Head of Infrastructure
hace 19 horas
City of London
3x a week on-site in London Global Financial Services Firm PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WORKING IN LARGE ENVIRONMENTS IS A MUST Reporting Directly into Global CIO Salary - £90,000-£110,000 + Car Allowance + Bonus + Benefits - MUST HAVE RIGHT TO WORK IN THE UK Details: We’re looking for a Head of Infrastructure to lead and modernise the UK/EU infrastructure estate across Azure cloud, on‑prem data centre, networks, collaboration and core platforms. You’ll drive the cloud migration waves, refine UK/EU cloud strategy, and embed modern practices—Infrastructure as Code, DevOps enablement, automation and AI-assisted operations You will be accountable for operational excellence and strategic evolution of the UK/EU infrastructure estate across cloud (Azure), on‑prem data centre, office infrastructure, networks, collaboration platforms, storage, backups, and end-user connectivity and more. This role leads day-to-day operations while driving transformation—most notably the Azure cloud migration programme and the review/refinement of UK/EU cloud strategy—and ensures the infrastructure function is future-ready through automation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps enablement, and intelligent operations (AIOps/AI-driven monitoring and maintenance). The role holder is a leader first: developing a high-performing team, aligning with global peers Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities Infrastructure Operations & Service Reliability (Run) • Own and continuously improve the reliability, availability, performance, and security of the UK/EU infrastructure estate., • Lead operational management across:, • On‑prem data centre services (compute, storage, virtualisation, power/cooling/vendor support, capacity), • Office infrastructure and connectivity (LAN/WAN/Wi‑Fi, site resilience, meeting room tech as applicable), • Network services including routing/switching, segmentation, and secure connectivity, • Perimeter and security appliances, including Palo Alto firewalls and Cisco network capabilities, • Microsoft Exchange (as applicable—hybrid or legacy) and collaboration dependencies, • UCaaS / voice / conferencing platforms and related integrations, • Backups, disaster recovery, and business continuity, • Storage platforms and data protection controls, • Establish and run effective operational practices:, • Incident, problem and change management (modern ITSM/ITIL-aligned), • Lead UK/EU infrastructure contribution to the Cloud Migration project, partnering with global architecture, infrastructure and information security., • Coordinate and deliver:, • Azure migration waves (planning, dependencies, readiness, cutover governance), • Workload assessments (technical fit, complexity, risk, data sensitivity, cost and performance considerations), • Transitional and target-state architectures (hybrid designs, landing zones, identity/networking patterns), • DevOps capabilities setup and enablement (pipelines, environments, deployment standards, release governance), • Identify and deliver opportunities where automation and AI improve operational efficiency and service reliability, including:, • Hardware and platform performance monitoring (predictive alerts, capacity forecasting, anomaly detection), • Operating system and platform health (patch compliance, drift detection, configuration baselines), • Event correlation and incident reduction via AIOps practices (noise reduction, root-cause acceleration), • Build a roadmap for self-healing capabilities (automated remediation), automated testing, and policy-as-code controls., • Review, refine, and drive the UK/EU Cloud Strategy aligned with global direction and local business needs., • Maintain a rolling infrastructure roadmap balancing security, reliability, cost optimisation, and transformation., • Be future-focused—evaluate emerging infrastructure directions such as:, • Green IT / sustainable infrastructure (energy-aware choices, hardware lifecycle optimisation, cloud carbon considerations), • Modern security patterns (Zero Trust alignment, segmentation, identity-first design), • Ensure standards remain current as technology and regulatory expectations evolve. Vendor Management, Commercials & Lifecycle Governance • Own relationships with strategic infrastructure partners and suppliers; manage service performance and escalations., • Maintain governance of the hardware and software estate to ensure:, • No critical component falls out of support, maintenance, or into end-of-life/end-of-support, • Asset, configuration and dependency information remains accurate and useful, • Lead, coach, and develop the infrastructure team to be fit for today and tomorrow., • Build a scalable operating model to support projected company growth:, • Role clarity and skills development (cloud, automation, security, SRE-like practices), • Performance management, objectives, feedback cycles, and succession planning, • Healthy team culture across onshore and offshore resources, operating as one team, • Align with global and regional peers across Architecture, Infrastructure, and Information Security., • Partner with the Project Management Office on project intake, resource availability, project sizing and Project Managers as assigned., • Ensure consistent implementation of global patterns while reflecting UK/EU requirements and constraints., • Contribute to enterprise-wide standards, reference architectures, and governance forums. Key Deliverables (What Success Looks Like) Within the first 6–12 months, the role holder is expected to deliver outcomes such as: • A clear UK/EU infrastructure roadmap aligned to cloud strategy and growth plans, • Improved operational maturity (reduced recurring incidents, stronger change success rate, improved monitoring/alerting quality), • Tangible automation/IaC adoption opportunities (repeatable deployments, reduced manual effort, improved compliance), • Progressed Azure migration waves with strong governance and stakeholder confidence, • Robust lifecycle management with visible tracking of EOL/EOS risks and timely remediation plans, • A strengthened, scalable team operating effectively across onshore/offshore delivery Essential Skills & Experience Must-Have Technical Experience • Deep Microsoft Azure experience in infrastructure/platform delivery and operations, including:, • Networking (VNets, routing, connectivity patterns, hybrid connectivity), • Identity and access (Entra ID/Azure AD concepts, role-based access, IAM), • Governance (policies, cost controls, landing-zone principles), • Monitoring/operations and reliability approaches, • Proven experience leading/owning cloud migration programmes (wave planning, workload assessments, cutovers, transitional architecture), • Strong Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capability and associated practices (version control, review, reusability), • Knowledge of modern infra tooling and practices such as DevOps enablement, CI/CD for infra, configuration management, and observability, • Broad infrastructure knowledge across:, • Data centre operations, virtualisation, storage, and backup/recovery, • Office/network infrastructure and service management, • Collaboration/communication platforms (including Exchange and UCaaS dependencies), • Network/security infrastructure experience including Palo Alto firewalls and Cisco technologies (routing/switching/WAN) Must-Have Leadership & Delivery Experience • Demonstrable people management experience: coaching, supervision, performance management, team evolution and capability building, • Strong project and delivery management skills (planning, RAID, stakeholder management, governance), • Proven ability to manage vendors/partners and drive outcomes via third parties, • Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills—able to communicate clearly from engineers to executives Desirable / Advantageous • Experience implementing or operating AIOps / AI-assisted infrastructure operations, • Experience with SRE-style practices (SLOs, error budgets, reliability engineering, blameless postmortems), • Exposure to modern security frameworks (Zero Trust principles, vulnerability management automation), • Formal IT service management exposure (ITIL or equivalent) and strong operational governance mindset, • Sustainability/Green IT initiatives experience (lifecycle optimisation, energy-aware infrastructure decisions) Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent practical experience) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related discipline, • Relevant certifications (desirable): Azure (Administrator/Architect), Security, Networking, ITIL, Agile/Project Management Competencies & Behaviours • Leadership & Accountability: takes ownership, sets direction, builds trust, • Modern Engineering Mindset: automation-first, measurable outcomes, quality and repeatability, • Strategic Thinking: balances “run” excellence with transformation and innovation Performance Measures (Indicative) • Service availability/reliability; reduction in recurring incidents, • Change success rate; operational risk reduction, • Progress against cloud migration waves and roadmap milestones, • Automation/IaC adoption metrics; reduction in manual toil, • Lifecycle compliance (EOL/EOS exposure reduced); audit readiness