Johannesburg: Head of IT Infrastructure – Windows and Linux

About the Role

The Head of IT Infrastructure – Windows and Linux role is a critical position that requires a seasoned IT professional with extensive experience in managing complex IT infrastructure, including Windows and Linux systems. The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering exceptional client service, leading a team of IT Operations professionals, and ensuring the stability, availability, and performance of the organization’s IT environments and applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver a client-centric service desk function with management information to measure delivery against quality objectives
• Manage relationships between Clusters; Group IT; Internal and External Audit to contribute to the successful delivery of wide-ranging IT objectives and governance
• Fulfil a broader leadership role within the business, contributing to ensuring Group IT is instrumental in achieving cluster goals through technology application
• Ensure stability, availability, and performance of IT environments and applications – capacity management, performance, security, and automated restores
• Day-to-day management of the 1st line of support function and resolution/escalation of issues and business requests
• Continuous improvement of processes within the team’s scope as well as alignment with greater IT areas (e.g., assistance with automation of code deployments and certain testing cycles)
• Leading, developing, and recruiting people within the IT Operations team
• Managing overall operational risk and security aspects in the environment
• Business continuity and disaster recovery management
• Vendor management – contract negotiations and adherence to Service Level Agreements
• Implementing and measuring incident management
• Implementing and measuring change control management and standards
• Developing and maintaining corporate IT policies and standards
• Managing information systems and communication networks between all business units and branches within the organisation
• Maintaining compliance to licenses, IT security, and internal controls
• Managing the IT infrastructure budget
• Implementing strong monitoring capabilities with automated escalation and notifications
• Producing standard reports on a regular frequency on performance as well as future consumption trends that might become risks

Requirements

• Degree in Information Technology or Relevant Degree (advantageous but not essential)
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in IT systems with broad cross-domain technology
• At least 10 years in a managerial role in Infrastructure and IT Operations
• At least 10 years’ experience in line management of infrastructure and technical teams
• Strong track record of relationship management with third-party providers
• Solid understanding of physical and virtual infrastructure management, including storage, backups, and disaster recovery
• A strong background and knowledge of all levels of infrastructure architecture, including networks, firewall management
• Deep knowledge of infrastructure automation, orchestration, and configuration management tools
• Deep knowledge of Windows and Linux server, MySQL, Postgres, SQL databases
• Expertise in principles and methodologies (SDLC, Stage Gate, Security and Risk Mitigation)
• Experience with the implementation and management of Managed Engine, Service Desk, and Endpoint Central
• Experience with the implementation and operationalisation of ITIL framework
• Strong client service orientation
• Experience with management and mitigation of IT Risks
• Experience with Oracle databases
• Experience with managing vendors
• Experience with Server and Virtual Machine Management
• Experience with Network Management
• Experience with Infrastructure Design

Qualifications

None mentioned in the original job description.