Director of Global Technology Operations - EMEA in London

As one of three Technical Operations Center Directors operating within a "follow‐the‐sun" model, you will be a pivotal leader responsible for maintaining the continuous, 24/7 operational excellence of our global technical infrastructure. The role requires deep technical expertise, robust leadership capabilities, and exceptional strategic acumen. You will oversee daily activities, incident management, and team performance within your assigned region while fostering strategic relationships across various business units.

Job Functions

• Operational Leadership & Management: Direct and manage the Technical Operations Center, ensure continuous monitoring, proactive issue identification, rapid incident resolution, conduct root‐cause analysis, implement preventative measures, develop operational policies, establish and monitor KPIs and SLAs, and ensure audit readiness.
• Strategic Relationships & Business Alignment: Act as the primary liaison between the Technical Operations Center and critical business units (Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales), translate business objectives into operational strategies, develop and maintain strategic partnerships with internal stakeholders and external vendors, and provide clear, concise operational status reporting to senior leadership.
• Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a high‐performing team of technical operations professionals, oversee recruitment, training, performance management, and enforce robust handoff protocols across the "follow‐the‐sun" structure.
• System & Infrastructure Oversight: Contribute to the overall technical strategy, ensure stability, security, and scalability of production environments, evaluate and recommend new tools and technologies, drive automation for repeatable processes, and introduce service reliability engineering practices.

Skills & Abilities

• Technical Skills: Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, cloud platforms, networking, system architecture, incident/problem/change management (e.g., ITIL), monitoring tools, automation, scripting, and project management methodologies.
• Soft Skills: Exceptional leadership, communication, analytical, problem‐solving, strategic thinking, relationship building, adaptability, resilience, and strong follow‐up skills.

Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in technical operations, network operations, or IT infrastructure roles, with at least 5 years in a leadership or directorial capacity.
• Proven experience managing 24/7 mission‐critical environments, ideally within a global or "follow‐the‐sun" operational model.
• Experience with ITIL best practices, AI, Automation, and system reliability engineering principles.
• Knowledge of all infrastructure disciplines.

Education

• BA or BS degree in an IT related field or an equivalent combination of formal education and applicable experience.
• Relevant industry certifications (e.g., ITIL Expert, PMP, AWS/Azure/GCP certifications).

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief, age, marital status, background, pregnancy, or caring responsibilities. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought within our teams and are fully committed to embracing the talents of people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other forms of neurocognitive variation. We will always seek to make appropriate adjustments to recruitment, workplaces, and work processes to be fully inclusive to people with different needs and working styles. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments for you from application onwards, including alternatives to the online form or to disclose a neurocognitive condition, please email UniversalMusicCareers@umusic.com.

Additional Information

The company presents this job description as a guide to the major areas and duties for which the jobholder is accountable. However, the business operates in an environment that demands change and the jobholder's specific responsibilities and activities will vary and develop. Therefore, the job description should be seen as indicative and not as a permanent, definitive, and exhaustive statement.