Senior Director of Infrastructure

The Senior Director of Infrastructure plays a crucial role in the technological advancement and operational success of the organisation. The role reports to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and is a member of the senior technology team. The primary responsibility is the overarching management and strategic direction of multiple teams tasked with the delivery and maintenance of the software and virtual infrastructure essential for the company’s services. This role requires a visionary leader with a deep understanding of current and emerging technology trends to ensure the infrastructure supports the organisation's objectives efficiently and effectively.

Responsibilities

The role includes supervision of the following teams. Each one has its own manager and the Director is expected to recruit, manage and interact directly with the managers of the teams.

• Cloud Operations
• DevOps
• Data Operations 

Team Supervision and Management

• Direct supervision of various infrastructure teams, each led by its own manager. Responsibilities include recruiting, overseeing, and directly interacting with these team managers to ensure cohesive team operations.
• Ensuring each team is aligned with the company's strategic goals, providing the necessary resources and guidance to meet these objectives.
• Developing and implementing comprehensive team performance evaluation processes to assess effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and foster professional growth.
• Facilitating cross-functional collaboration among teams to promote a culture of innovation and a seamless integration of new technologies and processes.
• Leading by example to instil a sense of accountability, professionalism, and dedication across all levels of the infrastructure department.

Cloud Operations

• Ensuring the company's cloud infrastructure is robust, secure, and optimised for cost and performance, including risk management strategies and disaster recovery plans.
• Implementing policies and procedures for cloud resource allocation and utilisation, including regular audits to ensure compliance with industry standards and cost efficiency.
• Spearheading initiatives to leverage cutting-edge cloud technologies and methodologies, such as serverless architectures and cloud-native applications, to enhance service delivery.

DevOps

• Leading the development of sophisticated monitoring solutions that provide deep insights into system health, performance, and security, leveraging AI and ML technologies for predictive analytics.
• Establishing best practices for log management, event monitoring, and incident response to minimise downtime and improve customer experience.
• Collaborating with software development and operational teams to integrate observability tools into the development lifecycle, facilitating a DevOps culture.

• Enhancing the deployment pipeline to support continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices, enabling faster and more reliable software releases.
• Working with development and QA teams to implement automated testing and validation processes within the deployment flow to ensure high-quality releases.
• Leading efforts to containerise applications and manage container orchestration systems, improving scalability and deployment flexibility.
• Establishing rollback strategies and processes to quickly mitigate issues with new deployments, minimising impact on production systems and end-users.

Data Management

• Working with our data team on the creation and enforcement of data governance policies to ensure data integrity, privacy, and compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.
• Leading the adoption of advanced data storage and processing technologies, such as NoSQL databases, big data platforms, and real-time data processing frameworks.
• Understanding and managing strategies to combine high availability and performance in our distributed database solutions
• Collaborating with the engineering teams to provide and articulate skills and strategies for data architecture  
• Driving initiatives to integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities into data management processes, enhancing analytics and decision-making processes.
• Collaborating with stakeholders to understand data needs and ensure the infrastructure supports data-driven strategies across the organisation.

Senior Technology Team Collaboration

• As a vital member of the senior technology team, the Director plays a crucial role in shaping the technological vision and strategy of the organisation.
• Proactively collaborates with peers and the CTO to align infrastructure developments with broader business and technology objectives.
• Leads the infrastructure team in executing strategic initiatives, ensuring technologies are leveraged to their full potential to meet organisational goals.
• Advocates for infrastructure needs and projects, ensuring adequate resources and attention are allocated to support strategic initiatives.

Requirements

Education

• A degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, or a related field is preferred, highlighting advanced knowledge and commitment to the field.
• Certifications in cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), project management (e.g., PMP), and IT service management (e.g., ITIL) are highly desirable, reflecting specialised skills and expertise.

Experience

• A minimum of 15 years of experience in infrastructure management, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role overseeing large-scale, complex infrastructure environments.
• Demonstrated experience in managing cloud infrastructure, data management strategies, deployment methodologies, and observability solutions in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
• A proven track record of leading digital transformation initiatives, showing an ability to drive change and innovation within an organization.

Skills and Competencies

• Exceptional leadership and people management skills, with a proven ability to mentor, motivate, and cultivate a high-performance team.
• Advanced strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities, capable of conceptualising and implementing efficient infrastructure solutions that align with business goals.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the capacity to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and foster strong relationships

Benefits:

• Equity as we want you to have a part of what we are building 
• We embrace a hybrid approach that requires employees to be in the office for two days a week. We strongly believe that this approach fosters collaboration and enables the building of meaningful relationships
• You will also get a budget to kit out your home office
• Opportunity to work on innovative projects with smart-minded people keen to share their knowledge and continuously improve 
• Annual learning budget to drive your performance and career development
• Enhanced parental leave and childcare benefits 
• Medical insurance through Bupa with pre-existing conditions covered 
• Pension contribution through The Peoples Pension