Executive Director of IT Operations

Executive Director of IT Operations

Detailed job description

I. Job Overview

The IT Operations Executive Director is one of the highest-ranking managers in an enterprise's IT operations and service delivery system, responsible for the overall management of the company's IT infrastructure, system operation, technical support, service management, operational processes, and continuous optimization. 

This role focuses on building "stable, secure, efficient, and scalable" IT operations capabilities to ensure that technology operations are highly aligned with business strategy.

II. Main Responsibilities

1. IT Operations Strategy and System Development

Develop and implement the company's IT operations strategy, annual operations plan, and long-term capability building roadmap.

Establish a standardized and scalable IT operations management system (ITOM/ITSM).

Drive the transformation of IT operations from passive support to proactive service and business empowerment.

2. Infrastructure and System Operation Management

Responsible for the stable operation of data centers, cloud platforms, networks, servers, storage, middleware, and operating systems.

Manage hybrid cloud/multi-cloud environments to ensure high availability, high performance, and scalability of your systems.

Establish a system monitoring, capacity planning, fault management, and emergency response mechanism.

3. IT Service Management (ITSM)

Promote the implementation of best practices such as ITIL, ITSM, and SRE.

Management Service Desk, Incident Management, Issue Management, Change Management, and Release Management.

Continuously optimize SLA/SLO metrics to improve business unit satisfaction.

4. Operations Automation and Digital Transformation

Promote the development of automated operations and maintenance (AIOps), scripting, configuration management, and self-healing systems.

Introducing DevOps and SRE models improves system delivery efficiency and stability.

Leverage data analytics to drive operational decisions, thereby reducing failure rates and operational costs.

5. Information Security and Risk Management

Collaborate with the information security team to ensure system security, data security, and access control.

Oversee disaster recovery (DR) systems, business continuity plans (BCP), and emergency drills.

Ensure compliance with requirements (such as ISO 27001, SOX, GDPR, and information security standards).

6. Team Management and Organizational Development

Lead the IT operations, infrastructure, network, security, and support teams.

Establish performance management, skills development, and succession planning.

Build a highly available, highly responsible, and continuously improving IT operations culture.

7. Budget and Supplier Management

Manage IT operations budgets and optimize cost structure (cloud costs, hardware, outsourcing).

Responsible for managing technology suppliers, outsourcing service providers, and cloud service providers.

Evaluate and introduce new tools and platforms to improve operational efficiency.

8. Senior Management Communication and Business Support

Report regularly to management on the status of IT operations, risks, improvement plans, and KPIs.

As a key supporter of the business units, ensure that critical systems meet business needs.

Serving as a major incident commander.

III. Qualifications

Educational background

Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field;

MBA or higher training in information systems management are preferred.

Work experience

18+ years of IT operations or IT service management experience;

Five or more years of IT operations management experience in large enterprises or multinational corporations;

Possesses experience in the operation and maintenance management of complex systems, high-concurrency systems, or critical business systems.