Technical Consultant
£55,000 to £65,000 plus benefits | Full time | Work From Home

About the Role

Demand for technical consulting resource is increasing with new customers coming on board each month and an increasing number of established customers migrating to the latest SaaS solutions from on-premise or hosted instances of our software. We are therefore looking to recruit and train an additional Technical Consultant to help manage this increasing demand for resource.

The role involves three primary types of work: Project work; Maintenance work; and Customer Support, as follows:

Project work involves consulting with customers to plan technical aspects of new implementations, upgrades, and cloud migrations. Where required, the Technical Consultant will recommend server specifications and stipulate prerequisites for new environments and/or staging servers. They will document and communicate these plans clearly and concisely to customers and colleagues and then lead in the delivery of technical aspects of the project through to successful completion.

Maintenance work involves defining and executing tailored service plans to deliver regular upgrades, patches and security updates to help our on-premise customers keep their software up to date and performing optimally.

Customer Support involves working as a key part of the LAKE Service Desk team offering 1st and 2nd line services to customers through our Service Desk portal.

The role is home-based, but the successful candidate may infrequently be required to travel to attend internal meetings (typically held in or around Leeds or York) or to work at a customer site. Business mileage and out of pocket expenses are reimbursed in line with company policy.

Knowledge and Experience

As above, the key focus of the role is the installation, upgrade, maintenance, and support of business applications for our customers. This requires a good mix of technical knowledge, business understanding, and interpersonal skills.

The successful candidate will have experience of installing, maintaining. and supporting packaged business applications for end users, ideally covering functionality such as ERP, Financial Management, Procurement, Performance Management, and/or Business Intelligence. Specific knowledge of any of the business applications we sell would be a definite advantage but is not essential as training will be provided.

A good working knowledge of server, desktop, network operating systems, and thin-client technologies is important. The applicant is expected to be competent in the installation, configuration and troubleshooting of these systems and an understanding of certificates and encryption are required to ensure that applications are deployed securely.

Microsoft SQL Server is at the foundation of the on-premise applications we support and maintain. A good working knowledge and experience are therefore required. This includes the installation, configuration and management of SQL Server along with knowledge of deploying and supporting applications based on SQL Server. The applicant is also expected to be able to understand, adapt and run SQL scripts and have a working knowledge of SQL Server Reporting Services.

Any knowledge of JavaScript, C# or any scripting knowledge would also be extremely beneficial but is not essential. Likewise, any working knowledge of virtualisation and networking would also be beneficial.

In summary, knowledge and skills are expected in the following key areas:

• Installation and support of packaged business applications for end users
• Management and use of Microsoft SQL Server
• Installation and management of Windows desktop and server operating systems
• Support of different client endpoints such as browsers, virtual desktops, and thin-client

About the person

The successful candidate will have excellent written and oral communication skills, and will demonstrate the following key attributes:

• Have an analytical approach to problem solving
• Be highly IT literate and lead in the adoption of new technologies
• Understand the difference between effort and outcome
• Be able to work in a high-pressure environment and prioritise tasks on a daily basis
• Have excellent time management
• Have a strong client focus
• Be comfortable when challenged by others
• Be able to challenge others with tact and courtesy
• Be able to set (and manage) realistic expectations
• Be fearless
• Have strong negotiation skills
• Be a natural, easy communicator and trainer
• Be a self-starter - able to motivate him/herself
• Have a large reserve of initiative to think around, through or past obstacles
• Be able to manage competing priorities and deliver successful outcomes
• Be able to effectively distribute and delegate work, avoiding tasks best left to others
• Know his/her own limitations and have the confidence to ask for assistance