Simon Tait

Infrastructure Support Engineer

Infrastructure Support Engineer within a Managed Solutions Provider, delivering advanced platform and infrastructure support across enterprise hybrid environments. Responsible for maintaining the stability, security, and performance of server, network, virtualisation, cloud, SaaS, disaster recovery, and security platforms across multiple customer environments.

• Act as a senior technical escalation point for complex platform and infrastructure incidents across Windows Server, Linux, networking, virtualisation, cloud, SaaS, disaster recovery, and security technologies
• Lead and contribute to root cause analysis (RCA), incident response, risk assessment, and service restoration activities for major and recurring infrastructure issues
• Support, administer, and troubleshoot hybrid infrastructure environments, including physical servers, virtualisation platforms, cloud services, enterprise networking, and security appliances
• Raise, review, and implement infrastructure changes in accordance with change management and operational governance processes
• Collaborate with internal teams, vendors, and customer stakeholders on upgrades, migrations, integrations, and platform improvements
• Identify opportunities for automation, operational optimisation, and process improvement to increase reliability and reduce manual effort
• Maintain technical documentation, operational procedures, and knowledge base resources while providing guidance and mentorship to junior engineers
• Contribute to infrastructure security, capacity planning, performance tuning, and long-term platform resilience initiatives

Senior Customer Engineer

Senior Infrastructure Engineer within a managed services environment, supporting both internal and customer enterprise infrastructure. Served as a senior escalation point and decision-making contributor, working closely with the Technical Manager to deliver infrastructure stability, operational improvements, and technical leadership.

Supported Windows Server, Microsoft 365, networking, virtualisation, hosting, backup and disaster recovery platforms across hybrid environments. Led patch management, vulnerability remediation, monitoring, reporting, and infrastructure optimisation initiatives while supporting a nationwide engineering team. Maintained ownership of key platform management and automation processes, helping improve operational efficiency, system stability, and compliance outcomes.

Partnered with customer IT stakeholders to align technical solutions with business requirements, contribute to infrastructure upgrades and service improvements, and drive long-term resilience across enterprise environments.

2nd Line Engineer (Global Service Desk)

• Delivered 24/7 infrastructure and platform support across global managed service environments supporting 500+ customer organisations
• Diagnosed and resolved complex server, network, cloud, and security incidents while managing escalations and major incident response activities
• Collaborated closely with senior engineers on root cause analysis, change management, and service restoration for high-impact incidents
• Monitored enterprise infrastructure, networks and services, performing proactive investigation, remediation, patching, upgrades, approved change implementation, and operational improvement activities
• Provided technical leadership, mentorship, and escalation support to junior engineers and service desk teams

IT Systems Administrator

• Managed enterprise IT operations supporting Head Office, manufacturing facilities, and 40+ retail locations across South Africa
• Administered core infrastructure, networking, security, and business-critical systems supporting 350+ users
• Delivered and coordinated infrastructure projects including migrations, upgrades, disaster recovery solutions, and technology refresh initiatives
• Led the Solutions Centre team, providing technical leadership, skills development, and operational support
• Collaborated with business stakeholders to identify and implement technology improvements that enhanced reliability, efficiency, and service delivery

IT Systems Engineer

• Designed, deployed, and supported enterprise networking, infrastructure, and cyber-security solutions as part of a Cisco partner environment
• Led infrastructure projects from planning through implementation, coordinating technical teams and external stakeholders
• Managed customer networks, servers, and business systems while providing advanced technical support and consultancy services
• Performed infrastructure reviews, testing, and optimisation activities to improve performance, reliability, and long-term sustainability
• Developed technical documentation, operational procedures, and customer training materials
• Collaborated with sales teams on solution design, proof-of-concept testing, and technical pre-sales engagements

IT Helpdesk Support

• Provided onsite and remote technical support to residential and small business customers
• Installed, configured, and supported hardware, software, operating systems, and peripheral devices
• Diagnosed and resolved a broad range of technical issues across desktop, networking, and consumer IT environments
• Delivered customer-focused technical guidance, documentation, and recommendations