Job Description
Junior Technical Specialist
Application Deadline: 5 June 2026
Department: Technical Services
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Wigan & Leigh College
Reporting To: John Donnellan
Compensation: £29,016 - £31,699 / year
Full-time, Permanent
From support tickets to infrastructure. Ready for the next step?
At Wigan & Leigh College, technology underpins almost everything we do. It helps students learn, teachers teach, and college teams do their best work.
As a Junior Technical Specialist, you’ll help monitor, maintain and improve the systems that keep the college running. You’ll support our network, servers, virtual desktop infrastructure, software deployment, print systems and telephony. You’ll also work closely with our Desktop Support Team, helping with escalated tickets and supporting project work.
This role would suit someone who already has a foundation in IT support and wants to develop deeper technical skills across infrastructure, systems and security. You won’t be expected to know everything on day one. You’ll need curiosity, good problem-solving skills, attention to detail and the confidence to keep learning.
What you'll do
- Help monitor and maintain the college network, including switches, routers and network topology, with support from senior colleagues.
- Support the administration of physical and virtual servers, helping to keep systems reliable and performing well.
- Assist with software installation, configuration and updates across college systems.
- Support the college’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, helping to troubleshoot issues and improve user access.
- Help maintain print and telephony systems, resolving day-to-day issues with the Desktop Support Team.
- Work with the Desktop Support Team on escalated tickets, acting as a bridge between first-line support and more technical resolution.
- Support IT security by helping to monitor systems, apply updates and maintain good documentation.
- Take part in researching, testing and implementing new technical solutions that improve IT services.
What you'll bring
Essential:
- A basic understanding of network infrastructure, server administration and virtual desktop technologies.
- Some experience in software support and troubleshooting, ideally in a busy multi-user environment.
- An interest in developing deeper technical skills across infrastructure, cloud, security and systems.
- The ability to learn new technologies and apply what you learn.
- Awareness of IT security principles and the importance of keeping systems patched, documented and secure.
- Good communication skills, including the ability to explain technical issues clearly to non-technical users.
- Good organisation and attention to detail.
Desirable, but not essential:
- Experience in an education setting.
- Interest in working towards technical certifications such as Cisco, Microsoft or VMware.
- Awareness of cloud services or hybrid infrastructure.
- Experience supporting project work.
What you're like
Curious. You want to understand how things work, not just fix the immediate issue.
Practical. You can troubleshoot calmly and work through problems step by step.
Customer-focused. You remember there is a person behind every ticket.
Clear. You can explain technical information in a way that makes sense.
Organised. You keep good records and follow things through.
Resilient. You can stay calm when systems are busy, deadlines are tight or problems are urgent.
Collaborative. You work well with IT colleagues, staff, students and external partners.
Why work with us
This is a strong next-step role for someone who wants to move beyond day-to-day IT support and build broader technical experience. You’ll work across systems that matter: network, servers, VDI, software, security, print and telephony. That means variety, challenge and a real opportunity to grow.
You’ll be part of an IT team that keeps college life moving. When systems work well, students can learn, teachers can teach, and colleagues can do their jobs properly. Your work may often happen behind the scenes, but its impact is felt across the whole college.
You’ll learn from experienced colleagues, contribute to technical projects and help shape better IT services for the future.
Time to recharge
- Generous annual leave, including bank holidays
- Family-friendly leave policies
Wellbeing as well as work
- 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
- Medicash healthcare plan
- Occupational health and confidential counselling
- Specsavers eye test vouchers
Financial peace of mind
- Teachers’ Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme
- Salary sacrifice schemes: Cycle to Work, buy tech
- Railcard and Tusker Green car scheme
- Local and national discount schemes
Clear progression routes
- Opportunities to step up, specialise, or move across departments
- Leadership pathways
- Support to gain further qualifications
Read more about
our benefitsPlease complete our application form in full. We can’t accept CVs.
