VP Tech Operations

We are an organisation that exists to drive progress. That's the "red thread" that connects everyone at The Economist Group (TEG). Our businesses share a devotion to innovation, independence and rigour in their fields of expertise. We empower people to understand and tackle the critical challenges and changes facing the world. Our analytical rigour, global expertise and evidence-based insights enable individuals and organisations to make sense of these shifts and chart a course through them.

We deliver analysis and insights in many formats to subscribers and clients in 170 countries through our four businesses, The Economist, Economist Impact, Economist Intelligence and Economist Education, which uphold our global reputation for excellence and integrity.

The Vice President Technical/Production Operations ("VP TechOps") is responsible for ensuring that all Economist Group ("TEG") production applications are continuously operating at target service levels, providing Economist Group customers with best-in-class experiences. This includes managing, monitoring, supporting, and continuously improving TEG's production systems, including global cloud infrastructure, partner services, and related applications.

This role leads global technical and cloud operations, infrastructure, and incident management functions for the production application portfolio. The VP TechOps will identify requirements, manage priorities, provide status updates, manage budgets, and ensure that service delivery is on time, on budget, and of the highest quality.

You will collaborate with other highly skilled technical staff responsible for engineering the cloud infrastructure, including compute, storage, backup, disaster recovery, virtualization, and OS/application layers across the company's overall product stack.

Your hands-on leadership in this technical role will require daily interaction with cloud computing platforms and their related systems and product teams.

This position requires flexibility during and after business hours in a 24x7 environment. On-call duties are the team and its leadership's responsibility, especially during maintenance, transformations, and outages.

Major Responsibilities

• Manage the deployment, performance, availability, monitoring, alerting, and incident management for the cloud and partner infrastructure required to power all customer-facing products, including compute, storage, and network systems for cloud hosting.
• Run a 24x7x365 Cloud Infrastructure and Operations organisation with staff located in multiple global locations.
• Lead a team responsible for Level 1 Incident management.
• Provide cloud and applications incident management strategy, process, and procedures across the organisation.
• Lead a consistent, measurable process to operationalize and scale cloud-based strategic initiatives and execution.
• Establish key KPIs, SLAs, SLOs, SLIs, and other metrics and measurements. Communicate through operational reviews, and measure and track against industry benchmarks and standards.
• Work closely with Engineering and technology vendors to ensure SLOs are met and quality meets or exceeds expectations.
• Identify and implement critical metrics necessary to manage and monitor overall operations performance, including capacity, availability, and budget.
• Manage vendor relationships to maintain day-to-day operations and strategic goals for Production Operations SLAs and deliverables. Work with current vendor stakeholders and partners to develop and deliver strategic plans. Oversee relevant production cloud provider vendor contracts, streamlining services required and optimising overall costs.
• Collaborate with the Head of Information Security to manage adherence to security and compliance safeguards, policies, and procedures.
• Develop and mentor a high-performing team of global professionals.
• Provide strong leadership, guidance, and direction related to cloud hosting service delivery.
• Manage budgeting and forecasting, planning, deployment, incident and problem management, and change management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a relevant field.
• 15+ years of experience in managing, designing, executing, and supporting Technology Infrastructure and Operation Solutions with 3-5 years of experience in cloud solutions, architecture, implementation, and operations.
• Positive attitude and a strong commitment to delivering quality work.
• Excellent knowledge of cloud computing technologies and current computing trends.
• Effective communication skills (written and verbal) to properly articulate complicated technology architecture.
• 5+ years of experience managing high-volume customer-facing SaaS applications.
• 5+ years of senior management experience and leadership skills.
• Hands-on experience in 24x7x365 cloud operations or SaaS Operations.
• Direct experience driving continuous improvements in process and operational efficiencies. Lead process-improvement efforts and manage the implementation of both business processes and technical solutions. Drive best practices across cross-functional teams.
• Expert in managing Global Infrastructure and the team that manages Global Infrastructure to meet regional compliance requirements and achieve 99.999% uptime with high velocity on ticket resolution and issue remediation.
• Knowledgeable in PCI, EU Data Sovereignty and Privacy, and other compliance metrics.
• Drive for results with a passion for technology and continuous delivery.
• Experience building and leading a high-performance team across multiple geographies.
• Ability to quickly drill down to solve problems and take ownership of the resolution.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically.
• Experience integrating with 3rd party service platforms.
• Experience with configuration management systems and associated automation.
• Strong leadership and team-building skills.
• Ability to partner cross-functionally to drive complex strategic projects.
• Excellent project management skills and ability to work to deadlines while successfully managing multiple business-driven initiatives.

Other Requirements

• Ability to multitask, prioritise, manage workloads, and adapt to changing business conditions.
• Experience creating and communicating a clear business case justifying projects, resources, and technology costs.
• Proactive, upbeat, and collaborative communication style, with the ability to be direct, tactful, and transparent.
• Demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Manage through conflict and challenging situations with positive outcomes.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills.

What we offer

Benefits
We offer excellent benefits including an incentive programme, generous annual and parental leave policies, volunteering days and well-being support throughout the year, as well as free access to all Economist content. Country specific benefits are also offered.

Our Values
Our values are a collective set of beliefs and behaviours that strengthen The Economist Group's purpose and demonstrate where we want to be as an organisation. They reflect on our mission to pursue progress for individuals, organisations and the world.

Independence
We are not bound to any party or interest and encourage exploration and free-thinking. We champion freedom, both within our organisation and around the world.

Integrity
We are bold in our efforts to uncover the truth and stand up for what we believe in. We inspire trust through our rigour, fact-checking and transparency.

Excellence
We aspire to the highest standards in all we do. We are ambitious and inquisitive in our pursuit of continuous progress and innovation.

Inclusivity
We value diversity in thought and background and encourage healthy debate with a breadth of perspectives. We treat our colleagues and customers fairly and respectfully.

Openness
We foster a collaborative and empathetic culture conducive to the interests, wit and initiative of our colleagues. New ideas are our lifeblood.

The Economist Group values diversity. We are committed to equal opportunities and creating an inclusive environment for all our colleagues and potential colleagues regardless of ethnic origin, national origin, gender, gender identity, race, colour, religious beliefs, disability, sexual orientation, age, marital status or any other status.

Apply for this job

indicates a required field