AVP IT Infrastructure Engineering & Operations

Job description

The Cloud, Infrastructure Engineering & Operations team is responsible for the management, design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of Aviva’s on premise and cloud technology. The newly created Assistant Vice President of this team will drive all activities relating to our existing data centre footprint, supporting our migration to our Cloud Platform. You will bring your strong transformational experience to drive Aviva Canada’s multi-year transformation of our underlying technologies and the way we support our business.

Position Overview

This position is critical in ensuring that our IT Infrastructure Engineering team is delivering solutions with best in class technology, while striving for each solution to be cost effective, sustainable, reliable, and delivered at pace. This individual will be working with our partners to deliver the right solutions for each initiative, building strategic partnerships with business teams and internal IT teams.

As a leader, you will combine both technical thought leadership and the skills to grow and cultivate the people on your team. You should be proficient in delivering Cloud and traditional Infrastructure solutions in areas including server, storage, network, backup/recovery, database, middleware, and disaster recovery.

In addition to the solutions delivery for Cloud and OnPrem, you will run operations supporting the solutions that are rolled out by the team.

What you will do:

• Build the strategic vision and lead Cloud, Infrastructure Engineering and Operations to support enterprise needs, including creation and upkeep of roadmaps
• Lead a strong team of engineers, administrators, and analysts who have a high level of domain expertise and outstanding dedication to organizational goals
• Govern the design, engineering, implementation, and continuity of infrastructure across the enterprise, including traditional hardware (server, network, storage,) cloud, and software across both
• Benchmark, analyze, report on, and make recommendations for the improvement and consistent performance of IT infrastructure and systems
• Lead all aspects of installations, configurations, and maintenance / upgrades with third-party vendors and internal teams
• Work with vendor management to negotiate favourable service level agreements, participate in governance forums, and provide input to influence service levels with our third-party partners
• Provide guidance to technical teams regarding architectural and procedural standard methodologies, in alignment with the enterprise architects
• Govern the preparation of all documentation for infrastructure systems and configurations and ensure that it is up to date
• Ensure effective administration and compliance with all internal processes, procedures, and controls to effectively manage risk, ensuring it remains within tolerance
• Remain familiar with traditional and new technologies relating to infrastructure hosting and cloud
• Support Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity planning, and testing
• Recruit, hire, train and develop robust and agile team members, encouraging excellence and building outstanding technical talent
• Lead all aspects of department finances, ensuring through the budgeting process that service agreements and equipment contracts are budgeted for renewals
• Work with internal and external partners to obtain and translate requirements into technical implementations
• Provide timely and responsive technical support both within and across departments and applications, which may include rotational on-call support and off-hours system maintenance
• Lead change management processes associated with upgrades, maintenance, troubleshooting or installation of new business applications; this includes coordinating with business units, impacted customers, and technical teams
• Actively participate as a part of the department leadership team to develop long and short-term strategies, set and achieve measurable goals and objectives, and develop action plans with meaningful but realistic deadlines
• Maintain metrics vital to support reporting related to infrastructure performance and optimization
• Possess a continuous improvement mind-set and proactively look for opportunities to increase efficiencies, refine processes and cut costs within the department as well as throughout the business
• Research new technologies and invest time in relevant professional courses/conferences to maintain the currency of skillsets

What you will bring:

• 15 years of experience in the IT industry with a focus on designing, integrating, and leading sophisticated IT Infrastructure and Operations
• 10 years in an IT leadership role
• Extensive experience in Data Center services (Database Management, Windows, AIX, UNIX, Middleware, Storage, Data Protection, Virtualization, Private/Public Cloud and Disaster Recovery) working with a managed service provider
• Experience with public cloud environments (AWS preferred)
• Background in working with multi sourced operating models and teams
• Expertise in taking care of complex problems and quick turnaround requirements in a fast paced environment
• Demonstrated knowledge and a record of success leading and collaborating with middle and senior management on client-facing business development, engagement delivery, practice development, and thought leadership engagements
• Demonstrated leadership with large scale infrastructure and transformation deliveries
• An ability to inspire individuals and teams to change and improve
• Superb communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to communicate and influence effectively at all levels of the organization
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relationships with all partners in the organization in both IT and the business
• Ability to define and negotiate priorities among partners ensuring successful delivery on commitments made
• Grasp of current and new technologies and trends, with the ability to rapidly assess and apply new and emerging technologies
• Exceptional analytical problem-solving ability
• Highly self-motivated and willing to learn, explore, and be innovative
• Financial experience with budgeting, business case development, and understanding of IT contracts a strong asset
• ITIL Foundations certification, Agile methodology experience or training, and PMP certification or training would be assets

What you will get:

• A salary, vacation, bonus opportunity, and retirement savings
• Exceptional career development opportunities
• We’ll support your professional development education
• Annual $300 fitness subsidy and wellness incentive, and healthcare benefits

Aviva Canada is committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities during all phases of the hiring process including the application process. If you require an accommodation because of a disability, we will work with you to meet your needs. Applicants need to make their needs known in advance. If you are selected for an interview and require an accommodation, you are encouraged to advise the Talent Acquisition Partner who will consult with you to determine an appropriate accommodation.