IT Engineering Manager — Endpoint, SaaS

Talabat Holding; Dubai; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Talabat Holding is seeking a hands‑on IT Engineering Manager to own the Enterprise Applications domain, including devices, collaboration tools, and identity/access for Talabat employees. Lead a small team across markets with autonomy, building automation, documentation, and standards for scalable delivery.

You will balance technical execution with people leadership, define ownership boundaries, and partner with central IT on core platforms while localizing solutions across markets.

Qualifications

• 5–7+ years in IT operations, IT engineering, or corporate IT, with hands-on depth across endpoint, SaaS, and identity.
• Hands-on expertise with MDM, identity providers, and SaaS administration.
• Scripting and automation experience; daily use of AI tooling in real work.
• Proven vendor management and cost/licensing optimization experience.
• Track record leading a small IT engineering team and developing talent.
• Strong project management and stakeholder communication skills.
• Documentation‑first approach and autonomous delivery across markets.

Responsibilities

• Own endpoint fleet strategy for macOS and Windows, including MDM, baselines, patching, encryption, and lifecycle management.
• Manage core SaaS stack (Google Workspace, Slack, Atlassian) including config, licenses, integrations, and cost optimization.
• Administer SSO, MFA, and identity providers; lifecycle provisioning and deprovisioning.
• Drive automation and AI adoption; script in Python/Bash/PowerShell to reduce repetitive work.
• Own incident response and on‑call rotation; drive root cause analysis and cross‑domain coordination.
• Define IT service standards, SLAs, and ITSM workflows across locations and time zones.
• Lead and grow a small IT engineering team; manage vendors, renewals, and strategic partnerships.

Skills

IT operations

Endpoint management

SaaS administration

Identity & access mgmt

Automation & AI

Incident response

Leadership

Vendor management

Project management

Communication

Tools

MDM (Jamf)

Intune

JumpCloud

Okta

Entra

Google Workspace

Slack

Atlassian

Job description

A Little Bit About Talabat

talabat is the leading online food and groceries ordering platform in MENA, operating in 9 countries

A Little Bit About Talabat

talabat is the leading online food and groceries ordering platform in MENA, operating in 9 countries across the region. Founded in 2004 by a small group of entrepreneurs in Kuwait, talabat’s success expanded to the rest of the GCC region, Egypt & Jordan, making it the largest and most popular food ordering app. With over 2,000+ employees and millions of users, we deliver hundreds of thousands of orders every day. We are part of the Delivery Hero network building the next generation of online delivery platforms across the globe. Our network is truly international with engineering teams in 13 countries and operations in 40+ countries.

Job Description

About the Role

We are hiring a hands‑on IT Engineering Manager to own the Enterprise Applications domain — the devices, collaboration tools, and identity/access that talabat employees rely on every day — and to lead the small engineering team behind it, coordinating across our markets. This is a working manager role: roughly 70–80% technical execution and standard‑setting, and 20–30% people and delivery leadership. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, staying close to the work while building the automation, documentation, and standards that let the function scale consistently across markets. It is a build role — you set the technical bar by doing, then make that excellence repeatable so it outlives any one person. Your domain sits alongside other IT engineering domains, and your success depends as much on clean collaboration across those boundaries as on the depth of your own work. You will define and defend clear ownership of your systems while partnering openly with adjacent teams who depend on them. You will cultivate strong vendor relationships and drive strategic partnerships that enhance application functionality and support — a single quote is a starting point, not a decision. Scope boundary: This role owns corporate and employee‑facing IT (the digital workplace), including identity and endpoint end‑to‑end, which adjacent IT teams consume. It does not own product, ordering, or operational (rider/vendor‑facing) systems, which sit with separate engineering functions. Where core platforms are provided centrally by Delivery Hero, this role owns the local instances and acts as talabat's engineering interface to those central teams.

