Head of Technology Operations in London

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Head of Technology Operations will be responsible for leading and managing all aspects of the company's internal technology infrastructure, operations, and support services. This includes ensuring the stability, scalability, security, and performance of critical business systems, networks, and devices. Crucially, this role has overall accountability for the End-User Computing environment, specifically managing the company's fleet of iPad-based filming kits and the associated Mobile Device Management (MDM) infrastructure. This role is crucial in aligning technology capabilities with overall business objectives.

Job Purpose

To provide strategic leadership and hands-on management for the Technology Operations function, ensuring a robust, reliable, and efficient IT infrastructure that supports the current and future needs of the business. The role involves managing a team, vendor relationships, and IT service delivery (including Service Desk, Networking and Security Operations). A core element is the oversight of the Service Desk to ensure rapid resolution of user issues, particularly those related to the specialised iPad-based filming kits and their associated applications.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Planning
  • Develop and execute the technology operations strategy and roadmap in alignment with the company’s business goals.
  • Working with the wider technology leadership team to manage the selection, implementation, and maintenance of all core technology infrastructure (e.g., tooling, networking, servers, storage) and software.
  • Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the Tech Ops function, advocating for and implementing modern tools and practices (e.g., automation, AIOps principles).
• Operational Management
  • Oversee the IT Service Management (ITSM) framework, ensuring excellence in Incident, Problem, Change, and Configuration Management.
  • Ensure 99.99%+ uptime and performance of all critical business applications and infrastructure components.
  • Manage the operation of the internal IT Service Desk, ensuring high customer satisfaction and rapid resolution times.
  • Implement and manage disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) planning and testing.
• Security and Compliance
  • In partnership with the wider technology leadership team, lead the operational execution of security policies across the infrastructure, including vulnerability management, patch management, and security monitoring.
  • Ensure the infrastructure adheres to relevant regulatory and industry compliance standards (e.g., ISO 27001, GDPR, CREST).
• Team and Vendor Management
  • Lead, mentor, and manage the Tech Ops team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and professional development.
  • Manage key vendor and third-party relationships, ensuring service level agreements (SLAs) are met and value is derived from contracts.

Key Performance Indicators

• System Availability/Uptime: Achieve target percentage (e.g., 99.99%) for critical systems.
• Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR): Reduction in the average time required to restore service after an incident.
• Security Incident Rate: Reduction in the number of successful security breaches or critical vulnerabilities found.
• IT Cost Efficiency: Adherence to the annual operational budget and reduction in cost per user/service unit.
• Service Desk Satisfaction (CSAT): High user satisfaction scores for IT support services.
• Change Success Rate: High percentage of changes deployed without causing incidents.

Dimensions

• Management of an annual Operational Expenditure (OpEx) and Capital Expenditure (CapEx) budget for technology infrastructure.
• Responsibility for cost control and efficiency across all technology services.
• Direct management of the IT support team.
• Oversight of all technology underpinning core business functions.
• Management of all company networks, data centres, and end-user computing devices (1000+ endpoints).

Knowledge, skills, attributes and experience

• Knowledge
  • Deep understanding of Cloud Computing (IaaS/PaaS - e.g., AWS, Azure).
  • Expertise in IT Service Management (ITSM) frameworks (e.g., ITIL).
  • Strong grasp of networking principles, cybersecurity best practices, and infrastructure security.
• Skills
  • Proven ability to lead and manage technical teams.
  • Exceptional problem-solving and root cause analysis skills.
  • Excellent vendor management and contract negotiation skills.
  • Strong financial acumen for budget planning and tracking.
• Attributes
  • Strategic thinker with a high degree of business alignment.
  • A decisive leader comfortable making high-stakes decisions under pressure.
  • Excellent communicator capable of explaining complex technical issues to non-technical stakeholders (up to C-suite level).
  • Highly customer-focused (internal users).
• Experience
  • Minimum 8+ years of progressive experience in IT operations, with at least 3-5 years in a senior management or head-of role.
  • Extensive experience managing large-scale, complex enterprise IT infrastructure.
  • Proven track record of improving operational efficiency and reducing technical debt.