Head of Operations and Support
Job Role Description
The Head of Operations and Support drives the vision and strategy for the IT Operations and Support functions. He/She sets the direction for systems and database administration, day-to-day IT support and operations, data centre operations and system and quality assurance through the delivery of services as per business requirements; controls costs and manages vendors. He is responsible for formulating strategies for service level agreements. He ensures compliance with organisation’s quality standards, international standards and government regulations. He is a leader with the energy and commitment to drive large teams toward achieving service level excellence.
He is familiar with enterprise architecture frameworks, database administration and systems, and application monitoring tools.
The Head of Operations and Support has a broad sense of perspective with the ability to influence key internal and external stakeholders. He is strategic in his approach to managing resources and developing capabilities within the team. He is effective in setting direction aligned to the strategic positioning of the business and the IT functions overall. He is able to impress upon the team the need to continuously improve service levels and increase efficiencies.
Critical Work Functions and Key Tasks
Formulate strategy for service level agreements and improvements
| Establish the vision required to provide IT operations and support to the organisation |
| Formulate IT service delivery roadmaps aligned with the overall IT strategy |
| Define Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and performance metrics based on business requirements |
| Establish the direction for implementing corrective actions to optimise performance against the SLAs |
| Develop technology roadmaps and action plans in the area of ownership |
| Build relationships with third-party infrastructure and tool providers |
| Explore collaborations with new outsourcing partners that meet organisation’s requirements |
Manage and optimise IT operations and support performance
| Anticipate internal and/or external business challenges and/or regulatory issues which may impact IT operations and support functions |
| Advise senior management on system concepts and functional capabilities |
| Oversee the performance of the IT Operations and Support functions |
| Serve as an internal change agent to drive IT operations and support process enhancements and innovation |
| Evaluate future technologies and the suitability of software and hardware upgrades and technology solutions |
Set IT standards and governance
| Formulate policies, procedures and technical standards for IT perations and support |
| Define processes and systems for IT audits |
| Enforce processes and systems to ensure compliance with regulatory compliance requirements |
Manage people and organisation
| Review operational strategies, policies and targets across teams and projects |
| Develop strategies for resource planning and utilisation |
| Review the utilisation of resources |
| Oversee the development of learning roadmaps for teams and functions |
| Establish performance indicators to benchmark effectiveness of learning and development programmes against best practices |
| Implement succession planning initiatives for key management positions |
