Senior Specialist - AITC

Alef Group; Sharjah; On-site; AED 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Alef Group is seeking a highly motivated Senior Specialist - AITC to plan, manage and maintain its IT infrastructure across offices and project sites in Sharjah. You will oversee servers, networks, cloud services, and security, ensuring reliable operations and cost-efficient delivery.

The role requires strong leadership, vendor management, and adherence to ITSM and ISMS standards. Education includes IT degree with relevant certifications; 7–10 years in infrastructure/ops with supervisory

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred). Relevant cloud infrastructure, networking, virtualization, or IT service management certifications are desirable.
• ITIL Foundation certification is preferred. ISO/IEC 27001 Foundation, Implementer, or Internal Auditor certification is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Plan infrastructure roadmap with Head of IT to meet business requirements, resilience, security, and growth.
• Manage servers, virtualization, storage, cloud, LAN/WAN, wireless, firewalls, internet connectivity, and end-user devices.
• Oversee monitoring, availability, capacity, incidents, root-cause analysis, and controlled changes.
• Establish ITIL-aligned ITSM practices for incident, change, release, and problem management for infrastructure services.
• Lead infrastructure deployments, migrations, upgrades within scope, budget, and timelines, coordinating with vendors and teams.

Skills

Server OS & virtualization

Storage management

LAN/WAN & networks

Firewalls & security

Identity services

Endpoint management

Cloud infra (Azure/AWS)

ITSM processes

CMDB & asset management

ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS

AI governance concepts

Leadership

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS (Master’s preferred)

ITIL Foundation certification

ISO/IEC 27001 related certification

Tools

Azure

AWS

ServiceNow/ITSM tools

CMDB tooling

Job description

Alef Group is a pioneer in developing meaningful and connected communities that celebrate creativity, innovation, and cultural pride through investment and strategic joint ventures, seeking a highly motivated, results-driven Senior Specialist - AITC to join our team in Sharjah.

Job Purpose:

The Senior Specialist - AITC is responsible for planning, managing, and maintaining the company’s IT infrastructure and infrastructure support services across offices and project sites. The role oversees servers, networks, storage, cloud infrastructure, end-user computing, infrastructure security, backup, and disaster recovery to ensure reliable, secure, and cost-effective operations. The position leads infrastructure service delivery, capacity planning, technology upgrades, and vendor management. Business application ownership, implementation, customization, functional support, and application integrations are outside this role’s scope; coordination with application owners is limited to underlying infrastructure, connectivity, access, and recovery dependencies.

Key Accountabilities:

• Support the Head of IT in developing and executing the infrastructure roadmap aligned with business requirements, resilience, security, and growth.
• Assess infrastructure capacity, lifecycle risks, and connectivity needs across offices and project sites; recommend upgrades and cost optimization.
• Plan infrastructure budgets, refresh cycles, cloud capacity, and upgrade projects with defined technical standards and controlled implementation schedules.

IT Infrastructure & Operations

• Manage servers, virtualization, storage, cloud infrastructure, LAN/WAN, wireless networks, firewalls, internet connectivity, and end-user devices.
• Oversee infrastructure monitoring, availability, capacity, and performance; manage incidents, root-cause analysis, and controlled changes to minimize business disruption.
• Supervise infrastructure and end-user support services against agreed service levels, escalating business application issues to the relevant application owners.
• Manage backup operations, restoration tests, and infrastructure disaster recovery exercises against agreed recovery time and recovery point objectives, coordinating dependencies with application owners.
• Establish and manage ITIL-aligned ITSM practices for infrastructure and end-user support, covering incident, major incident, problem, service request, change, and release management for infrastructure services.
• Maintain service catalogues, SLAs, operational-level agreements, escalation procedures, and knowledge articles; monitor response and resolution performance and drive corrective actions and continual service improvement.
• Maintain infrastructure asset and configuration records in the configuration management database (CMDB); ensure changes include risk assessment, approvals, testing, rollback plans, and post-implementation reviews.

