Cloud and Platform Manager (#624)

The Manager, Cloud & Platforms is responsible for the operational stability, resilience, security, and performance of Microsoft Azure public cloud services and on-premises application hosting platforms. This role oversees platform strategy, technology roadmaps, financial governance, and people leadership, ensuring reliable service delivery, technology modernization, effective risk management, and continuous improvement. Working closely with global IT, cybersecurity, application, and enterprise architecture teams, the successful candidate will ensure that platform services adhere to enterprise standards, security policies, and governance frameworks.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Strategy & Operations

• Own end-to-end project delivery and business-as-usual (BAU) operations for Microsoft Azure public cloud services and on-premises application hosting platforms across datacenters.

• Define and execute the platform strategy and technology roadmap, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, security requirements, and broader IT objectives.

• Maintain high levels of platform availability, performance, resilience, and security across hybrid infrastructure environments.

• Ensure 24/7 Level 2 and Level 3 operational coverage, partnering with the Command Center (Level 1) to manage incident triage, escalation, resolution, and stakeholder communications.

Automation & Platform Engineering

• Drive end-to-end lifecycle automation across cloud and on-premises infrastructure, including provisioning, post-build configuration, software deployment, patching, restarts, and decommissioning.

• Establish standardized engineering practices, operational procedures, runbooks, and automation guardrails to improve reliability, security, and consistency.

• Reduce manual operational effort and human error through repeatable, scalable, and auditable automation.

• Promote Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and configuration management practices to accelerate platform delivery and ensure consistent implementation across environments.

• Identify opportunities to leverage AI and intelligent automation for infrastructure management, quality assurance, incident correlation, root-cause analysis, and remediation.

Cloud Transformation, Security & Governance

• Lead initiatives to strengthen security controls and governance across Azure workloads in collaboration with global security and technology teams.

• Ensure compliance with enterprise infrastructure standards, security policies, and risk management requirements.

• Partner with application, cybersecurity, and enterprise architecture teams to align platform capabilities, infrastructure modernization, and automation standards with the organization's technology strategy.

• Drive continuous improvement, platform consolidation, and technology currency across the hybrid infrastructure estate.

Financial & Vendor Management

• Manage the team's operating budget, including capacity planning, cost forecasting, vendor management, licensing expenditure, and resource allocation.

• Identify and implement cost optimization opportunities across public cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

• Monitor financial performance and ensure effective utilization of infrastructure resources and technology investments.

People Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Lead and develop a technical team responsible for cloud and server infrastructure operations.

• Oversee hiring, performance management, career development, coaching, workload distribution, and resource planning.

• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence.

• Provide regular updates to senior IT leadership on project delivery, operational health, budget performance, platform consolidation, key risks, issues, and decisions requiring escalation.

Requirements: Experience, Skills & Education

• 10+ years of IT infrastructure experience, including hands-on technical and/or leadership experience across public cloud environments, particularly Microsoft Azure, and on-premises server platforms such as Windows Server and/or Linux/Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

• Proven people management experience, with direct responsibility for leading a technical team of 10 or more engineers, including hiring, performance management, coaching, and career development.

• Demonstrated experience managing infrastructure projects, BAU operations, and team or departmental budgets within a large, complex enterprise environment.

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Azure architecture, cloud infrastructure operations, and hybrid hosting environments.

• Experience driving infrastructure automation, standardization, and lifecycle management using Infrastructure as Code and related configuration management tools.

• Solid understanding of infrastructure security, operational risk management, governance, and compliance requirements.

• Experience managing incident, problem, and change processes within a 24/7 operational environment.

• Strong financial management capabilities, including budget planning, cost forecasting, vendor management, and cost optimization.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across global technology, security, and business teams.

• A strategic mindset combined with a hands-on, delivery-oriented approach to operational excellence and continuous improvement.