Head of IT Infrastructure and Operations

Job Description

About the position:

The Head of Infrastructure will lead the design, operation, security and scalability of enterprise IT infrastructure across data centers, cloud platforms, networks and end-user computing. This role ensures high availability, performance, security, compliance and cost efficiency of technology platforms supporting business growth and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Center & Cloud Operations

• Manage on-premises data centers, disaster recovery (DR) and hybrid/multi-cloud environments

• Oversee DR drills, business continuity planning (BCP) and RTO/RPO compliance

• Ensure 99.9%+ availability, performance and capacity planning

• Optimize cloud costs through FinOps and vendor management

Infrastructure Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and execute an infrastructure strategy aligned with business objectives

• Drive transformation across data center, cloud, network and end-user computing

• Lead modernization initiatives including cloud adoption, automation, SRE and AIOps

• Act as the senior escalation point for critical outages and incidents

Network, Security & Resilience

• Own enterprise network architecture (LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, VPN, Internet)

• Collaborate with CISO on infrastructure security, IAM, PAM and Zero Trust frameworks

• Protect systems against cyber threats such as DDoS and ransomware

• Maintain a secure, resilient and segmented infrastructure

Platform, OS & Middleware Management

• Oversee Linux, Windows and Unix platforms

• Manage middleware such as web servers, application servers, MQ and API gateways

• Ensure patching, hardening, configuration management and standardization

Service Management & Reliability

• Implement and govern ITIL / ITSM processes

• Define SLA, SLO, KPI and availability metrics

• Drive Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and automation initiatives

• Lead problem management and root cause analysis (RCA)

Vendor & Financial Management

• Manage infrastructure vendors, OEMs and cloud providers

• Lead contract negotiations, renewals, audits and cost optimization

• Control CAPEX / OPEX budgets and justify ROI for infrastructure investments

Compliance & Governance

• Ensure compliance with ISO 27001 and regulatory requirements (SEBI, RBI, CERT-In, UIDAI)

• Support internal, external and regulatory audits

• Maintain infrastructure documentation and SOPs

Team Building

• Build and mentor high-performing infrastructure teams

• Define roles, on-call models and succession plans

• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement

Qualifications

Additional Information

Required Skills & Experience

• 12+ years of experience in IT Infrastructure & Operations

• 3+ years in a senior leadership role

• Proven experience managing large-scale, mission-critical platforms

• Strong expertise in AWS / Azure / GCP, data centers and virtualization

• Experience with Linux, Windows, enterprise networking, DR and BCP

• Hands-on exposure to automation tools (Ansible, Terraform, scripting)

• Strong understanding of ITSM / ITIL, monitoring, observability and AIOp