Infrastructure & Operations Manager

Infrastructure & Operations Manager

Abingdon, UK

RM is a leading supplier of technology and resources to the education sector, supporting schools, teachers and pupils across the globe – from pre-school to higher education – including examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions.

Our mission is to grow through improving the life chances of people - worldwide – by delivering great education products and services that help teachers to teach and learners to learn.

The Infrastructure and Operations Manager is a critical role within Technology’s Extended Leadership Team, reporting to the Head of Service Operations. The Infrastructure and Operations Manager is a strategic leadership role responsible for leading the infrastructure and operations team, which comprises a mix of specialist engineers, who manage our customer infrastructure and serve as an escalation point for the service desk in resolving third line support issues. The team supports the problem management and major incident process and the service management team with escalations.

As Infrastructure and Operations Manager, you will be responsible for the infrastructure and operations department, managing the team with the support of your team leaders. The infrastructure team monitors customer infrastructure to ensure it runs efficiently with minimal down time and responds to alerts that may cause potential impact to customer infrastructure. They also prioritise, progress, and monitor incidents and requests to ensure they are resolved with agreed service levels.

The Infrastructure and Operations Manager will be accountable for the smooth running of the infrastructure department, monitoring and analysing the performance of the Infrastructure Operations Team, leading a culture of continual improvement, and for building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders, including other internal departments and relevant partners.

The role requires an experienced leader, with a proven track record of success in evolving and improving infrastructure operations, managing complex technical environments, and leading teams of skilled professionals.

Responsibilities

Strategy & implementation

• Support the Head of Service Operations in developing and driving our conjoined Service Operations strategy (covering Service Desks, Infrastructure & Operations, On-site Services, DODO and Service Delivery Management), with responsibility for developing aligned Infrastructure and Operations strategies, plans and priorities, and ensuring these connect to wider activities within the division and business.
• Drive the strategic direction of the Infrastructure and Operations function, which is responsible for the management of our customer infrastructure and heavily inputting into problem management processes, to ensure our customer estate is as stable and efficient as it can be.
• Work closely with the wider business leadership team to define and execute the plans for the Infrastructure and Operations department that are aligned to the needs of our different business lines and customers.
• Oversee direction and execution within the Infrastructure and Operations department. Leading change across the operating model, driving the changes in capabilities, roles, systems, data, and other aspects that are required to deliver effective, efficient and integrated operations.
• Partner with On-Site Operations to shape effective plans to enable increasing levels of activity to be delivered remotely.
• Develop and implement effective plans and processes to ensure the stability and reliability of customers technical infrastructure.
• Develop and implement effective plans and strategies that drive increased efficiency and profitability for the Business.

Performance

• Develop effective metrics and standards to monitor and drive performance of Infrastructure and Operations, ensuring the stability and reliability of our customer infrastructure, and smooth and efficient operation of the department.
• Manage Infrastructure and Operations resource and budget, tracking key financial metrics to inform commercial decision making and improved financial effectiveness.
• Track, analyse and influence effectiveness across the team.

Leadership

• Engage your people in the operating model reset and new direction for Service Operations and Infrastructure and Operations, developing their understanding and buy in to the new operating model, and mobilizing proactive implementation.
• Create and develop an effective function, including attracting, motivating and growing a high-performance team.
• Grasp responsibility for the success of your remit, holding your team and peers to account for the part they play in this success.
• Create clarity for your people through the alignment of goals, KPIs, recognition and reward, to drive and measure execution of our strategy.
• Provide a purpose-led, performance-driven environment for your people, in which they can thrive by understanding the future, feeling connected and being empowered. Instill the behaviors of our five to drive and commercial awareness within local team culture.
• Coach and challenge your team to continually increase their impact and develop their skills and capabilities; hold them to account for identifying and delivering opportunities within their remit and collaborating effectively across the business.
• Lead and drive engagement with Infrastructure and Operations goals within relevant areas of the wider business, ensuring cross-business communication, awareness, alignment and engagement with plans and activity.

Collaboration

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including Product Development, wider Service Operations, and relevant external partners.
• As a key member of the extended leadership team, you will contribute and support the development, implementation, and review of the wider RM Technology strategy, working in strong collaboration with the SLT & xLT

External Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a senior point of escalation for the team in their engagements with customers, as and when required.

Experience

• You will have proven experience of:
• Leadership of Infrastructure and Operations, and managing complex technical environments, ideally from a similar industry context
• Building strong and high performing teams of technical professionals
• Developing and implementing effective plans to drive improved business outcomes.
• Driving change, continuous improvement and efficiency
• Managing reporting and budgets and taking commercial decisions around opportunities
• You will be:
• A strong collaborative team player, able to work well with other leaders, to ensure all functions work in concert to deliver business strategy and outcomes.
• A strong problem solver with the ability to manage and resolve complex technical issues.
• An executor, able to translate strategy into delivery.
• A commercial operator and confident decision-maker, able to demonstrate sound judgment in a broad variety of complex business scenarios
• An experienced leader, who understands what it takes to engage and lead a team through change.
• You will have:
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a solid technical background
• The ability to operate in a matrix environment, with skills in alignment, collaboration, and joint delivery.
• The ability to inspire, coach and develop your team.
• Drive, energy, and resilience with an appetite for leading improvement and change
• A strong alignment to RM's core behaviours: Be Brave, Win Together, Be Curious, Make it Simple and Consider it Done.

What’s in it for you?

As well as a competitive salary, you could earn a performance related bonus and you would receive our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available.

There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign for a health assessment or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

At RM we recently introduced My Work Blend @RM which provides office based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working. As well as your office base you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process. We expect how we make best use of hybrid working may continue to adapt as we adjust to our new ways of working.

RM is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all permanent and temporary staff to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.