Senior Manager - Infrastructure & IT Operations

SummaryThe Senior Manager – Infrastructure & IT Operations is responsible for the strategy, delivery, operation, security, and continuous improvement of the shared technology infrastructure supporting all Finance House Group entities. The role ensures a secure, resilient, scalable, and highly available 24x7 technology environment, with end-to-end accountability for cloud and on-premises infrastructure, networks, databases, identity and access management (IAM), infrastructure security, DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), monitoring and observability, backup and disaster recovery, and infrastructure/platform automation.The role also leads IT Operations and end-user technology services, including end-user computing, service desk, field support, endpoint and device management, IT asset management, ITSM, and incident, problem, change, and major incident management. Working closely with Cybersecurity, Applications, Software Development, Enterprise Architecture, Risk, Compliance, and business teams, the role ensures technology services meet defined SLAs, security standards, regulatory requirements, and operational resilience objectives while driving cloud adoption, automation, performance optimization, service reliability, and continuous improvement.Major Responsibilities Platform Engineering & Cloud InfrastructureOwn and manage the Group’s shared technology infrastructure end-to-end, including compute, storage, networking, databases, cloud services and data centre environments across Microsoft Azure, AWS, private cloud and on-premises infrastructure.Design, implement and continuously enhance Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) using Terraform, Bicep/ARM or equivalent technologies as the standard infrastructure delivery model, maintaining strong hands-on capability to develop, review and govern IaC and automation pipelines.Build and operate robust DevOps/DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines, enabling development and product teams to securely deploy applications and infrastructure while embedding cybersecurity, compliance, governance and cost controls throughout the delivery lifecycle.Drive the practical adoption of AI-assisted engineering and AIOps, including AI coding assistants, agentic automation, intelligent monitoring, anomaly detection and automated remediation to accelerate development, testing and deployment while reducing manual operational effort.Own and manage relational and non-relational database platforms, ensuring appropriate standards for architecture, security, performance, scalability, availability, monitoring, backup, recovery and disaster resilience.Site Reliability, Resilience & SecurityEstablish and mature Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices, including SLIs, SLOs, error budgets, capacity planning, performance management and resilience testing to maintain 24x7 availability and reliability of critical technology services.Build and manage enterprise-grade monitoring and observability capabilities across infrastructure and applications, covering metrics, logs, tracing, proactive alerting, performance monitoring and automated remediation wherever practical.Own the Group’s infrastructure Disaster Recovery (DR) and technology Business Continuity capabilities, including DR strategy, RTO/RPO requirements, recovery procedures, runbooks, testing schedules and execution of periodic DR and resilience exercises.Own Identity and Access Management (IAM), Privileged Access Management (PAM) and infrastructure cybersecurity in partnership with the CISO/Cybersecurity function, ensuring effective management of privileged access, security vulnerabilities, threat detection, security controls and remediation.Lead root-cause analysis (RCA) for major incidents, recurring service disruptions and SLA breaches, ensuring findings are translated into sustainable engineering improvements, automation and preventive controls to reduce recurrence and strengthen overall platform resilienceIT Operations & Service DeliveryLead IT Operations across Finance House Group, including Service Desk, End-User Computing (EUC), field support, endpoint/device management and user support services, fostering a strong culture of customer service, operational excellence and continuous improvement.Own and continuously improve IT Service Management (ITSM) processes, including incident, problem, change, service request and configuration management, while driving automation and standardisation of routine operational activities.Ensure 24x7 operational support and service availability through effective workforce planning, on-call rotations, defined escalation procedures and comprehensive documentation of incidents, support activities, operational procedures and resolutions.Monitor and report on technology platform and service performance, including availability, SLA achievement, incident trends, capacity, performance and technology costs, providing actionable insights and regular reporting to senior management and relevant business stakeholders.Leadership, Vendors & GovernanceBuild, lead, mentor and retain a high-performing Infrastructure & IT Operations team, establishing clear technical standards and developing strong hands-on capabilities across cloud infrastructure, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), DevSecOps, automation, SRE and AI-assisted engineering.Own and manage Infrastructure & IT Operations budgets, including forecasting, cost optimisation and technology investments, while managing strategic vendors and service providers across cloud, telecommunications, data centres and managed services to ensure value for money, service quality and SLA compliance.Partner closely with Product, Applications, Software Development, Enterprise Architecture and Cybersecurity teams as the Group’s technology platform owner, ensuring infrastructure and platform capabilities enable secure, scalable and rapid delivery of technology solutions across Finance House Group.Establish and maintain comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date technical and operational documentation, covering infrastructure architecture, configurations, security controls, network and system dependencies, operating procedures, support models, recovery procedures and technology standards.QualificationBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field.Cloud certification at architect/professional level (Microsoft Azure and/or AWS).ITIL certification; SRE, DevOps, Kubernetes or security certifications (e.g., CKA, CISSP, CISM) are strong advantages.ExperienceMinimum 12+ years of progressive experience in IT Infrastructure and Technology Operations, including at least 7 years within banking, financial services or other highly regulated environments, with demonstrated experience managing mission-critical technology platforms.Proven hands-on technical expertise in Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), automation and DevOps/DevSecOps, including practical experience developing and reviewing infrastructure code and CI/CD pipelines rather than solely managing technical teams.Practical experience implementing AI and intelligent automation within infrastructure and IT operations, including AIOps, AI-assisted engineering/coding, intelligent monitoring, anomaly detection and automated remediation.Strong technical expertise across Microsoft Azure, AWS, private cloud/data centre infrastructure, networking, compute, storage, databases, IAM/PAM and infrastructure cybersecurity.Demonstrated track record of operating 24x7 mission-critical technology environments, with strong expertise in SRE, monitoring and observability, high availability, capacity management, disaster recovery, RTO/RPO management and operational resilience.Strong leadership, stakeholder and vendor management capabilities, with experience managing technology budgets, cloud/service providers, telecommunications providers, managed services and complex technology contracts and SLAs.Strong understanding of ITIL/ITSM principles, including incident, problem, change, configuration and service management, with excellent communication, governance, reporting and technical documentation skills.Demonstrated ability to remain current with emerging developments in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, DevSecOps, SRE, cybersecurity, automation and AI-driven IT operations.Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related discipline; relevant professional certifications in Azure, AWS, ITIL, cybersecurity, DevOps or cloud architecture are highly desirable.