Cloud, Identity & Infrastructure Platforms

• Oversee on-premises and cloud infrastructure provisioning, configuration, operating system administration, and platform lifecycle management.
• Manage directory services, identity infrastructure, DNS, DHCP, and approved access provisioning in line with security policies and authorization requirements.
• Provide secure hosting, connectivity, and infrastructure readiness for business systems; application configuration, functionality, integrations, and support remain with application owners.

Cybersecurity & Data Protection

• Implement infrastructure security policies, network segmentation, access controls, and system hardening in coordination with cybersecurity and governance teams and applicable UAE data protection requirements.
• Coordinate infrastructure vulnerability assessments and penetration testing; track remediation and support security incident response and audit evidence requirements.
• Ensure timely operating system, firmware, and infrastructure security updates, endpoint protection, and encryption through approved change and maintenance procedures.
• Implement and maintain assigned infrastructure controls supporting the ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS), in coordination with cybersecurity and governance owners; maintain control evidence, support risk assessments and internal and external audits, and close assigned findings and corrective actions.

AI Governance & Infrastructure Controls

• Support the development and implementation of AI governance policies with cybersecurity, governance, legal, and business owners; maintain an inventory of approved AI services and coordinate infrastructure and security risk reviews before enablement.
• Implement approved identity, access, connectivity, data protection, and logging controls for AI services; restrict unauthorized AI tools and protect confidential information in line with approved policies.
• Monitor AI service access, infrastructure consumption, security events, and policy exceptions; maintain audit evidence, elevate incidents, and support user awareness of secure and responsible AI use. AI application ownership, model development, and validation of business outputs remain with designated owners.
• Manage infrastructure vendors, cloud and connectivity providers, maintenance contracts, renewals, and service-level agreements (SLAs).
• Evaluate technical proposals and negotiate infrastructure hardware, platform licenses, cloud services, and support costs in coordination with procurement.
• Lead infrastructure deployments, migrations, network upgrades, and site-readiness projects within approved scope, budget, timelines, and handover requirements.
• Lead and develop assigned infrastructure engineers and support resources, including outsourced service providers.
• Assign tasks, monitor performance, and ensure alignment with departmental goals.
• Encourage continuous learning, infrastructure certifications, technical knowledge transfer, and operational coverage within the support team.

Reporting & Documentation

• Maintain infrastructure architecture, network diagrams, asset inventories, configuration records, operating procedures, and recovery runbooks.
• Report infrastructure availability, service levels, incidents, capacity, backup and recovery results, security remediation, costs, and project status.
• Provide recommendations to senior management on infrastructure risks, resilience, lifecycle investment, and service improvement priorities.

Educational Qualifications, Work Experience, and Skills Required:

Educational Qualification & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred). Relevant cloud infrastructure, networking, virtualization, or IT service management certifications are desirable.
• ITIL Foundation certification is preferred. ISO/IEC 27001 Foundation, Implementer, or Internal Auditor certification is desirable.

Work Experience:

• 7-10 years of progressive IT infrastructure and operations experience, with at least 3-5 years in a supervisory role covering infrastructure service delivery, vendors, and projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-site networks, on-premises and cloud infrastructure, backup, disaster recovery, and end-user support. Experience in real estate, property management, or facilities management is highly desirable.
• Practical experience implementing ITSM processes and service-level reporting, maintaining asset and configuration records, and supporting ISO/IEC 27001 infrastructure controls, audit evidence, and corrective actions.

Skills required:

• Strong knowledge of server operating systems, virtualization, storage, LAN/WAN, wireless networks, firewalls, identity services, and endpoint management.
• Proficiency in cloud infrastructure (Azure/AWS), infrastructure monitoring, backup and disaster recovery, security hardening, patching, and incident and change management.
• Working knowledge of ITIL-aligned ITSM, service desk tools, CMDB and asset management, service metrics, and ISO/IEC 27001 ISMS requirements relevant to infrastructure operations.
• Working knowledge of AI governance principles, approved AI service enablement, data protection, access controls, usage monitoring, and AI-related infrastructure and security risk assessment.
• Strong leadership, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.