James Balderstone

Experience

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  Granada Accounting Services

  Aug 2000 - Oct 2000

  PC Support Technician

  Installation and Support of 250 machines and end users running Windows NT.

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  Broadsystems

  Aug 2001 - Dec 2001

  Data Capture Clerk

  High Accuracy and speed of data entry.

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  Abbey National Plc

  Jan 2002 - Nov 2002

  Customer Service Advisor

  Answering of incoming calls and accurate recording of details into the internal system to strict accuracy and timescales.

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  Designer Servers Limited

  Nov 2002 - Jun 2004

  Support Technician

  Working on the customer facing support desk, supporting customers via email and telephone.Supporting Virtual webservers, running a variety of Unix based operating systems, primarily Red Hat Linux and dealing with a wide variety of software including Apache, Sendmail, PHP, MySQL, CGI scripts.Created several PHP based scripts for internal and customer use, including a PDF generation script that generated letters based on customer input.Part of a 24/7 on-call rota system responsible for the monitoring/maintenance of approx. 100 servers in a local data centre. Show less

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  Version One Ltd

  Jun 2004 - Apr 2011

  Installation Engineer/Software Trainer

  Started as a Pre-installations Engineer, working with the companies own scripting language, proceeding through managing two engineers.Promoted to Installation Engineer/Software Trainer which involved developing and running of training courses for customers and resellers of the software, over a wide variety of skill levels.Also involved with the management of projects, from initial scoping meetings through to the delivery and support of the final solution.Technical roles included working as part of the technical support team to solve customer/reseller problems and advise them of best practise. Show less

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  Motorola Solutions

  Aug 2011 - Jun 2014

  Field Service Engineer

  Support and maintenance of Fire Service command and control systems across the UK. Using and Maintaining Solaris 10 servers and windows clients using a variety of software including Oracle databases.

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  Systel-SA

  Jul 2014 - Feb 2023

  My current employer provides Command and Control systems to various Fire Service control rooms across the country, and part of my role is to ensure that the software we provide is working correctly, customers are fully supported and SLAs and KPIs are met, this involves liaising between the customers, third party suppliers and our head office in France.As part of my role as Lead engineer I am involved with a wide range of duties, from 2nd/3rd line technical support to the end users and managing a team of field engineers to providing high level technical guidance to the Fire Service and internally. During major incidents and projects I act as main liaison point between the Fire Service and our company, ensuring that all stakeholders are fully informed of the situation and the plan going forward.I currently lead and work with a team of engineers, both in the UK and in our France head office, acting as a mentor and coach, as well as encouraging the team to manage their own workloads.I have been responsible for implementing several processes and projects for our customers and internally, including ensuring that our software/hardware passes the government’s Cyber Essentials certification, as part of a nationwide government project.I am also involved with the internal IT support of the UK office, including internal policies, equipment and service procurement and Health & Safety Show less

  • Technical Manager

    Oct 2021 - Feb 2023

  • Lead Engineer

    Mar 2017 - Feb 2023

  • Field Service Manager

    Nov 2015 - Feb 2023

  • field service engineer

    Jul 2014 - Nov 2015
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  Minster Law

  Feb 2023 - Mar 2024

  Technical Services Manager

  Technical Services Manager managing a busy service desk for a top 100 UK law firm supporting >500 colleagues with all their technical needs.Supporting the business with managing supplier contracts and third party services. Sourced new suppliers and negotiated with existing ones to save ~£22k/yr in my first 8 months in role.Excellent leader, self motivated and accessible to all business areas. Led service desk team to win 'Team of the year' in annual company awards.

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  YFM Equity Partners

  Apr 2024 - now

  IT Manager