Head of IT Operations — Insurance & Investments

Job Summary

The Head of IT Operations is responsible for the reliable secure and efficient day-to-day operation of the organizations IT environment. The role leads IT service delivery infrastructure operations application support service management incident/problem management business continuity and operational performance.

Within Insurance & Investments the role ensures that mission-critical systems supporting insurance claims underwriting finance investments portfolio management customer service and regulatory operations remain available stable secure and resilient.

Key Responsibilities

Develop and execute the IT Operations strategy roadmap and operating model.

Lead day-to-day IT operations and enterprise technology service delivery.

Ensure availability performance reliability and resilience of critical IT services.

Oversee:

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Infrastructure Operations

Application Support

Network Operations

Cloud Operations

Systems Administration

End-User Computing

Service Desk

Backup & Recovery

IT Monitoring

Establish and manage SLAs OLAs KPIs and service-performance standards.

Lead incident problem change and request management processes.

Establish effective ITIL-based service-management practices.

Manage major incidents and coordinate rapid resolution of critical technology outages.

Conduct root-cause analysis and implement corrective/preventive actions.

Monitor system availability capacity performance and operational risks.

Partner with Infrastructure and Engineering teams on cloud data-center network and platform operations.

Partner with Information Security/CISO teams to ensure operational security and compliance.

Manage IT access operational controls patching backup monitoring and technology lifecycle processes.

Lead Business Continuity Disaster Recovery and IT Resilience activities.

Develop and regularly test disaster-recovery and service-continuity plans.

Support cloud migration infrastructure modernization automation and operational transformation.

Establish IT operational policies procedures standards and documentation.

Manage technology vendors managed-service providers telecommunications providers and outsourcing partners.

Manage IT Operations budgets contracts licensing procurement and resource planning.

Lead coach and develop IT operations service desk infrastructure and application-support teams.

Establish operational dashboards and provide regular reporting to senior management.

Ensure compliance with regulatory audit security risk and financial-services requirements.

Drive continuous improvement automation service optimization and cost efficiency.

Collaborate with Finance Risk Compliance Security Applications Data Digital and business teams.

Insurance & Investments IT Operations Focus

Insurance

Ensure operational availability of:

Policy administration systems

Claims management platforms

Underwriting systems

Customer portals

CRM platforms

Payment and billing systems

Document-management platforms

Agent/broker systems

Insurance integrations and APIs

Investments / Asset Management

Ensure availability and resilience of:

Portfolio-management systems

Investment/trading platforms

Market-data systems

Risk-management platforms

Client/investor portals

Custody and transaction systems

Wealth-management platforms

Financial and regulatory reporting systems

Ideal Candidate Profile

1218 years of IT operations infrastructure technology or service-management experience.

5 years in IT operations leadership.

Previous experience as:

Head of IT Operations

Head of IT

Head of Technology Operations

Head of Infrastructure & Operations

Head of IT Service Management

Director of IT Operations

IT Operations Director

Director of Infrastructure & Operations

Director of IT Service Management

VP IT Operations

VP Technology Operations

Experience in Insurance Banking Investment Management Asset Management Wealth Management or Financial Services preferred.

Strong expertise in:

IT Operations

IT Service Management

ITIL

Incident Management

Problem Management

Change Management

Service Desk

Infrastructure Operations

Cloud Operations

Application Support

Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity

IT Resilience

Experience managing enterprise-scale technology environments and critical business applications.

Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure networks systems monitoring backup and enterprise applications.

Experience with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow BMC Remedy Jira Service Management or equivalent.

Strong vendor SLA contract budget and outsourcing-management experience.

Strong cybersecurity awareness and experience working with CISO/security teams.

Experience with regulated environments and technology audits.

Strong leadership crisis-management stakeholder-management and problem-solving skills.

Relevant bachelors degree; ITIL COBIT PMP CISSP CISM AWS/Azure or equivalent certifications are advantageous.