About the job 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 organization's 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
12–18+ 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 bachelor's degree; ITIL, COBIT, PMP, CISSP, CISM, AWS/Azure or equivalent certifications are advantageous.