Head of IT Operations

Your Opportunity

Admiral Financial Services (AFSL) is the young, energetic lending arm of Admiral Group. Based on the 11th floor in Ty Admiral, we have the freedom to innovate like a small start up with the fortunate support of Admiral Group.

The journey started for us when we launched unsecured personal loans in June 2017. We went on to be the first direct to consumer car finance provider in December 2017 and since then, we have gone from strength to strength!

With ambitious plans for 2020, we’re looking for someone who is keen to develop, excited about getting stuck in and ready for a challenge. Our vision is simple, we’re creating a special lending business for our customers whilst also ensuring AFSL is a fantastic place to work.

As a business, it’s important that our staff are transparent, creative, curious and challenge with care, all whilst being actively involved in our culture.

We support and understand the need for flexible working and on this basis the successful candidate can expect a balance of remote and home working.

The Role

We are looking for Head of IT Operations to join the Technology team here at AFSL and help to take ownership and deliver improvements to the way we manage IT Service Support & Service Delivery.

The Head of IT Operations will lead a team of 1st and 2nd line support and service delivery staff who will work with colleagues within Admiral Financial Services and the Admiral Group to ensure that IT Services are managed and operated in an efficient and structure manner, the role requires good communication skills and the ability to multi-task across a typical financial services technology team.

You will be part of the IT Leadership team, reporting to the CIO and  working along-side the Head of Cyber Security, Chief Engineer and Head of IT PMO & Governance. You will be a critical part of improving our service delivery and service support capability,  establishing working practices aligned to ITIL Frameworks.

You will be an organised, enthusiastic self-starter, a problem solver and to top it off a great communicator, able work closely with our developers any third parties that might be involved in the delivery of our services to the business. You will be someone that people can trust and turn to for expert knowledge, and advice on anything related to service support and delivery, passionate about the subject and able to upskill those around you.

•  Provide strong technology and people leadership to drive the IT Operations team to adhere to the highest standards of expertise
• Support the vision for how technology will be used at AFSL, leveraging technology expertise to support the business, making decisions that will impact the current and future operations of the company.
• Participate in the delivery of Business Change for AFSL ensuring that the technological resources meet the company's short and long-term needs and take ownership of the technological support and delivery aspects of the strategy.
• Set the goals and objectives for the IT Operations teams, creating timelines for the development and deployment of all technological services.
• Leverage the experience and expertise of the team to ensure that implementation risks are identified, assessed, escalated as required and mitigating actions are taken and effective controls are implemented.
• Take ownership of service delivery, service support and establish processes and procedures to enhance service delivery capabilities in AFSL based on recognised practices i.e. Change, Release management.

Essential:

• Previous experience of IT Operations in a Financial Services company
• Experience of multi-cloud and outsourced services.
• Experience of supporting a full software developer, CI/CD pipeline improvement and DevOps
• Good experience working in an Agile development environment, with classic applications as well as microservices, using modern code processing and continuous integration and delivery tools (e.g. Bitbucket, Drone, Concourse, etc)
• Developed and implemented formal ITIL Framework
• Ability to independently manage workload effectively
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• Managing technology budgets and investment.
• Meeting the financial targets for CTO.
• Maintaining a customer and consumer-focused outlook and aiding in the delivering of IT projects to market.
• Support the Risk Management and RCSA process ensuring all technology practices adhere to regulatory standards whilst maintaining a robust security and resilience posture, promoting robust IT Risk Management and Governance practices
• Drives synergies between business operations and technology.
• Deliver Management and insight reports to the CTO and SMT.
• Relationship and stakeholder management
  • ​Establish and maintain effective and efficient relationships with existing key vendors and future distribution partners to identify full development potential.
  • Ensure that Vendor and 3rd Party risks are managed

Desirable:

• Related professional qualifications ITIL V.x
• Experience working in financial sector/financial products desirable
• Good understanding of regulatory requirements in the financial sector
•  Any other cloud Technology certifications Azure/Google

About Admiral

We're Wales’ only FTSE 100 company. We have forward-thinking approaches and provide endless opportunities to test, learn and grow. There's a reason we've been named a Best Place to Work: our progressive culture, core values, and commitment to diversity and inclusion have created a working environment where people share ideas, aren’t afraid to speak up and change things, and above all, feel valued.

Admiral has grown from being a small start-up into a multi-national organisation. The company is constantly investigating new products, services and markets and is now present in eight countries with a diverse product portfolio.

Our success goes hand-in-hand with having a strong culture where we put our people and customers first. Our philosophy is simple yet effective: people who like what they do, do it better, and this, in turn, means that our customers receive the level of service and products that they deserve. Our culture is honest, open and wholeheartedly focused on four key areas:

Communication, Equality, Reward & Recognition, and Fun.

Salary, Benefits and Work-Life Balance

We do not have a set salary for this position, as it will be dependent on the successful candidate’s experience. We are happy to see CVs from all candidates who meet the requirements and will be happy to discuss the remuneration package.

At Admiral, we are proud to be a diverse business where we put our people and customers first. We have great benefits to ensure employees have a great work-life balance; it's one of the reasons we're voted no. 1 in the 2019 Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK. We want you to have an element of freedom to define a working lifestyle that supports this, so accommodate flexible hours wherever possible.

If you think this role is for you and would like to be considered for this opportunity, please complete an online application form. 

Please note, we are unable to accept CVs via email.

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