IT Infrastructure & Network Engineer

Company Description About Kaelo

Kaelo provides essential healthcare solutions ensuring the physical and psychosocial wellbeing of all South Africans towards lasting social change. Kaelo meets the Healthcare needs of Corporate and Retail clients across South Africa – products offerings include Medical Insurance, Medical Aid, Gap Insurance, Kaelo Money and employee assistance programmes.

Job Description REQ-05

Role Purpose

The IT Infrastructure & Network Engineer is Kaelo’s on-site technology presence at an office location. Reporting to the Head of IT, the incumbent provides end-user support, supports the call centre and its telephony and omnichannel services, and maintains the local infrastructure, network and firewalls, ensuring that staff at the site have reliable, secure and well-supported technology.

The role combines strong desktop and infrastructure support capability with solid networking knowledge, and includes user and access management, day-to-day management of virtual servers and cloud infrastructure in partnership with the Cloud Engineer, first-line handling of site security matters in partnership with the Security Engineer, and delivery of assigned IT project work. As the main technical presence at the site, the incumbent must be self-sufficient, well organised and comfortable escalating appropriately.

Key Responsibilities

1. End-User, Call Centre & Omnichannel Support

• Provide first and second line support to users at the site across desktop, laptop, mobile, application and connectivity issues.
• Support the call centre, including agent workstations, headsets, softphones and call centre applications, prioritising issues that affect live member service.
• Support the underlying telephony services (VoIP, PBX or cloud telephony, SIP trunks, IVR and call routing) and the omnichannel platforms used by the call centre, such as voice, email, chat and messaging channels, working with vendors where required.
• Resolve assigned tickets within agreed service levels and keep users informed, co-ordinating hardware repairs and warranty claims through the IT Desktop and Asset Admin.
• Support meeting room, audio-visual and collaboration technology.

2. Network Support, Maintenance & Firewall Management

• Maintain and troubleshoot the local network, including switching, wireless and connectivity to other sites, data centres and cloud services.
• Manage the site firewalls, including rule changes through the approved change process, firmware updates, VPN configuration and periodic rule reviews.
• Ensure network quality of service supports voice and omnichannel traffic, so that call quality and contact centre services are not degraded.
• Monitor network, telephony and connectivity performance at the site and escalate degradation promptly.
• Manage the physical network infrastructure, including patching, cabling and comms room condition, and keep network documentation current.

3. Infrastructure, Virtual Servers & Endpoint Management

• Maintain local servers and supporting services at the site.
• Manage virtual servers (VMware or Hyper-V) and carry out day-to-day cloud infrastructure tasks within delegated authority, escalating to and working with the Cloud Engineer on design, capacity, security and incident matters.
• Deploy, configure and decommission endpoints in line with organisational standards, including call centre workstations and telephony endpoints.
• Manage software installation, updates and patch levels on endpoints.
• Ensure endpoint security agents are installed, healthy and reporting correctly.

4. User & Access Management

• Create, modify and disable user accounts in Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 in line with the joiner, mover and leaver process.
• Grant and remove access to systems, shared resources and call centre and telephony platforms on approved requests only, on a least-privilege basis.
• Escalate unusual or high-risk access requests, and any suspected account compromise, to the Security Engineer before acting on them.
• Reset passwords and multi-factor authentication only after verifying the user’s identity.
• Support periodic user and access rights audits, and remediate the findings.

5. Security, Backup & Compliance

• Apply security controls, secure configuration baselines and patching standards to site infrastructure and endpoints.
• Maintain firewall security policies at the site so that rules are least-privilege, documented and reviewed.
• Handle security matters at the site within delegated authority, escalating to and working with the Security Engineer on suspected incidents, vulnerabilities, firewall findings and control gaps.
• Support backup operations and local restore testing.
• Maintain the configuration evidence required for ISO 27001 and internal audit, and report security incidents promptly.

6. Projects, Asset Support & Continuous Improvement

• Work on relevant IT projects and deliver assigned work on time, according to scope and within budget.
• Keep the IT Desktop and Asset Admin informed of all asset movements at the site, support asset audits, and raise equipment requirements through IT procurement.
• Escalate complex issues to the Head of IT with clear diagnostic information, and share knowledge with engineers at other sites.
• Identify recurring problems at the site and propose permanent solutions, contributing to the knowledge base.

7. Alignment, Reporting & Escalation

• Align work to, and execute, the direction and strategy set by the IT Executive.
• Communicate progress and escalate issues and risks to the IT Executive, through the Head of IT where appropriate, promptly and transparently.

Qualifications REQ-05

Qualifications

• National diploma or relevant qualification in Information Technology, Computer Science or a related field.
• Network certification (CCNA or vendor equivalent) required or in progress; firewall vendor certification (e.g. Fortinet NSE) or Microsoft certification advantageous.

Experience

Essential

• Minimum 3–5 years’ experience in desktop, infrastructure and end-user support.
• Demonstrated networking knowledge, including switching, wireless, VLANs, TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP and quality of service.
• Hands-on experience managing firewalls (e.g. Fortinet, Sophos, Palo Alto, Cisco or equivalent).
• Windows desktop and Windows Server support experience, including virtual servers (VMware or Hyper-V).
• Experience with Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365, including user and access management.
• Experience supporting telephony or call centre environments.
• Experience working to service levels within a ticketing system.

Preferred

• Experience with contact centre or omnichannel platforms (e.g. Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect, Microsoft Teams Phone or equivalent).
• Exposure to Microsoft Azure or other cloud infrastructure.
• Experience contributing to IT infrastructure projects.
• Experience in financial services or another regulated industry; basic PowerShell scripting.

Technical Competencies

• Desktop & End-User Support
• Call Centre & Contact Centre Technology Support
• Telephony — VoIP, SIP, PBX/Cloud Telephony & IVR
• Omnichannel Contact Platforms
• Networking — Switching, Wireless, VLANs, TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP & QoS
• Firewall Management & Rule Governance
• Virtual Server Management (VMware, Hyper-V)
• Cloud Infrastructure Fundamentals (Azure)
• Active Directory, Entra ID & Microsoft 365 User and Access Management
• Endpoint Deployment & Lifecycle Management
• Backup Operations & Restore Support
• Patch Management & Secure Configuration
• Service Management & Ticketing Systems
• IT Project Task Delivery

Core Competencies

• Self-Sufficiency — works effectively as the main technical presence on site.
• Service Orientation — treats users well and prioritises issues affecting members and