Head of Technology Infrastructure

Support Technology Strategy & Innovation

• Accountable for the development and implementation of a functional Technology strategy and tactical plans aligned with the corporate strategy and goals.
• Set strategic objectives for implementing innovative solutions while optimising existing Infrastructure, systems, applications, and information.
• Investigate, develop, and drive the implementation of industry leading best practices to meet high availability of Technology hardware and assets, networks that exceed the requirement of SBV operations.
• Outline and monitor programmes identified to support operational needs to transform business performance and deliver increase in revenue generation, resulting in efficiencies and ensure compliance to technology governance standards.
• Keep abreast of global best practices on technology development strategies to enable SBV to maintain an advanced position in delivering forward-thinking and commercially astute solutions.
• Drive the adoption, integration, and optimisation of existing cloud technologies and latest open-source technologies.

Planning and Organisation

• Translate the Technology strategy into actionable plans to drive high availability, optimisation and transformation of the technological infrastructure and networks across the SBV landscape.
• Identify opportunities to scale technological Infrastructure solutions whilst utilising appropriate strategic approaches to balance both cloud and on premises solutions.
• Provide strategic insights into the Technology hardware, networking, database administration and asset deployment, taking into account both Technology and Group strategy requirements.
• Develop a differentiated, innovative approach to data utilisation to continuously improve and give SBV a competitive advantage to stay ahead of the technology advancement curve.
• Drive Technology infrastructure solutioning and design of architecture and systems that adhere to modern infrastructure security hygiene and best practices.

Analysis and Design Activities

• Manage complex projects and initiatives and approve project deliverables regarding business plans and user requirements and delivery in terms of project management principles (e.g., in scope, on time, and in budget).
• Lead and drive multiple project deliverables using industry leading infrastructure solutioning and design that is both fit for purpose and scalable.
• Review global best practices on technology infrastructure strategies to assist in delivering quality and excellence through robust testing awareness and enablement.
• Lead the development and implementation of Technology infrastructure initiatives across the organisation applying a change management approach.
• Design a state-of-the-art infrastructure landscape that accommodates and aligns with the new design solutions and influences business requirements to accelerate the use of modernised infrastructure that will deliver an agile ICT environment.

Technical implementation in own area

• Accountable for technical infrastructure development and deployment for new or upgraded IT infrastructure solutions.
• Identify and create a roadmap for the technologies that can be used to improve and support the company's products and services, enabling future fit technological initiatives.
• Manage the decommissioning of legacy infrastructure and creating and transitioning to sustainable solution sets, based on best practices.
• Accountable for group wide Technology infrastructure by monitoring the health of the environment, identifying risk areas, planning, and implementing mitigation and risk reduction measures.
• Manage Technology infrastructure solution lifecycles to ensure scalability, extracting value from its functionality, and planning alternative options at the end of its lifespan.
• Accountable for the Implementation of security-related automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence that can assist in securing SBV's assets (people, hardware, and software).
• Accountable for all Technology assets, including forecasting lifespans, replacement values, and maximising their usage and full value.
• Accountable for the SBV IT Disaster Recovery and Resilience programme, ensuring testing meets requirements with continuous evolution to ensure proactive optimisation of disaster recovery processes.

Vendor Management

• Drive vendor engagements and alignment to the Technology Infrastructure Functional strategy objectives with a clearly defined vendor management framework and set expectations in accordance with the approved scope of work.
• Manage and negotiate vendor contracts, monitoring that all contracts have not reached the effluxion of time and that service delivery meets the contractual obligations.

Stakeholder and Customer Management

• Secure stakeholder support and buy-in by demonstrating business benefits and value add for investments in the technological solutions.
• Assist the Chief Technology Officer in resolving tactical issues impacting the business before any escalations and provide strategic direction from ideation to implementation of cutting-edge technology solution projects.
• Adopt a collaborative approach across departments to drive strategic initiatives, including aligning Technology strategy with various technology roadmaps and lifecycle usage.
• Monitor compliance with specified provisions of service level agreements to drive mutually beneficial and productive long-term working relationships.
• Participate in key information technology bodies to create networks and use those platforms for maintaining the latest understanding of ICT developments and related regulations.
• Accountable for day-to-day operations across the team, continuously improving performance, cost, and satisfaction for the end user.
• Enhance stakeholder engagement to address issues, improve relations, and provide information on project status.
• Accountable for Infrastructure incident and problem management together with the operations team to meet SLA targets, and retain high customer standards, ensuring 99.9% uptime, resolution, or a new solution redesign.

