Job Specifications
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Head of Infrastructure to join a rapidly growing, private equity-backed technical building and compliance services group.
This is a hybrid role, 1-2 days in London, and 1-2 days travelling to national office. You must be able to travel regularly for this role.
Role Overview: This hands-on senior leadership role reports to the Chief Information Officer and is pivotal in leading, operating, and evolving the core IT infrastructure and technology services across multiple operating companies. The successful candidate will drive the infrastructure strategy covering both cloud and on-premise environments, cybersecurity, end user computing, service delivery, and supplier governance, supporting operational excellence, business growth, and post-acquisition integration.
Key Responsibilities:
Establish group-wide standards for infrastructure, cloud, security, and resilience; enforce governance and manage approval of technical exceptions.
Lead and chair technical forums, providing independent assurance to executive stakeholders on risk, resilience, and compliance.
Set and deliver the multi-year infrastructure and IT operations roadmap, including cloud platforms (Azure), networks, identity, end user services, and hosting environments.
Serve as the senior technical authority for infrastructure investment, resilience, and scalability.
Oversee core IT infrastructure operations across UK sites, ensuring availability, performance, scalability, and security.
Manage a mix of internal teams and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) covering infrastructure, service desk, cybersecurity, and end user support.
Own group standards and reference architectures (endpoint, identity, networking, backup, DR).
Lead IT service delivery for new site onboarding and mergers & acquisitions, including rapid infrastructure integration and stabilisation for newly acquired businesses.
Set and uphold infrastructure security standards, ensuring compliance with Cyber Essentials Plus, GDPR, and regulatory frameworks; drive ISO27001 readiness.
Maintain and improve disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities.
Manage infrastructure vendors/contracts, negotiate SLAs, and own the infrastructure and operations budget (typically £1m+).
Provide transparent reporting on performance, risks, and key initiatives to executive and private equity stakeholders.
Requirements:
Essential:
Significant leadership experience in infrastructure or IT operations.
Deep technical expertise in Microsoft 365, Azure, on-premise infrastructure, networking, identity, and cybersecurity.
Experience managing outsourced IT environments and MSPs.
Budget oversight experience (£1m+).
Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and governance skills.
Desirable:
Background in private equity-backed or acquisitive businesses.
Experience in construction, engineering, or project-oriented sectors.
Exposure to ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus.
Familiarity with ITIL, Prince2, or equivalent service/delivery frameworks.
About the Company
We are a specialist recruitment firm with an office network that covers:
London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Reading, Bristol, Cheltenham, Dublin and Amsterdam.
Founded in 1988, and joining Gi Group Holding in 2018, we've been leading by example for 30 years and counting, specialising in placing the very best talent in fast paced, entrepreneurial growth businesses. We offer a full multi-channel recruitment service for interim and permanent positions across the following divisions:
Commerce & Industry
Financial Services
...
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