Head of IT - Infrastructure and Operations Services

The Head of IT Infrastructure and Operations Services will be responsible for managing and overseeing the organization’s entire IT and OT infrastructure, including network, data center, and end-user service delivery across all manufacturing and corporate locations. This role ensures secure, reliable, and scalable technology operations that align with the CIO’s enterprise architecture and digital transformation goals. The position focuses on maintaining uptime, performance, and service quality to support continuous business and production activities.

Key Responsibilities

- Own and maintain 99.5% uptime for core infrastructure, data center, and network services, ensuring performance baselines for compute, storage, and connectivity are met.
- Manage segregated and hardened IT and OT network architectures to prevent unplanned outages impacting production.
- Oversee IT service delivery and end-user support, achieving service-desk SLAs related to response times, resolution times, and first-contact resolution through a standardized ITSM framework.
- Maintain a tested and validated backup and disaster recovery environment for critical infrastructure and OT systems, ensuring recovery objectives are met during drills.
- Govern vendor contracts, SLAs, and costs related to infrastructure and telecom services, tracking expenditures against budget and optimizing vendor performance through regular reviews.
- Standardize infrastructure provisioning, workplace services, and mobility solutions across all sites, ensuring scalability to support future expansion and machine-to-ERP connectivity.
- Demonstrate strong expertise in enterprise infrastructure, data center operations, network design, cloud operations, and IT/OT segregation, particularly in manufacturing or multi-site environments.
- Lead 24/7 operational reliability efforts, managing incidents and escalations effectively while driving root-cause analysis and resolution to prevent recurrence.
- Negotiate and enforce SLAs with telecom, cloud, and infrastructure vendors, balancing cost, performance, and risk.
- Provide leadership to infrastructure and support teams, collaborating closely with production, manufacturing, and corporate functions, and communicating operational status clearly to the CIO and other stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 15 to 20 years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure, network operations, and data center management, preferably within large-scale manufacturing or multi-site environments.
- Proven experience managing IT/OT network environments, telecom and cloud vendor relationships, and service-desk/ITSM operations.

Preferred Qualifications

- Relevant certifications such as CCNP, ITIL, PMP, or equivalent infrastructure/network credentials.
- Strong technical knowledge of infrastructure availability, network resilience, backup and disaster recovery strategies, and vendor management.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and coordinate with diverse business units to ensure operational excellence.

This full-time, on-site position is based in Lahore and requires a seasoned professional capable of driving infrastructure and operations excellence to support the organization’s digital transformation and business continuity objectives.