Director of Information Technology
Steel City Interactive · Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Apply & track with Apply EdgeRole OverviewThe IT Director is responsible for the security, resilience, performance and evolution of SCI’s technology environment.As a member of the Studio Leadership Team (SLT), the role contributes to wider studio strategy, performance and decision-making, while ensuring our people and development teams have secure, reliable and scalable technology.A key priority is ensuring continuity of SCI’s existing IT capability - taking ownership of the current environment, understanding what is already in place, protecting what works well and evolving it appropriately as the studio develops.The role combines strategic leadership with strong operational oversight across infrastructure, cybersecurity, service delivery, technology investment and IT capability.Key ResponsibilitiesIT Strategy & Leadership
- Take ownership of SCI’s existing IT environment, operating model and roadmap, ensuring continuity and a smooth transition of responsibility.
- Quickly establish a clear understanding of current systems, infrastructure, suppliers, risks and in-flight priorities.
- Protect what is working well, address material gaps and evolve the technology roadmap in line with studio needs.
- Act as a senior technology adviser to SLT and the Executive Leadership Team.
- Contribute actively to wider studio priorities, decisions and leadership.Cybersecurity & Risk
- Own SCI’s cybersecurity strategy and technology risk management.
- Maintain appropriate controls across identity, endpoints, networks, cloud and access.
- Ensure vulnerabilities, incidents and material risks are identified, managed and escalated.
- Maintain effective security awareness and incident-response capability.Infrastructure & Development Technology
- Ensure SCI’s infrastructure is stable, secure, scalable and performant.
- Oversee networks, cloud services, servers, storage, endpoints and connectivity.
- Ensure effective technology support for game development, including source control, build infrastructure, dev kits, workstations and asset storage.
- Ensure capacity and performance evolve with studio requirements.Service Delivery
- Own the quality and performance of IT support across the studio.
- Maintain clear SLAs, KPIs and escalation routes.
- Drive continuous improvement and ensure recurring issues are addressed at root cause.
- Ensure effective and secure onboarding, role changes and offboarding.Resilience & Business Continuity
- Own IT disaster recovery and business continuity.
- Ensure critical systems, recovery requirements and dependencies are understood and documented.
- Maintain and regularly test recovery capability.
- Lead the technology response to major incidents and outages.
- Ensure lessons from significant incidents result in appropriate corrective actions.Governance & Documentation
- Maintain appropriate IT policies, standards and documentation.
- Ensure critical systems, processes, ownership and dependencies are clearly documented.
- Ensure knowledge is retained within the business and not dependent upon individuals.
- Maintain appropriate technology change control and access governance.
- Ensure compliance with relevant legal, contractual and industry requirements.Budget, Assets & Suppliers
- Own the IT budget, forecasts and technology investment planning.
- Manage hardware, software, licensing and technology assets across their lifecycle.
- Manage key technology suppliers, contracts and relationships.
- Ensure technology expenditure delivers appropriate value and remains aligned with business needs.Team Leadership
- Lead and develop a high-performing IT team.
- Set clear objectives, expectations and accountability.
- Ensure regular 1:1s, development and effective performance management.
- Maintain appropriate capability, succession, cover and knowledge sharing across the function.Skills & Experience
- Significant experience leading an IT function within a technology-led environment.
- Strong experience across infrastructure, cybersecurity, IT operations and technology risk.
- Experience managing business-critical technology, budgets and suppliers.
- Strong understanding of cloud, networking, endpoint management and identity/access management.
- Experience with business continuity, disaster recovery and major incident management.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
- Experience within games, entertainment or a creative technology environment would be advantageous.
- Familiarity with game-development technology such as Perforce/Git, build systems, dev kits and high-performance workstations is desirable.Leadership ExpectationsThe IT Director is expected to demonstrate:
- Accountability and ownership
- Transparency and sound judgement
- Proactive risk management
- Strong communication
- Constructive challenge
- Collaboration
- Professional integrity
- Continuous improvementAs an SLT member, the IT Director is expected to think beyond their own function and take collective responsibility for studio performance, culture, priorities and effective cross-functional leadership.Measures of SuccessSuccess will be demonstrated through:
- Successful transition and continuity of SCI’s existing IT services, systems, supplier relationships and in-flight priorities, without unnecessary disruption.
- Reliable, secure and performant studio technology.
- Strong cybersecurity controls and effective management of technology risk.
- Effective disaster recovery, business continuity and incident response.
- Strong IT service performance and employee experience.
- Clear visibility of IT costs, risks, priorities and future investment requirements.
- Effective delivery and evolution of the technology roadmap.
- A capable, accountable and well-developed IT team with appropriate knowledge sharing and resilience.
- Strong contribution as a member of the Studio Leadership Team.To apply or learn more reach out to their exclusive recruiter stig.strand@amiqus.com