Crafting a CV that effectively highlights your intricate project management skills and technical expertise can be an imposing challenge for you as an infrastructure engineer. Our guide offers tailored advice on refining your CV to showcase your strengths and successfully navigate through the complexities of your profession.
- Applying best practices from real-world examples to ensure your profile always meets recruiters' expectations;
- What to include in your work experience section, apart from your past roles and responsibilities?
- Why are both hard and soft skills important for your application?
- How do you need to format your CV to pass the Applicant Tracker Software (ATS) assessment?
If you're writing your CV for a niche infrastructure engineer role, make sure to get some inspiration from professionals:
Formatting your infrastructure engineer CV to meet the role expectations
Staring at the blank page for hours on end, you still have no idea how you should start your professional infrastructure engineer CV. Should you include more colours, two columns, and which sections? What you should remember about your CV format is this - ensure it's minimalistic and doesn't go over the top with fancy fonts and many colours. Instead, focus on writing consistent content that actually answers the job requirements. But, how about the design itself :- Use the reverse chronological order to showcase your experience, starting with your most recent role;
- Include your contact details (email address, phone number, and location) - and potentially your professional photo - in the header;
- Must-have CV sections include summary or objective, experience, education, and skills: curate the ones that fit your profile;
- Your professional infrastructure engineer CV should be between one-to-two pages long: select the longer format if you have more experience.
A little bit more about your actual CV design, ensure you're using:
- plenty of serif or sans serif font (e.g. Montserrat, Exo 2, Volkhov) as they are Applicant Tracker System (ATS) compliant. Avoid the likes of Arial and Times New Roman because most candidates' CVs are in this typography.
When submitting your CV, are you still not sure what format it should be? Despite the myth that has been circling around, most modern ATS systems are perfectly capable of reading PDFs. This format is an excellent choice as it keeps all of your information intact.
PRO TIP
Use bold or italics sparingly to draw attention to key points, such as job titles, company names, or significant achievements. Overusing these formatting options can dilute their impact.
The top sections on a infrastructure engineer CV
- Professional Summary highlights expertise in managing critical infrastructure and systems.
- Relevant Experience demonstrates a history of successful infrastructure projects and maintenance.
- Technical Skills show proficiency with necessary tools and technologies for infrastructure management.
- Certifications & Education underline formal qualifications and specialised training in the field.
- Projects & Accomplishments detail specific achievements and contributions to infrastructure solutions.
What recruiters value on your CV:
- Highlight your experience with managing and scaling robust IT infrastructure, detailing how you've worked with both on-premises and cloud-based solutions to ensure high availability and reliability.
- Mention specific technologies and platforms you are proficient with, such as AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, or Terraform, and how you've utilised them in previous projects to optimise infrastructure performance.
- Include any automation tools and scripting languages you’re skilled in, like Ansible, Puppet, Chef, or Python, and describe how you've used them to streamline deployment processes and reduce human error.
- Detail your experience with infrastructure as code (IaC), providing examples of how you've enforced consistency and accountability in the environment's setup phases.
- Emphasise your ability to collaborate with development teams, showcasing your experience with CI/CD pipelines and how you've contributed to the DevOps culture by aligning infrastructure with business needs.
Recommended reads:
Tips and tricks on writing a job-winning infrastructure engineer CV header
The CV header is the space which most recruiters would be referring most often to, in the beginning and end of your application. That is as the CV header includes your contact details, but also a headline and a professional photo. When writing your CV header:
- Double-check your contact details for spelling errors or if you've missed any digits. Also, ensure you've provided your personal details, and not your current work email or telephone number;
- Include your location in the form of the city and country you live in. If you want to be more detailed, you can list your full address to show proximity to your potential work place;
- Don't include your CV photo, if you're applying for roles in the UK or US, as this may bias initial recruiters' assessments;
- Write a professional headline that either integrates the job title, some relevant industry keywords, or your most noteworthy achievement.
In the next part of our guide, we'll provide you with professional CVs that showcase some of the best practices when it comes to writing your headline.
Examples of good CV headlines for infrastructure engineer:
- Senior Infrastructure Engineer | Cloud Solutions Specialist | AWS Certified | 10+ Years’ Experience
- Junior Infrastructure Technician | Network Support Enthusiast | CCNA | 2 Years on Job
- Lead Infrastructure Architect | Data Centre Expert | ITIL & PMP | 15-Years' Leadership
- Mid-Level Infrastructure Consultant | Cybersecurity Focus | CISSP | 5 Years Progressive Experience
- Principal Systems Engineer | Virtualisation & Automation Pro | VCP-DCV | 12 Years Industry Expertise
- Infrastructure Operations Manager | DevOps Advocate | Microsoft Certified | 8 Years Building Teams
Choosing your opening statement: a infrastructure engineer CV summary or objective
At the top one third of your CV, you have the chance to make a more personable impression on recruiters by selecting between:
- Summary - or those three to five sentences that you use to show your greatest achievements. Use the CV summary if you happen to have plenty of relevant experience and wish to highlight your greatest successes;
- Objective - provides you with up to five sentences to state your professional aims and mission in the company you're applying for
CV summaries for a infrastructure engineer job:
- Seasoned Infrastructure Engineer with over 8 years of experience specialising in cloud services deployment, network security, and data centre management. Proficient with AWS, Cisco technologies, and automation using Ansible. Instrumental in reducing system downtime by 30% at TechSolve Inc. through strategic infrastructure revamps.
