IT Operations Lead (Admiral Money) in Cardiff

. We are looking for an IT Operations Leadto join our Technology team in Admiral Money.

About us

Admiral Money is the dynamic lending arm of Admiral Group, offering personal loans, motor finance, and homeowner loans since 2017.

We’re building something special for our customers and are looking for curious, driven individuals ready to learn, take on challenges, and make an impact.

We’re proud to be a certified Great Place to Work for over 25 years, with recognition for Women and Wellbeing. Our inclusive culture empowers everyone to Be You.

Need support during the recruitment process? Just let us know – we’re here to help.

The Role

This is a unique opportunity to shape and lead a newly established IT Operations function within a growing Fin Tech business.

You'll have strategic ownership of the operational roadmap, helping to build scalable processes, runbooks and service models from the ground up while leading a high‑performing team.

Working within a cloud‑first environment, you'll gain exposure to a modern technology stack including Microsoft 365, AWS, Atlassian and enterprise service management tools, playing a key role in ensuring technology services are reliable, efficient and fit for future growth.

What you’ll be doing

Key responsibilities include

• Lead, develop and mentor the IT Operations team, driving performance, wellbeing and career growth.
• Define and maintain operational standards, including SLAs, ticket management, runbooks and service quality.
• Shape and deliver the IT Operations strategy, driving automation, efficiency and continuous improvement.
• Own the IT service model, including support structures, escalation processes and on‑call arrangements.
• Build a runbook‑first culture, ensuring services are well documented, supportable and operationally resilient.
• Partner with Engineering teams to ensure new solutions are supportable, documented and successfully transitioned into BAU.
• Use operational data and insights to identify trends, improve service performance and influence product improvements.
• Oversee administration of key business platforms including Jira, Confluence, Fresh and other Saa S applications.
• Manage user access, licensing, permissions and workflow automation across the technology estate.
• Develop scalable onboarding, capability‑building and succession plans to support team growth and reduce supplier reliance.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience leading, developing and motivating an IT Operations, Service Desk or End User Support team.
• Strong people management skills, including coaching, performance management, succession planning and career development.
• Experience building high‑performing teams and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Strong IT Service Management (ITSM) knowledge, including incident, problem, request and change management processes.
• Experience managing SLA‑driven support environments and service performance metrics.
• Ability to define and improve operational processes, support models, runbooks and service documentation.
• Experience using operational data and reporting to identify trends, drive efficiencies and improve customer experience.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across Engineering, Technology and business teams.
• Experience managing service transition activities and ensuring solutions are supportable before entering BAU.
• Practical administration experience across Microsoft 365, Entra ID (Azure AD), user lifecycle management and licensing.
• Knowledge of endpoint management technologies such as Intune, JAMF or equivalent MDM platforms.
• Understanding of cloud‑based operational support environments, particularly AWS or Azure.
• Experience administering ITSM and collaboration platforms such as Freshservice, Jira and Confluence.
• Strong communication skills, with the confidence to influence, challenge and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels.
• Educated to A‑Level standard (or equivalent experience).
• ITIL Foundation certification (v3 or v4).
• Formal people management qualification or equivalent management/coaching experience (e. g. CIPD, CMI, ILM).

Desirable

• Experience leading an IT Operations function through growth, transformation or service maturity programmes.
• Experience developing T‑shaped teams and capability frameworks.
• Knowledge of automation, self‑service technologies and operational efficiency initiatives.
• Experience supporting AWS environments, including Cloud Watch, S3, Work Spaces and basic networking concepts.
• Experience managing on‑call support models and escalation frameworks.
• Service transition and operational readiness experience within Agile delivery environments.
• Atlassian administration experience, including Jira workflows, permissions and Confluence space management.
• Experience with Saa S licence management and vendor management.
• AWS Cloud Practitioner or Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification.
• Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS‑900) or Microsoft 365 Administrator certification.
• Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator (SC‑300) certification.
• Comp TIA A+, Apple Device Support, ACSP or equivalent endpoint management certification.
• ITIL Practitioner, ITIL Managing Professional, SDI or HDI Service Management certifications.
• Admiral: Where You Can

We take pride in being a diverse and inclusive business.

It's a place where you can Be You, and show up as you are.

We’re committed to fostering a people‑first culture where everyone is accepted, supported, and empowered to be brilliant.

You can, Grow And Progress at a pace and direction that suits you, Make A Difference for our customers and each other, and Share in Our Future with all colleagues eligible for up to £3,600 of free shares each year after one year of service.

Everyone receives 33 days holiday (including bank holidays) when they join us, increasing the longer you stay with us, up to a maximum of 38 days (including bank holidays).

You also have the option to buy or sell up to an additional five days of annual leave.

We’re proud of our people‑first culture.

In fact, we've been recognised as a Great Place to Work for Women, a Great Place to Work for Wellbeing, and an overall Great Place to Work for over 25 years!

We’re fully committed to making sure your progression is not slowed or halted by barriers related to race, gender, age, sexuality or any of the protected characteristics.

Our fantastic benefits make sure our colleagues have a great work‑life balance; You can view some of our other key benefits here.

As a Disability Confident Leader, for candidates with a disability or long‑term health condition, that opt into the Disability Confident scheme, we’ll invite a fair and proportionate number of applicants that meet the essential requirements of the role to the first stage of our selection process.

If you need any adjustments or support with your application or during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Please do email georgia. farmer@admiralgroup. co. uk or contact us on 07780038264.

This number is dedicated to supporting candidates that require reasonable adjustments or support during the application process.

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