What You’ll Own

Endpoint & Device Management

Own endpoint fleet strategy across macOS and Windows — MDM (Jamf, Intune, Jump Cloud), security baselines, patching, encryption, inventory, and the full device lifecycle from procurement and provisioning through to offboarding and asset recovery. Maintain endpoint posture in partnership with Security.

SaaS Administration

Own day‑to‑day administration of the core SaaS stack — Google Workspace, Slack, Atlassian, and similar — including configuration, license management, integrations, cost optimization, and strategic licensing negotiations with vendors. Evaluate and onboard new business tools, retire redundant ones, and operate the local instances of centrally provided platforms. Drive Power User Community deployment and management across entities where applicable.

Identity & Access

Administer SSO, MFA, and identity providers (Okta, Entra, Google or similar), operating local instances and interfacing with the central identity platform. Own the Joiner‑Mover‑Leaver lifecycle — provisioning, deprovisioning, role‑based access, least‑privilege, and periodic access reviews — automated wherever possible.

Automation & AI (a core expectation, not a future investment)

Engineer away repetitive work: if a task is done the same way more than twice, automate it. Scripting (Python, Bash, PowerShell) and AI tooling are current expectations of this role. Use automation and AI to create team capacity without growing headcount, and lead the team's adoption of these tools.

Incident Response & Reliability

Own incident response and the on‑call rotation for your domain. Act as escalation point during peak and out‑of‑hours periods, run proactive incident communication, and drive root‑cause resolution rather than recurring workarounds. Participate in cross‑domain incident coordination where issues span into adjacent IT teams. Build reliability and security in by design — every system has a clear answer to "what happens when this fails?"

Service, Compliance & Standards

Define and track IT service standards, SLAs, and operational metrics, and run ticketing/ITSM workflows that reduce friction for employees. Ensure a consistent support model across locations and time zones, adhering to agreed service levels. Champion change management practices to ensure seamless application delivery and effective transitions. Contribute to compliance and audit readiness (e.g. SOC 2 / ISO 27001 IT controls, access reviews, evidence) in partnership with Security and central teams. Standardize before scaling — build solutions that work across all markets on a shared foundation, allowing local flavor without fragmenting the stack.

Leadership, People & Vendors

Lead, coach, and raise the technical bar of a small IT engineering team, with a mandate to grow both its capability and its headcount. Set the standard hands‑on, develop your engineers, and manage performance fairly and decisively — investing genuinely in growth, and making the hard call when the bar cannot be met. Provide mentorship to team members, promote knowledge sharing and professional growth. Create and maintain runbooks, training materials, and self‑service resources so knowledge is never trapped in one person's head. Manage vendors, procurement, and renewals — actively challenge cost and drive strategic partnerships rather than transactional relationships.

Qualifications

What You’ll Bring

• 5–7+ years in IT operations, IT engineering, or corporate IT, with hands‑on depth across endpoint, SaaS, and identity — including organisations with 5,000+ users.
• Hands‑on expertise with MDM (Jamf / Intune / jumpcloud), identity providers (Okta / Entra), and SaaS administration (Google Workspace, Slack, Atlassian).
• Demonstrated scripting and automation ability, and daily use of AI tooling in real work — with concrete examples of what you have built or adopted.
• Proven expertise in business process analysis, requirements gathering, solution design, and vendor management — including cost‑effective licensing negotiation.
• A track record of leading or mentoring a small team and raising its operating standard. People‑leadership appetite is required; formal management experience is welcome.
• Strong project management skills, with a track record of delivering complex projects on time and within budget across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Proven ability to operate autonomously with limited managerial oversight — self‑directed on priorities, delivery, and standard‑setting.
• A track record of defining and defending clear domain ownership while collaborating openly with adjacent teams.
• A strong customer‑focus mindset toward employees — you treat how IT feels to use as the measure of success, speak in plain language, and never say no to the person without offering an alternative.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build strong relationships and influence without authority across teams and senior stakeholders.
• A documentation‑first working style and comfort operating where a central platform team owns core systems and you own the local layer and the interface.
• Deep understanding of enterprise application security best practices.