IT & Production Technician

Active Silicon is a market leader in the design and manufacture of leading-edge computer imaging products. These products are used in many areas of science and industry, including manufacturing, life sciences, medical imaging, robotics and security, with many products targeted to specific customer requirements. The current range of products can be seen on the company’s website. The type of customers we have, are in general, medium to large companies with which we forge strong long-term relationships and are located all over the world. Active Silicon is part of the Solid State plc group, listed on the AIM stock market under code SOLI.

This job description is for the role of IT & Production Technician, with responsibility for the development and maintenance of new and existing products. 

The current product range is here - https://www.activesilicon.com/products/

Hours: 37.5 hours per week, 26 days annual holiday (plus public holidays)

Salary Package: Circa £40k depending on skills and experience, plus salary-sacrifice pension (5% employer, 3% employee) and discretionary bonus scheme. Life assurance at 4x basic salary. Salary sacrifice EV scheme (subject to eligibility).

Access to Westfield Health Scheme including:

- Corporate Health Cash Plan including cover for dependents

- Employee Assistance Programme

- Discounted gym membership

- Retail discount scheme

- Wellbeing app

Experience: Experience in 2nd Line IT support or IT Technician role

The IT and Production Technician is an important role within the organisation to assist with the smooth running of IT & Production systems across the company. The role reports to the IT Manager and has a mix of first/second line support and longer-term project implementation. The ability to manage priorities and work independently is important. 

IT support is provided to all levels within the company so requires good people skills, and a calm and positive outlook, in addition to technical skills. The job involves supporting all types of IT equipment, printers, laptops, desktops, servers and telephony together with software support. For supporting the Microsoft applications, the IT and Production Technician should develop an advanced skill level to be able to assist users in their day-to-day use of these applications. This would include skills such as confidence with Excel VBA Macros/ writing & running scripts and administrator functions of Active Directory. Basic website skills for maintaining the company intranet would be useful. 

The role will also support the Head of R&D. This will include assisting with the company R&D development and test PC/server systems and scripting tools for the automation of product testing. 

• Hands on IT support working with the IT Manager to handle over 50 staff, with a hybrid model for staff either working from home or at either office plus remote support for US office and other remote workers.

• Be the first point of contact for staff on all IT issues by providing 1st & 2nd line support. Track issues with a ticketing system.

• Day to day basic system admin tasks, such as checking backups, network performance, server status etc.

• Be able to perform administrator activities on Backup systems, Anti-Virus, Mail gateway and security systems.

• Become an advanced user of Office 365 and other Microsoft applications, such as CRM, to offer advice to staff in their day-to-day use of these applications.

• Provide hardware support for Windows OS updates, BIOS updates, audio hardware etc.

• Help support bespoke production specific test PCs.

• Help build and set up PCs for R&D, tech support and trade show purposes.

• Proven work experience in 2nd Line IT support or IT Technician role 

• Able to install, configure, upgrade and relocate PC hardware, software and print devices.

• Knowledge of Windows 10/11, MS Server 2016/2019/2022, management of Active Directory, Microsoft 365/Entra 

• Previous experience with Terminal Services / Citrix / VDA environments would be beneficial

• Understanding of Networks and Firewalls

• Asset management

• Practical experience with internet and network security protocols

• Ability to initiate, plan and organise

• Problem solving skills

• Scripting (PowerShell, Batch Files, Linux shell, Python, PHP, etc.)

• Must hold a full driving licence

Useful Additional Expertise

• Unix/Linux knowledge would also be advantageous

• Experience working in a manufacturing environment 

• Having a flexible and adaptable approach

• Willingness to be hands on

• Curious - inquisitive and open minded, seeks out evolving and innovative ways to add value

• Collaborative - Able to work effectively and inclusively with a range of people

• Driven to deliver - Determined and resourceful to deliver the best results for the business

• Communication – good written, verbal and presentation skills – the ability to communicate to the rest of the engineering team, to suppliers and sub-contractors, as well sometimes direct to customers.