving the design and implementation of a managed Kafka streaming platform across the entire bank. This is a strategic initiative expanding beyond existing smaller platforms, with reach across multiple regions including the UK and India.

You’ll work alongside technical SMEs to architect and build the new platform, evaluate technology options, guide junior teams, and oversee rollout and ongoing maintenance. Ideal for someone with deep Kafka expertise and a passion for scalable infrastructure in a complex enterprise environment.

Required Experience

• Deep expertise in Kafka architecture, including cluster design, performance tuning, and security.
• Strong experience with container orchestration and cloud platforms (AWS / Azure) and hybrid deployments.
• Familiarity with enterprise middleware integration patterns involving messaging and file transfer (e.g., IBM MQ).
• Experience in financial services or other regulated, large‑scale enterprise environments.

Desired Skills

• Experience with endpoint security solutions, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) technologies like Deep Instinct.
• Knowledge of security best practices, and security frameworks (NIST, CIS, MITRE ATT&CK).
• Strong understanding of Agile application development methodologies.
• Exposure to event‑driven architectures, and real‑time analytics.

This role will be based out of our Knutsford campus.

Purpose of the Role

To build and maintain infrastructure platforms and products that support applications and data systems, using hardware, software, networks, and cloud computing platforms as required with the aim of ensuring that the infrastructure is reliable, scalable, and secure. Ensure the reliability, availability, and scalability of the systems, platforms, and technology through the application of software engineering techniques, automation, and best practices in incident response.

Accountabilities

• Build Engineering: Development, delivery, and maintenance of high‑quality infrastructure solutions to fulfil business requirements ensuring measurable reliability, performance, availability, and ease of use. Including the identification of the appropriate technologies and solutions to meet business, optimisation, and resourcing requirements.
• Incident Management: Monitoring of IT infrastructure and system performance to measure, identify, address, and resolve any potential issues, vulnerabilities, or outages. Use of data to drive down mean time to resolution.
• Automation: Development and implementation of automated tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reduce manual intervention, utilising software scripting/coding disciplines.
• Security: Implementation of a secure configuration and measures to protect infrastructure against cyber‑attacks, vulnerabilities, and other security threats, including protection of hardware, software, and data from unauthorised access.
• Teamwork: Cross‑functional collaboration with product managers, architects, and other engineers to define IT Infrastructure requirements, devise solutions, and ensure seamless integration and alignment with business objectives via a data driven approach.
• Learning: Stay informed of industry technology trends and innovations, and actively contribute to the organization's technology communities to foster a culture of technical excellence and growth.