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City of Westminster, England, United Kingdom
Onsite
Operations Director, Technology
Reporting of the Role
This role reports to the Director, Technology: Broadcast, Global Studios and Outdoor Digital
Overview of job
The Operations Director is responsible for leading the operational technology services that underpin Global's broadcast, studio, outdoor and corporate technology environments.
The role owns the day-to-day delivery, support, monitoring, reporting and continual improvement of technology services, ensuring they are reliable, responsive and aligned to business needs.
The Operations Director leads the teams responsible for Helpdesk, Monitoring & Response, Service Management, Outdoor Digital Service Management and White Glove support.
As a senior leader within Technology, the Operations Director is accountable for operational excellence, service performance, incident management, service governance and the user experience across the organisation. The role acts as the operational bridge between technical teams and business, ensuring technology services remain resilient, scalable and fit for purpose.
The Operations Director will lead a cultural transformation across operational technology: moving teams towards a more proactive, joined-up and customer-focused way of working. The role will foster shared ownership of service outcomes, open collaboration across functions, and the confident use of data and learning to prevent issues and continually improve the experience of colleagues and the business.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
• Lead all operational technology services across Global.
• Ensure the delivery of reliable, resilient and high-performing technology services.
• Establish and maintain operational standards, procedures and governance.
• Drive a culture of accountability, service excellence and continuous improvement.
• Drive opportunities for the use of AI to improve operational performance and customer service
• Act as the senior operational escalation point for major incidents and service issues.
• Ensure operational readiness for major business initiatives, events and organisational change.
Service Management
• Own the overall service management framework and operational processes.
• Ensure effective management of incidents, problems, service requests and operational risks.
• Drive continual service improvement through analysis of service performance and trends.
• Establish and distribute meaningful service reporting and operational metrics.
• Ensure service levels are understood, measured and continuously improved.
Monitoring & Response
• Lead the Monitoring & Response function responsible for proactive monitoring and operational response.
• Drive improvements in observability, alerting and operational intelligence.
• Ensure rapid identification and resolution of service-impacting issues.
• Develop operational automation to reduce manual intervention and improve responsiveness.
• Build a data-driven operational culture focused on prevention rather than reaction.
Helpdesk & End User Support
• Lead the Helpdesk function, ensuring a high-quality support experience for colleagues across Global.
• Drive improvements in first-contact resolution, customer satisfaction and service efficiency.
• Ensure support processes evolve to meet changing business and technology requirements.
• Champion user experience and service excellence across all support channels.
White Glove Support
• Lead the White Glove service providing excellent support to executive and senior leadership stakeholders.
• Ensure executive technology issues are resolved rapidly and professionally.
• Develop proactive support and service assurance models for VIP users.
• Build trusted relationships with senior business leaders and their support teams.
Outdoor Digital Service Management
• Lead operational oversight of Global's outdoor digital estate.
• Ensure effective management of operational partners and third-party suppliers.
• Drive service reporting, performance management and continual improvement.
• Ensure operational service quality supports commercial and business objectives.
Leadership & Organisation
• Lead and develop a multi-disciplinary operational leadership team.
• Build succession plans and talent pipelines across operational functions.
• Lead the cultural change needed to build a unified, accountable and high-performing operations organisation—breaking down silos, encouraging collaboration and continuous learning, and making proactive service ownership and colleague experience central to how teams work.
• Ensure teams have the skills, tools and processes required to support future business growth.
Stakeholder Management
• Build strong relationships across Technology and the wider business.
• Partner closely with Infrastructure, Commercial Technology and Data teams.
• Work in close partnership with the Cyber Security team to incorporate its security requirements into operational service delivery, coordinate the operational response to cyber incidents, and support timely implementation of agreed remediation actions.
• Provide clear communication during major incidents and business-critical events.
• Act as a trusted adviser on operational service performance and improvement opportunities.
Key Areas of Accountability
• Service availability and reliability
• User support and experience
• Major incident management
• Operational risk management
• Service reporting and governance
• Monitoring and observability
• Operational automation
• Continual service improvement
• Executive support services
• Outdoor operational service delivery
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Essential
• Significant leadership experience in technology operations, service management or infrastructure environments.
• Experience leading large operational teams across multiple disciplines.
• Strong understanding of ITIL and modern service management practices.
• Experience operating within highly available, business-critical environments.
• Strong incident management and operational governance experience.
• Proven ability to improve service quality and operational performance.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and service providers.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
• Experience leading organisational change and service transformation initiatives.
Desirable
• Experience within 24/7 media, broadcast, production or entertainment industries.
• Knowledge of observability platforms and operational analytics.
• Experience implementing operational automation and AI-enabled service management.
• Understanding of broadcast and media production environments.
• Experience supporting executive and VIP user communities.
Leadership Behaviours
Think Big Shapes operational services that can scale with Global's future growth across broadcast, studios and outdoor digital.
Own It Takes accountability for service quality, operational performance and business outcomes.
Keep It Simple Reduces operational complexity and creates clear, efficient and scalable processes.
Better Together Builds strong relationships across Technology and the wider business to deliver excellent service outcomes.
Success Measures
• Service availability and reliability targets achieved
• Improved colleague satisfaction
• Reduction in recurring incidents and service disruption
• Faster incident detection and resolution
• Improved operational efficiency through automation
• Positive executive stakeholder feedback
• Strong service provider performance
• Demonstrable continual service improvement outcomes
• High-performing and engaged operational teams
