Sr Technical Lead (Support & Operations)

Job Summary

The AOVPN Engineer / Consultant is responsible for the engineering, operation, availability, security and continual improvement of Microsoft Always On VPN services. The role provides L2/L3 support across VPN gateways, Network Policy Server (NPS), Remote Access Service (RAS), Windows Network Load Balancing, certificates, VPN profiles and traffic-routing components, while coordinating closely with Intune, PKI, Wintel, network, firewall and service-management teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Stable and secure remote connectivity with proactive monitoring and timely incident restoration.
• Controlled AOVPN profile, certificate, policy and infrastructure changes with tested rollback plans.
• Current operational, recovery and configuration documentation that supports audit and disaster-recovery readiness.
• Clear ownership, escalation and communication across internal teams, vendors and business stakeholders.

Service operations and support

• Monitor and administer VPN/RAS servers, NPS servers, Windows NLB clusters, Azure Traffic Manager endpoints and associated service health indicators.
• Troubleshoot user, device and site connectivity issues involving authentication, certificates, routing, DNS, split tunnelling, firewall flows and VPN profile behaviour.
• Own technical resolution of incidents, service requests, problems and changes, including accurate ticket updates, evidence, timelines and closure notes.
• Perform approved service restarts, server maintenance, patch coordination, endpoint enablement or disablement, and controlled traffic failover or switchback.
• Participate in an on-call or major-incident rota and provide technical leadership during priority incidents.

Skill Requirements

Engineering and lifecycle management

• Design, build, test and maintain AOVPN user and device tunnel configurations using ProfileXML and approved deployment methods.
• Configure and support RAS/VPN, NPS/RADIUS policies, IKEv2/SSTP settings, IP addressing, routes, DNS rules and traffic filters.
• Coordinate VPN profile deployment and removal through Microsoft Intune, ensuring pilot validation, sequencing, dependency checks and user-impact controls.
• Plan certificate enrolment, renewal and revocation activities with PKI teams for server, user, device and external-facing certificates.
• Support service transitions, platform upgrades, data-centre changes, tenant migrations, decommissioning and replacement of legacy VPN infrastructure.
• Engage Microsoft and other vendors for product defects, complex troubleshooting and technical escalation.

Other Requirements

Availability, recovery and security Maintain disaster-recovery and blackout-recovery procedures covering backup, restore, rebuild, failover, rollback, validation, ownership and communication. Execute periodic recovery and traffic-switchover tests, capture evidence, record lessons learned and drive corrective actions. Validate configuration backups for VPN/NPS servers and AOVPN XML profiles, and confirm dependencies such as PKI, Intune, DNS, network, firewall and internet connectivity. Apply security hardening, least-privilege access, certificate controls, logging and vulnerability-remediation requirements in line with organisational standards. Assess service risks, document technical debt, maintain remediation plans and escalate material availability or security concerns. Governance and continual improvement Maintain architecture diagrams, configuration baselines, standard operating procedures, runbooks, knowledge articles and support matrices. Provide operational reporting on availability, incidents, recurring issues, changes, capacity, certificate expiry, risks and improvement actions. Identify automation opportunities for monitoring, health checks, profile validation, reporting and routine operational tasks. Contribute to service reviews, problem-management sessions, change advisory discussions and stakeholder governance meetings. Mentor support engineers and provide knowledge transfer to service desk, workplace and infrastructure teams. Required technical skills Capability Expected proficiency Core AOVPN Hands-on administration and troubleshooting of Microsoft Always On VPN, RAS/RRAS, NPS/RADIUS, user tunnel, device tunnel and ProfileXML. Windows platform Strong Windows Server and Windows 10/11 knowledge, including services, networking, event logs, PowerShell and Group Policy. Identity and certificates Practical knowledge of Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, enterprise PKI, certificate templates, auto-enrolment, CRL/OCSP and certificate-based authentication. Endpoint management Experience deploying and troubleshooting VPN profiles and certificates through Microsoft Intune or equivalent endpoint-management tooling. Network technologies Sound knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, NAT, IPsec/IKEv2, SSTP, TLS, firewalls, proxies, load balancing and split/full-tunnel designs. Cloud and resilience Working knowledge of Azure Traffic Manager or equivalent traffic-routing services, high-availability patterns, backup/recovery and disaster-recovery testing. Service management Experience with ITIL-based incident, problem, change, request, knowledge and major-incident management processes. Qualifications and experience Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in information technology, computer science, engineering or a related field. 5-8+ years of experience in enterprise network, remote-access or Windows infrastructure support, including substantial hands-on AOVPN experience. Proven experience supporting production services across multiple sites or regions and working within structured change and incident-management controls. Microsoft, networking, cloud, security or IT service-management certifications are desirable. Behavioural competencies Strong analytical troubleshooting and root-cause thinking. Clear, concise stakeholder communication during incidents and planned changes. Ownership mindset with disciplined follow-through and attention to documentation. Ability to coordinate effectively across PKI, Intune, Wintel, network, security, vendor and service-management teams. Risk-aware decision-making and a continuous-improvement approach. Performance measures Service availability and reliability against agreed targets. Incident response and resolution performance, including reduction in repeat incidents. Change success rate and quality of implementation and rollback evidence. Certifica