Job Summary

The Operational Lead – Cloud & Infrastructure is responsible for ensuring the stable, secure, and efficient operation of the organization's cloud and on-premises infrastructure. This role leads operational teams, manages service delivery, drives automation and continuous improvement, and ensures compliance with SLAs, security policies, and regulatory requirements. The individual will work closely with business stakeholders, vendors, and technical teams to deliver high-quality IT infrastructure services.

Responsibilities:

Service Operations

• Lead day-to-day Cloud and Infrastructure operations, ensuring high availability and performance.
• Manage Incident, Problem, Change, and Service Request processes in accordance with ITIL best practices.
• Ensure adherence to SLAs, OLAs, and KPIs.
• Drive service restoration during major incidents and coordinate post-incident reviews.
• Manage operational escalations and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

Cloud Infrastructure Management

• Manage cloud environments (AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform).
• Ensure cloud resources are optimized for performance, cost, and security.
• Monitor cloud utilization and recommend improvements.
• Oversee cloud backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning.

Infrastructure Operations

• Manage Windows/Linux servers, virtualization platforms (VMware/Hyper-V), storage, and backup environments.
• Oversee network infrastructure, firewalls, load balancers, and DNS services.
• Ensure endpoint and server patching, vulnerability remediation, and lifecycle management.
• Maintain infrastructure documentation and standard operating procedures.

Team Leadership

• Lead Infrastructure and Cloud Operations teams.
• Plan resource allocation and workload balancing.
• Coach and mentor engineers and technical leads.
• Conduct performance reviews and identify training needs.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with cloud providers, managed service providers, and technology vendors.
• Coordinate with application, security, and business teams for operational readiness.
• Review vendor performance against contractual SLAs.
• Participate in governance meetings and operational reviews.

Security & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with security standards such as ISO 27001, CIS Benchmarks, and organizational policies.
• Support security audits, penetration testing, and vulnerability assessments.
• Implement identity and access management (IAM) best practices.
• Ensure infrastructure complies with regulatory requirements.

Monitoring & Automation

• Implement proactive monitoring and alerting.
• Drive automation using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation), scripting (PowerShell, Python), and configuration management tools.
• Improve operational efficiency through automation and self-healing capabilities.

Reporting & Governance

• Prepare weekly and monthly operational reports.
• Present service performance, risks, and improvement initiatives to leadership.
• Maintain operational dashboards and capacity reports.
• Drive continual service improvement (CSI) initiatives.

Requirements:

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of AWS and/or Microsoft Azure.
• Experience with Windows Server and Linux administration.
• VMware, Hyper-V, or cloud virtualization technologies.
• Networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, VPN, DNS, Firewalls, Load Balancers).
• Storage and backup technologies.
• Monitoring tools (CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, SolarWinds, PRTG, Splunk, Dynatrace, etc.).
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Automation using PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
• Understanding of Kubernetes and Docker is an advantage.

Service Management

• Strong understanding of ITIL v4 processes.
• Experience managing Incident, Problem, Change, Capacity, and Availability Management.
• Experience managing Major Incidents and service recovery.

Leadership Skills

• Team management and mentoring.
• Stakeholder management.
• Vendor management.
• Risk management.
• Decision-making under pressure.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in IT Infrastructure and Cloud Operations.
• 2+ years in an operational lead or management role.
• Experience managing enterprise or large-scale cloud environments.

Preferred Certifications

• ITIL v4 Foundation / Managing Professional
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate/Professional