Quality Management

• Review and refine policies and procedures for managing and protecting data in compliance with regulatory acts, such as POPIA.
• Drive the testing and implementation of emerging technologies and solutions in the cloud, automation, machine learning, analytics, and artificial intelligence space.
• Establish standards of work to maintain consistency by ensuring processes and procedures are documented for a cohesive team.

Risk Management

• Identify, monitor, and manage ICT risks by implementing appropriate risk controls and procedures to minimise or mitigate system downtime and potential reputational risk for the organisation.
• Implement robust system governance controls and measures throughout the project phases, upgrades, new infrastructure, and migration processes to ensure end users’ and customers’ confidence levels in the security and safety of their data and levels of high availability are maintained.
• Manage risks and system security threats such as cyberattacks and adhere to Cyber Security Act regulations relating to data and technology asset management and customer information protection by embedding a culture of safe and secure data and technology asset management within the organisation.
• Manage audit outcomes and strive towards zero repeat findings.
• Collaborate with the client and external stakeholders to validate and review disaster recovery plans that will have minimal impact on the cash ecosystem in terms of service delivery.
• Implement good governance by ensuring that SLAs with clients and service providers are in place, including contracts for information technology resources, i.e., hardware, software, human resources etc.

Reporting

• Deliver regular reporting, including dashboards and plan reviews on critical business optimisation initiatives and projects to Stratco, Manco, Board/ ICT Subcommittees and Project Steering Committees.
• Facilitate communication across business units, identify change management interventions and timelines for project and optimisation delivery, and present reporting to Stratco, Manco, Board/ ICT Subcommittees and Project Steering Committees.

Finance

• Develop and control the annual Technology Infrastructure budget, operating costs, and forecasting.
• Manage the capital investments expenditure (CAPEX) to yield cost optimisation and control.
• Manage cost efficiencies to ensure the appropriateness of Technology spending through optimisation and analysis of business benefits.
• Deliver initiatives that have approved business cases and motivations and ensure prioritisation based on business priority.

Leadership and People Management

• Provide Technology leadership to the team and ensure a common understanding of the Technology Infrastructure strategy and roadmap.
• Lead a team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), reviewing their plans, execution programs, and initiatives identified and providing feedback.
• Manage the team's performance by setting specific goals, assessing performance, conducting period performance feedback reviews, and ensuring the team grows through formal development programmes and coaching.
• Utilise talent management practices to identify and develop future leaders and retain current talent to ensure a pipeline of future leaders and business sustainability.
• Accountable for the planning, prioritising, and securing resources across the Technology Infrastructure team to establish a balance between technology transformation, project delivery and ongoing maintenance and support of existing Technology infrastructure.
• Manage recruitment, performance management, training, career development programs, succession planning, resource planning, and HR processes across the team.
• Support transformation and BBB-EE initiatives for sustainable alignment with the company's scorecard.
• Draw up and conduct disciplinary hearings in accordance with labour law, statutory requirements and SBV ER policies and procedures.

Minimum Requirements: Work and Education

• 10 years of experience within an Information Technology environment, of which:

• 5 years of experience in organisation wide IT infrastructure senior management
• 3 years of experience in network design and administration, data centre operations, database administration, and systems programming and administration.
• 5+ years in a production 24/7 high-availability multi-site environment, including application hosting, voice and data networks, security and information protection.
• Degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or related field
• Certification in relevant Enterprise Architecture or Technology frameworks and methodologies (Advantageous)
• Cloud certifications AWS or AZURE or GCP (Advantageous)
• ISO27001 accreditation (Advantageous)