ABOUT TRAFALGAR ENTERTAINMENT (TE)
Co-founded by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire in 2017, Trafalgar Entertainment is a premium international live entertainment business focussed on new productions, venue ownership, Performing Arts education, theatre ticketing, the distribution of live-streaming innovative content and the provision of great theatres where people can come together to share in the experience of live entertainment. TE is home to Trafalgar Theatres, The Chiswick Cinema, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Trafalgar Releasing, Trafalgar Tickets, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Drama Kids Academy, ticketing company London Theatre Direct, Stagedoor, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, and Imagine Theatre.
We are passionate about entertainment, audiences, and the live experience and we value Creativity, Collaboration, Excellence and Respect.
Job Purpose:
The IT Operations Manager role is responsible for leading the day-to-day management of our IT operations, ensuring the smooth, secure and effective operation of our systems, networks and services. The role works closely with internal divisions and departments to align operational IT services with business priorities, while ensuring high standards of delivery and service are achieved through our IT support partners, IT security partners and internal IT operations team. In addition, the role provides ownership and oversight of Data Protection responsibilities, ensuring appropriate governance, continuity, cyber security controls and continuous improvement across the IT operational environment.
Roles and responsibilities
- Lead the day-to-day management of IT support partners to ensure the effective operation of IT infrastructure, systems, networks and services.
- Manage IT security partners to ensure appropriate cyber security services, monitoring, controls and operational support are in place across the business.
- Manage and provide direction to the internal IT operations team, ensuring clear priorities, effective service delivery and a strong customer-focused support culture.
- Oversee the deployment, maintenance and monitoring of all hardware, software and network components to ensure high availability, resilience and reliability.
- Partner with internal business stakeholders to understand business goals and requirements in relation to IT systems, acting as a key liaison between Group IT and other functions to maximise alignment and service delivery.
- Own relationships with external vendors and service providers, ensuring adherence to service level agreements and acting as an escalation point for operational issues.
- Develop and maintain roadmaps for third-party suppliers, ensuring these support wider business plans, operational priorities and future requirements.
- Manage and monitor budgets for third-party suppliers, ensuring spend is understood, controlled and aligned to operational priorities.
- Support and contribute to IT project delivery, ensuring operational considerations are appropriately represented.
- Ensure effective onboarding processes are in place for new starters, including the timely provision of equipment, access and support.
- Review IT support onsite visit requirements and determine the appropriate level of onsite support to meet business needs.
- Oversee and manage requests received via the Group IT inbox, ensuring appropriate triage, ownership and resolution.
- Manage regular IT purchase orders against budget, maintaining oversight of expenditure and commitments.
- Ensure appropriate processes are in place for the review, support and lifecycle management of IT equipment.
- Ensure the right controls and processes are in place for Active Directory to be regularly checked, maintained and corrected where required.
- Oversee the operational management of cyber security controls, including endpoint protection, identity and access management, patching, vulnerability remediation and security monitoring.
- Coordinate the response to IT security incidents with relevant partners and internal stakeholders, ensuring issues are escalated, contained, investigated and resolved appropriately.
- Support the development, implementation and review of IT security policies, standards and operational procedures to strengthen the organisation’s security posture.
- Ensure regular review of access controls, privileged accounts and security-related operational activities to maintain compliance and reduce risk.
- Represent IT team at Data Protection Steering meetings.
- Complete actions assigned through steering meetings and proactively follow up on actions owned by others to support compliance and progress.
- Monitor Subject Access Request and Data Protection incident processes, ensuring activities are tracked and managed appropriately.
Reporting line
- Reports to the CIO.
- Responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the internal IT operations team and the management of third-party IT support and security partners.
Decision-making / accountability
- Accountable for the effective day-to-day delivery of IT operational services, including end-user support, infrastructure, security operations and supplier performance.
- Makes operational decisions relating to service priorities, incident escalation, supplier management, resource allocation and the implementation of agreed controls and processes.
- Escalates material risks, budget variances, major incidents and significant service issues to the appropriate senior stakeholders.
- Ensures compliance with internal policies, security standards, data protection requirements and agreed service levels across the IT operational environment.
Key skills and experience
- Proven experience in IT operations, infrastructure, service delivery and supplier management within a multi-site or complex business environment.
- Strong working knowledge of cyber security operations, identity and access management, endpoint protection, patching, vulnerability management and incident response.
- Experience of managing third-party service providers against service level agreements and performance expectations.
- Demonstrable experience of leading and developing IT support or operations teams with a strong service culture.
- Good understanding of data protection requirements and the operational controls needed to support compliance.
- Strong organisational, planning and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple operational demands effectively.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships across technical and non-technical teams.
- Analytical and solution-focused approach, with sound judgement and attention to operational risk, service quality and continuous improvement.
Key performance measures
- Achievement of agreed IT service levels, including incident response and resolution performance.
- Availability, resilience and operational stability of core IT systems, infrastructure and services.
- Supplier performance against contractual obligations, service levels and business expectations.
- Delivery of cyber security operational controls, remediation actions and incident management outcomes.
- Effective budget management and control of operational third-party spend.
- Quality and timeliness of onboarding, equipment lifecycle management and user support processes.
- Evidence of continuous improvement in operational processes, controls, user experience and compliance outcomes.
