Director of IT
- Hiring from
- United Arab Emirates
- Work type
- Hybrid
- Posted
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Help AG is looking for Director of IT who will be responsible for the reliable, secure and efficient day-to-day operation of Help AG's IT services and infrastructure across the UAE and KSA. Reporting to the Vice President of Technology, this role owns IT operations end-to-end: service desk and end user support, network, server, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 infrastructure, workplace and facilities technology, and the infrastructure operated in support of Managed Security Services (MSS) and other delivery units.
Working within the technology strategy, security strategy and architectural standards set by the Vice President of Technology, the Director of IT has operational autonomy to run, improve and modernise the IT estate. The role is a hands-on leadership position, accountable for service quality, operational resilience, control execution and audit readiness, ensuring IT remains dependable, compliant, cost effective and responsive to the needs of the business.
Responsibilities:
- IT Operations: Accountable for the day-to-day operation, availability and performance of all IT services and infrastructure across the UAE and KSA, including service desk, end user computing, networks, servers, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, maintaining a high level of user satisfaction.
- Team Leadership: Leads the IT support and infrastructure team, setting priorities, managing performance, recognising individual contribution and developing capability. Provides functional leadership to IT staff in KSA through a dotted reporting line.
- IT Service Management: Owns the ITSM platform and IT service management processes, including incident, problem, request, change, asset and configuration management. Defines and maintains the IT service catalogue, derives SLAs and OLAs from stakeholder requirements, and consistently meets them.
- Change Management and CAB: Operates the Change Advisory Board, and owns the assessment of operational and business continuity risk for all changes to IT services and infrastructure, ensuring changes are planned, tested, approved and reversible.
- Delivery Unit and MSS Infrastructure: Operates the infrastructure that IT provides to MSS and other delivery units, including customer-supporting environments, internal tool hosting, container platforms and AI workloads, within a defined service catalogue. Ensures clear service boundaries and escalates out-of-scope requests to the Vice President of Technology.
- Security Control Operation: Implements, operates, tests and evidences security controls across the IT estate in line with the security strategy and control design owned by the Vice President of Technology. This includes identity and access management (Entra ID, conditional access, privileged identity management), privileged access management, PKI, endpoint protection, patching, hardening, vulnerability remediation and access reviews.
- Audit and Compliance: Owns IT audit readiness, evidence and the timely remediation of findings against ISO/IEC 27001, 22301, and 20000 working closely with GRC and external auditors. Owns the control actions and risk treatment plans for IT risks.
- IT Service Continuity: Owns IT service continuity and disaster recovery plans, testing and evidence, aligned to the Technology business continuity framework owned by the Vice President of Technology.
- Infrastructure Modernisation: Plans and delivers infrastructure modernisation within the approved technology roadmap and strategy.
- Design Governance: Exercises operational design autonomy within corporate technology blueprints and brings major design changes to the Vice President of Technology for review and approval.
- Vendor and Licence Management: Manages IT vendors, suppliers, contracts and licensing, ensuring value for money, licence compliance and timely renewals.
- Cost Optimisation: Continuously optimises cloud consumption, licensing and operating costs, tracks spend against budget and provides budget inputs and forecasts to the Vice President of Technology.
- Continuous Improvement and Automation: Drives continuous improvement, automation and AI adoption within IT operations, including self-service, automated provisioning, infrastructure as code and AI-assisted support, aligned with Help AG's AI Transformation Programme.
- Workplace and Facilities Technology: Owns the selection, operation and support of workplace technology, including access control, audio-visual and meeting room systems, printing, telephony and IT peripherals where required.
- Incident and Escalation Management: Acts as the operational escalation point for IT incidents during and outside business hours, leads major incident response, and escalates crisis-level events to the required stakeholders where required.
- Reporting: Provides regular written status reporting to the Vice President of Technology, covering KPIs, SLA attainment, service continuity, audit and control status, risks, cost and improvement initiatives.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Partners with MSS, GRC, Software Delivery, Microsoft Platform Engineering and other business functions to ensure IT services support business objectives, and engages external auditors and vendors as required.
Qualifications & Skills:
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Security or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- Typically 10 or more years of experience in IT infrastructure and operations, including at least 4 years leading an IT operations team.
- Experience in cybersecurity, managed services or other regulated environments, and across multiple GCC countries, is an advantage.
- Microsoft Cloud and Modern Workplace: In-depth, hands-on knowledge of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, including Entra ID, conditional access, Intune, Exchange Online, Microsoft Defender, Azure networking and landing zone design.
- Infrastructure: Strong practical knowledge of enterprise networking (routing, switching, firewalls, VPN, wireless), Windows Server and Linux, virtualisation, storage, backup and recovery.
- Security Operations: Practical understanding of security controls and their operation, including identity and privileged access management, PKI, endpoint protection, vulnerability management and secure configuration.
- Service Management: Experience establishing and running ITIL-aligned service management processes, SLAs and OLAs, and operating an ITSM platform.
- Audit and Continuity: Experience supporting ISO/IEC 27001, 22301 and 20000 audits, and planning and testing disaster recovery.
- Automation: Working knowledge of scripting and automation (PowerShell, infrastructure as code such as Bicep or Terraform), containerisation, and the application of AI to IT operations.
- Data Residency: Understanding of data residency and regulatory requirements affecting infrastructure in the UAE and KSA.
- Commercial Management: Experience managing licensing and operational budgets, with a focus on cost optimisation.
- Hands-on leader who inspires and develops a team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
- Structured and disciplined approach to documentation, process and reporting.
- Clearly conveys technical and compliance matters to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, in writing and verbally.
- Manages high pressure and difficult situations in a calm and collected manner.
- Applies a risk-based approach to prioritisation, planning and decision-making.
- Handles sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and integrity.
- Builds strong working relationships with internal teams, vendors and external auditors, with a strong service orientation.
Benefits:
- Health insurance with one of the leading global providers for medical insurance.
- Career progression and growth through challenging projects and work.
- Employee engagement and wellness campaigns activities throughout the year.
- Excellent learning and development opportunities.
- Annual flights tickets.
- Inclusive and diverse working environment.
- Flexible/Hybrid working environment.
- Open door policy.
About Us:
Help AG, the cybersecurity arm of Etisalat, is the Middle East's trusted cybersecurity partner, enabling governments, enterprises and critical industries to innovate with confidence. Combining strategic consulting, advanced managed security services and deep technology expertise, Help AG helps organisations strengthen cyber resilience, secure AI adoption and build trusted sovereign digital environments. With regional expertise and a customer-first approach, Help AG delivers end-to-end cybersecurity capabilities designed to protect critical operations, manage evolving risks and support secure digital transformation. Through continuous innovation, trusted partnerships and measurable outcomes, Help AG enables organisations to remain resilient, prepared and confident in a complex digital world.
