Head of Digital Operations

About the company

My client is a growing online education provider, delivering specialist postgraduate programmes to professionals around the world. The business is investing heavily in its systems, data, AI and people. It already has a capable in-house team building its own platforms, and it has a new team structure designed to get more value from its technology.

The role

This is a new leadership role, reporting to the Operations Director. You’ll run digital operations as a service to the business, making sure the right work gets done in the right order and that everyone can see why.

You’ll be the link between the business and the technology team. You’ll work with every department to understand where technology helps or hinders them, and turn their problems into clear requirements. You’ll agree priorities with other heads of department, build a roadmap the business can trust, and explain technology plainly to the executive team.

You’ll also own the day-to-day foundations: infrastructure, cyber security, cloud and workplace systems, IT support and data. This is a leadership role, not a hands-on development one. You’ll lead a team that includes a Lead Architect, a front-end/UX developer, IT support and a data analyst.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Gathering requirements from every department and publishing a roadmap with clear priorities
• Delivering projects and playing a leading role in transforming customer operations
• Infrastructure and cyber security, with ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus as the baseline
• Standardising business systems and the integrations and automations that connect them
• Data ownership, and one trusted source of reporting
• Running a well-managed IT support service with clear service levels
• Bringing in practical, well-governed AI that becomes part of how people work
• Leading the team, the technology budget and suppliers

What success looks like in year one

• A published three-month roadmap within 60 days that heads of department support
• A regular prioritisation forum with the executive team
• Leaders trust their reporting, and figures agree across departments
• Security and audits run as routine, with no last-minute scramble
• A shrinking, well-understood backlog and a technology team recognised for what it delivers

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading a technology function in a growing mid-sized or larger organisation, including owning the strategy and roadmap
• A track record of business transformation through technology, with measurable results
• Strong stakeholder skills: turning needs into requirements, agreeing priorities with senior leaders and sticking to what’s been agreed
• Experience delivering several projects through one team while managing capacity, dependencies and suppliers
• Hands-on experience introducing AI or automation with measurable results, and a sound grasp of the security, privacy and ethical issues
• Experience running infrastructure and information security, including leading ISO 27001, with working knowledge of Cyber Essentials Plus and GDPR
• Experience choosing and standardising SaaS tools, running a support service and building data governance
• Enough technical depth across cloud, integration, data and AI to be a credible partner to a senior engineer

Nice to have: experience in education, healthcare or another regulated sector; experience within a group structure or of acquisitions; ITIL, PRINCE2, Agile or ISO 27001 Lead Implementer; experience managing a technology budget and supplier contracts.

Interested?

Apply with your CV, or contact Kim Gibbons at IntaPeople for a confidential conversation: k.gibbons@intapeople.com