- Dynamic professional with a decade's tenure in software development, transitioning into Infrastructure Engineering. Holds deep expertise in Python, system architecture, and a proven track record of leading successful cross-functional project teams. Seeking to leverage coding prowess and analytical skills to advance into cloud infrastructure and server administration.
- Diligent Aerospace Engineer making a career transition to Infrastructure Engineering, intrigued by the challenges of IT systems management. With strong analytical skills and a solid understanding of physics principles, looking to apply systematic problem-solving approaches to optimise and secure enterprise IT environments.
- Proactive individual with 5 years of experience as an IT Support Specialist eager to contribute to the world of Infrastructure Engineering. Adept at network troubleshooting, hardware maintenance, and providing high-quality support. Exemplified commitment to service excellence by achieving a 98% satisfaction rate from client feedback surveys.
- Eager to embark on an Infrastructure Engineering career with a focus on sustainability and cutting-edge technology. With a passion for learning and a recent Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, committed to bringing fresh insights and a willingness to gain hands-on experience in managing and protecting vital IT systems.
- Seeking to integrate theoretical knowledge and a heightened interest in advanced technology into the practical domain of Infrastructure Engineering. With an academic background in Information Technology and relevant internship experience, driven to hone skills in network architecture and cloud solutions in a hands-on, dynamic environment.
Narrating the details of your infrastructure engineer CV experience section
Perhaps you've heard it time and time again, but, how you present your experience is what matters the most. Your CV experience section - that details your work history alongside your accomplishments - is the space to spotlight your unqiue expertise and talents. So, avoid solely listing your responsibilities, but instead:
- adverts' keywords and integrate those in your experience section;
- Use your CV to detail how you've been promoted in the past by including experience in the reverse chronological order.
Before you start writing your infrastructure engineer CV experience section, dive into some industry-leading examples on how to structure your bullets.
Best practices for your CV's work experience section
- Designed and implemented scalable, high-availability infrastructure solutions that supported business objectives and ensured 99.9% uptime, utilising cloud services such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Managed and optimized server infrastructure for a diverse range of environments including Windows, Linux, UNIX, with an emphasis on automation and configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef.
- Collaborated with development teams to streamline deployment processes, incorporating CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Travis CI, or GitLab CI to increase release efficiency and reduce rollback incidents.
- Developed and maintained comprehensive disaster recovery plans, conducted regular testing to confirm data integrity, and rapidly responded to critical incidents to minimise service disruption. Led cross-functional teams in the strategic planning and execution of network architecture upgrades, focusing on security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
- Led the migration of on-premises legacy systems to AWS cloud infrastructure, cutting operational costs by 30%.
- Engineered and maintained reliable and secure network infrastructure, reducing downtime by 15% and enhancing business continuity.
- Implemented automated provisioning tools like Terraform and Ansible, improving deployment efficiency by 40%.
- Designing and deploying scalable server and network architectures for a global user base leading to a 20% increase in service availability.
- Spearheading the adoption of containerization using Docker and Kubernetes, resulting in a 50% acceleration in app development cycle times.
- Orchestrated a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that decreased potential data recovery times by over 60%.
- Managed the complete data center overhaul project that enhanced processing capacity by 2.5x.
- Implemented strict security protocols and measures that led to a 70% reduction in vulnerability exploits.
- Developed and rolled out a robust monitoring system that improved network uptime to 99.9%.
- Pioneered the application of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) techniques, shortening the infrastructure provision time from weeks to hours.
- Optimized data storage and management, achieving cost savings of $200,000 annually on storage.
- Initiated and managed cross-functional teams for the deployment of critical infrastructure, completing projects 25% ahead of schedule.
- Modernized network infrastructure by integrating next-generation firewalls and advanced threat protection systems.
- Collaborated with software development teams to create a CI/CD pipeline that reduced time-to-market by 20%.
- Led the technical side of vendor negotiations to reduce IT infrastructure expenses by 15% through selective sourcing.
- Upgraded the core routing and switching infrastructure to improve bandwidth throughput by 100 Gbps substantially.
- Expertly managed vendor relationships which enhanced the quality of support services and equipment by 30%.
- Deployed a centralized management system for network devices to simplify administrative tasks and reduce human error.
- Championing the development of a hybrid cloud environment that enables fluid workload migration and optimized cost management.
- Driving automation in infrastructure management that has already reduced manual intervention by 60%.
- Evaluating emerging technologies to align infrastructure growth with strategic business initiatives.
