Senior Specialist, IT Infrastructure - Endurance Racing

Purpose of the Role:

To deliver, support, and continuously improve the IT infrastructure that underpins McLaren’s Endurance Racing operations. This role ensures robust, reliable, and high-performance IT systems at both the factory and trackside, enabling the team to excel in the demanding environment of the WEC. The Senior Specialist will play a critical part in operational readiness for race events, supporting connectivity, data transfer, and seamless collaboration between global locations. 

Role Dimensions:

Scope: Responsible for all aspects of IT infrastructure support for the Endurance Racing team, including hardware, software, networking, and application troubleshooting at the factory and at race events worldwide. 

Key Interfaces: Internal users (race engineers, technical staff, operations), IT leadership, third-party vendors, and series suppliers. 

Collaboration & Communication: Work closely with racing, technical, and operations departments to understand and deliver on their IT needs. Effective communication and proactive problem-solving are essential. 

Innovation & Improvement: Continuously seek new technologies and methods to enhance IT operations, reliability, and performance in a fast-paced, high-pressure motorsport environment. 

Principal Accountabilities:

• Deliver and maintain IT infrastructure at the factory and trackside, ensuring operational readiness for each race event. 

• Provide advanced troubleshooting and resolution of complex IT issues, both remotely and on-site. 

• Support connectivity, data transfer, and simulator operations between the WEC HQ, McLaren Technology Centre, and remote locations. 

• Ensure reliability and performance of infrastructure and operational systems for all race support functions. 

• Collaborate with central IT teams to provide business-as-usual (BAU) support and manage incident and request workflows (1st line through to 3rd line).

• Work with series suppliers to integrate and support standardized technology platforms. 

• Develop and maintain technical documentation, knowledge base articles, and standard operating procedures. 

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance service delivery, system reliability, and user experience. 

• Manage vendor relationships and ensure third-party support aligns with service expectations. 

• Ensure compliance with IT policies, procedures, and security standards. 

• Participate in IT projects, providing input on infrastructure requirements and transition planning. 

• Act as a point of escalation for high-impact or sensitive support issues. 

• Schedule and prioritize workload to anticipate and resolve problems before they impact operations. 

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

Extensive previous experience in complex organisations and IT Support with an in-depth knowledge of the following areas:  

• Proven experience in IT infrastructure engineering, ideally within motorsport or similarly demanding environments. 

• Strong technical background in networking (WAN/LAN/Wi-Fi/routing/firewalls), server and storage platforms (Dell EMC), virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V), and enterprise applications. 

• Experience supporting hybrid and remote working environments, with flexibility to travel and work non-standard hours aligned to the racing calendar, supporting the team from the factory during race and test events.  

• Familiarity with ITIL framework and service management principles. 

• Excellent troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills. 

• Experience with service desk tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira, Freshservice). 

• Ability to analyze data and produce meaningful reports to inform decision-making. 

• Experience managing vendor relationships and supporting standardized technology platforms. 

• Experience with motorsport applications, including Motion Applied suite (ATLAS/System Monitor/Atlas Data Server) desirable. 

Personal Attributes:

• Strong verbal and written communication skills. 

• Ability to build and maintain relationships with peers and stakeholders. 

• Calm and efficient under pressure, with a proactive and solution-oriented mindset. 

• Highly organized, with attention to detail and the ability to absorb complex technical information. 

• Empathetic and user-focused, committed to delivering high-quality support. 

• Adaptable and open to change in a fast-paced environment. 

• Capable of working independently as well as part of the wider team. 

• Collaborative, energetic, and aligned with McLaren’s brand values: Brave, Respectful, Innovative, Inclusive, and Energetic. 

These are our core values. They support our vision to deliver the most exciting and inspiring performance in racing and are the things that we believe are most important in the way we live and work within the McLaren Racing family. They should directly inform how we think, how we behave, and how we perform at every level of our team. 

Our Brand Values:

• Brave: We set the highest standards and hold ourselves to them. 

• Respectful: We act with integrity and address challenges with openness and honesty. 

• Innovative: We strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. 

• Inclusive: We embrace diversity and empower each person to contribute. 

• Energetic: We show up every day with enthusiasm, ready to play our part. 

All employees must ensure compliance with the Company Health and Safety Policy and all relevant statutory Health and Safety legislation. 

This job description may not detail every duty allocated to the post holder, nor cover duties of a similar nature, commensurate with the role, which may be reasonably required from time to time.