About Organisation:

The Simba Group is a prominent East African conglomerate founded in 1998 by the renowned Ugandan entrepreneur Patrick Bitature alongside his wife, Carol Bitature. Headquartered in Uganda, the group has grown from a single retail shop into a multi-million dollar homegrown multinational. It employs over 2,000 individuals across East Africa and operates under core principles anchored heavily in Ubuntu (unity and shared success).

Job Summary: The Simba Group, a partner of VAS Global Services, is seeking an IT Specialist to support Visa Application Centre operations in Uganda. The IT Specialist provides on-site IT support at the visa application centre, ensuring smooth day-to-day operation of end-user systems, peripherals, and centre-facing equipment. Working under the direction of the central IT team at VAS Headquarters, the role acts as the local on-ground resource for the centrally managed infrastructure – FortiGate networking with SD-WAN, biometric devices, access-control systems, and CCTV – and ensures incidents are diagnosed, escalated, and resolved within defined SLAs while maintaining compliance with VAS security and data-protection standards.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide Level-1 on-site IT support to visa centre staff under direction of the central IT team at VAS Headquarters, covering end-user hardware, software, peripherals, and basic network connectivity issues.
• Act as on-site remote-hands for the central IT team to power-cycle, re-cable, swap, relocate, and label FortiGate firewalls, SD-WAN edge devices, switches, biometric capture units, passport scanners, access-control panels, CCTV cameras, and NVRs as instructed.
• Execute scripted or runbook-based local tasks (cabling checks, link tests, status-LED reporting, equipment photographs, physical inspections) to support central troubleshooting; make no independent changes to firewall, SD-WAN, or network configuration.
• Monitor the visa-processing systems, appointment portal, biometric workflow, internet and SD-WAN links at the centre, and report performance or outage issues to the central IT team through the approved ticketing channel within defined SLAs.
• Maintain the local IT asset inventory at the centre (tagging, location, serial numbers, condition, movement) and synchronise updates to the central asset register on the agreed cadence.
• Apply approved end-user device patches, antivirus checks, and Windows/Office updates pushed by the central team, and confirm completion through the agreed reporting mechanism.
• Support new-joiner onboarding at the centre – handover of pre-configured devices and peripherals, induction on IT acceptable-use, and basic user orientation – once accounts and devices are provisioned centrally.
• Provide first-line assistance for end-user issues with VPN, email, Microsoft 365, biometric capture, and visa-processing applications, and escalate unresolved incidents to the central IT team with complete diagnostic information.
• Coordinate with the central IT team for any change, upgrade, or third-party visit at the centre, and act as the on-site point of contact for ISP technicians, spare-parts couriers, and authorised vendor engineers.
• Comply with VAS information-security, data-protection, and acceptable-use policies, and immediately report any incident, suspected breach, unauthorised access, or tampering with biometric, CCTV, or access-control equipment to the central IT team.
• Maintain accurate local records – ticket logs, change diaries, equipment movement, visitor IT-access logs, and configuration photographs – and submit them to the central IT team on the agreed cadence.
• Provide on-the-ground support during mission, government, regulator, and internal audits, hardware refreshes, and new technology rollouts driven by the central IT team.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Education:

• Minimum: Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related field

Experience:

• 2 to 4 years of experience in on-site IT support, helpdesk, or desktop engineering, preferably in a multi-site, branch-office, or public-facing service-centre environment
• Hands-on familiarity with Windows 10/11, Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive), and common end-user business applications
• Working knowledge of LAN/WLAN cabling, switches, Wi-Fi access points, basic network troubleshooting, and end-user VPN clients; exposure to FortiGate firewalls and SD-WAN concepts is preferred
• Practical experience with peripheral and field equipment – printers, scanners, biometric capture devices (fingerprint, iris, facial), passport readers, CCTV/NVR systems, and access-control readers – at the support, swap, and replacement level
• Ability to follow written instructions, runbooks, and remote guidance from a central IT team accurately, and to document work, observations, and outcomes clearly
• Strong communication and customer-service skills, with the ability to handle non-technical end users and external visitors in a high-traffic, public-facing centre
• Ability to work under pressure during peak appointment hours and during audit, inspection, or system-rollout windows
• Willingness to work shifts, weekends, and extended hours per centre operating schedule, and to remain reachable on call for centre-impacting incidents
• Entrepreneurship
• Quality & Service Orientation
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Diversity Sensitivity
• Personal and Professional Development
• Delivering Results
• Communication

Functional Competencies:

End-User Support & Helpdesk Operations

• Site Infrastructure Awareness (FortiGate / SD-WAN / Biometric / CCTV / Access Control)
• IT Asset & Inventory Management
• SOP Adherence & Operational Discipline