- Performed extensive research and development, resulting in the implementation of an enterprise SD-WAN solution that improved network performance by 40%.
- Masterminded the creation of custom scripts to automate infrastructure tasks, boosting productivity across the IT department by 25%.
- Coordinated the seamless transition of the mobile workforce to a secure remote access solution that maintained 100% compliance with industry standards.
- Upgraded and managed a 10,000+ endpoint environment which demanded meticulous planning and execution to ensure zero business disruption.
- Deployed network monitoring solutions enabling proactive issue resolution and boasted a 98% incident detection rate.
- Instituted a comprehensive training program for IT staff on new technologies that reduced onboarding time by 50%.
- Designed and implemented an IT service continuity plan that reduced potential downtime costs by up to $1 million per incident.
- Enhanced application deployment processes through the introduction of microservices, improving scalability and resilience.
- Developed a company-wide BYOD policy and the accompanying security infrastructure to protect corporate data on personal devices.
Swapping your professional experience (when you have none) with skills and more
Never underestimate the importance of relevancе when it comes to your infrastructure engineer CV. Even if you don't happen to have much or any standard (full-time contract) professional experience, this doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for the role. Instead of a bespoke CV experience section:
- Showcase more prominently any internships, part-time roles, and volunteer experience that are applicable to the role and have taught you job-crucial skills;
- Feature a strengths or achievements section with your transferrable skills or talents you've obtained thanks to your work or life experience;
- Write an objective statement that clearly outlines your values as a candidate and defines your career ambitions;
- List your education or certificates that match the job profile closer to the top of your CV.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Talk about any positive changes you helped bring about in your previous jobs, like improving a process or helping increase efficiency.
Describing your unique skill set using both hard skills and soft skills
Your infrastructure engineer CV provides you with the perfect opportunity to spotlight your talents, and at the same time - to pass any form of assessment. Focusing on your skill set across different CV sections is the way to go, as this would provide you with an opportunity to quantify your achievements and successes. There's one common, very simple mistake, which candidates tend to make at this stage. Short on time, they tend to hurry and mess up the spelling of some of the key technologies, skills, and keywords. Copy and paste the particular skill directly from the job requirement to your CV to pass the Applicant Tracker System (ATS) assessment. Now, your CV skills are divided into:
- Technical or hard skills, describing your comfort level with technologies (software and hardware). List your aptitude by curating your certifications, on the work success in the experience section, and technical projects. Use the dedicated skills section to provide recruiters with up to twelve technologies, that match the job requirements, and you're capable of using.
- People or soft skills provide you with an excellent background to communicate, work within a team, solve problems. Don't just copy-paste that you're a "leader" or excel at "analysis". Instead, provide tangible metrics that define your success inusing the particular skill within the strengths, achievements, summary/ objective sections.
Top skills for your infrastructure engineer CV:
Cloud Computing (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Server Administration (Windows, Linux)
Virtualisation Technologies (VMWare, Hyper-V)
Containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes)
Networking (TCP/IP, VPN, DHCP, DNS)
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible)
Scripting (PowerShell, Bash)
Storage Solutions (SAN, NAS, Object Storage)
Cybersecurity Practices
Database Administration (SQL, NoSQL)
Problem-Solving
Collaboration
Project Management
Communication
Analytical Thinking
Time Management
Adaptability
Attention to Detail
Leadership
Customer Service Orientation
PRO TIP
Focus on describing skills in the context of the outcomes they’ve helped you achieve, linking them directly to tangible results or successes in your career.
Education and more professional qualifications to include in your infrastructure engineer CV
If you want to showcase to recruiters that you're further qualified for the role, ensure you've included your relevant university diplomas. Within your education section:
- Describe your degree with your university name(-s) and start-graduation dates;
- List any awards you've received, if you deem they would be impressive or are relevant to the industry;
- Include your projects and publications, if you need to further showcase how you've used your technical know-how;
- Avoid listing your A-level marks, as your potential employers care to learn more about your university background.
Apart from your higher education, ensure that you've curated your relevant certificates or courses by listing the:
- name of the certificate or course;
- name of the institution within which you received your training;
- the date(-s) when you obtained your accreditation.
In the next section, discover some of the most relevant certificates for your infrastructure engineer CV:
PRO TIP
If there's a noticeable gap in your skillset for the role you're applying for, mention any steps you're taking to acquire these skills, such as online courses or self-study.
Recommended reads:
Key takeaways
Impressing recruiters with your experience, skill set, and values starts with your professional infrastructure engineer CV. Write concisely and always aim to answer job requirements with what you've achieved; furthermore:
- Select a simple design that complements your experience and ensures your profile is presentable;
- Include an opening statement that either spotlights your key achievements (summary) or showcases your career ambitions (objective);
- Curate your experience bullets, so that each one commences with a strong, action verb and is followed up by your skill and accomplishment;
- List your hard and soft skills all across different sections of your CV to ensure your application meets the requirements;
- Dedicate space to your relevant higher education diplomas and your certificates to show recruiters you have the necessary industry background.
