Section Head - IT (Emirati)

About this opportunity

Role PurposeThe Section Head – IT will lead the reliable, secure, and cost-effective day-to-day operation of the organization’s IT infrastructure, systems, and services. The role is responsible for the “run and operate” layer, ensuring that platforms, applications, and environments delivered by AI & Data, Digital Transformation, and Research & Development remain stable, available, secure, and effectively supported in production.The role does not own application development, digital product delivery, analytics, AI solutions, or R&D solution design. Application development falls under Digital Transformation. This position is specifically focused on operating, supporting, securing, and sustaining the organization’s technology estate.Qualifications & ExperienceBachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline. A Master’s degree is preferred.8–12 years of experience in IT operations, infrastructure, service management, or cloud operations, including several years in a leadership role. Experience within a government or large enterprise environment is highly desirable.Proven experience in operating secure and highly available infrastructure, production applications, service desk operations, vendors, and critical IT services.Relevant professional certifications are valued, including ITIL, PMP, cloud certifications across Azure, OCI, or AWS, and information security certifications such as CISSP or CISM.Key ResponsibilitiesInfrastructure & Systems: Manage on-premise and cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), including servers, networks, storage, data centers, hosting, capacity, performance, and resilience.IT Service Management: Own the service desk and ITSM processes, including incident, problem, change, and request management, while ensuring SLA adherence and continuously improving the quality of end-user support.Availability & Business Continuity: Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery for critical systems, covering backup, redundancy, recovery readiness, and overall operational resilience.Security Operations: Manage day-to-day information security controls in accordance security standards, while coordinating with AI & Data and relevant governance functions on compliance requirements.Applications Support: Maintain and support business applications, including patching, upgrades, vendor coordination, and operational handover from development teams into production.Vendor & Asset Management: Manage IT vendors, contracts, SLAs, licensing, cloud cost governance, and the complete IT asset lifecycle to optimize cost, service quality, and operational performance.Governance & Reporting: Enforce IT operational policies, standards, and controls, and provide leadership with regular reporting on service health, risks, KPIs, costs, and technology improvement priorities.