Director, Infrastructure & Operations

Socket.dev; Winnipeg; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Good work-life balance

Job summary

WCLC is seeking a strategic technology leader to become Director, Infrastructure & Operations. You will guide enterprise infrastructure, services, and resilience across Western Canada, partnering with executives to shape strategy and investments for lottery, retail, and corporate operations.

You will drive 24/7 services, modern infrastructure practices, and robust security, while building a high-performing team and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in information technology or a related business environment.
• 5+ years of leadership experience with responsibility for people, strategy, budgets, staffing and service delivery.
• Experience leading enterprise infrastructure, operations, cloud, service management or technology transformation.
• Experience managing material budgets, major initiatives, strategic vendors and enterprise risk.
• Experience advising senior executives and presenting complex technology choices in clear business terms.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the I&O strategy, roadmap and operating model in alignment with WCLC’s priorities.
• Partner with executive leaders to identify opportunities where technology can improve business outcomes and efficiency.
• Provide strategic recommendations on technology investments, resilience, and modernization priorities.
• Lead operational stability, 24/7 support for mission-critical systems, cloud and hybrid platforms, networks and end-user computing.
• Oversee incident, change, asset, and service-level management and promote continuous improvement.

Skills

Strategy leadership

Executive communication

People leadership

Change management

Risk management

Cloud & hybrid IT

Cybersecurity awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/CS/Engineering

Tools

Microsoft 365

IT service management tooling

Job description

WCLC is seeking a strategic, people-focused technology leader to serve as our next Director, Infrastructure & Operations.

Reporting to the Vice President, Information Technology, you will lead enterprise infrastructure, operations, service delivery, retail technology, telecommunications and technology resilience across WCLC.

As a member of the IT leadership team, you will help shape technology strategy, lead major investments and ensure that critical services support WCLC’s lottery, retail, and corporate operations across Western Canada.

What You'll Be Accountable For

Strategy & Business Alignment

• Develop and execute the I&O strategy, roadmap and operating model in alignment with WCLC’s priorities.
• Partner with executive leaders and business stakeholders to identify opportunities where technology can improve business outcomes, operational efficiency, employee productivity and customer experience.
• Provide strategic recommendations on technology investments, operational risk, resilience, service performance and modernization priorities.
• Champion innovation and the responsible adoption of emerging technologies, automation, cloud services, AI-enabled capabilities and modern infrastructure practices.

Reliable & Resilient Services

• Ensure operational stability, resilience, and 24/7 support for mission-critical lottery and retail systems; enable agility and speed to market.
• Lead enterprise infrastructure and operations services, including cloud and hybrid platforms, data centres and colocation, networks and telecommunications, end-user computing, Microsoft 365, server and storage platforms, backup and recovery, and enterprise infrastructure management services.
• Provide leadership for technology services supporting WCLC’s retail, lottery and corporate operations across multiple jurisdictions.
• Ensure services meet established availability, performance, security, capacity, recovery and service-level objectives.
• Direct mature service management practices across incident, request, problem, change, configuration, asset, knowledge and service-level management.
• Promote operational excellence through automation, standardization, observability, performance management and continual service improvement.
• Oversee the full infrastructure lifecycle from planning, architecture and sourcing through deployment, operations, optimization and retirement.

Cybersecurity, Risk & Resilience

• Partner with Cybersecurity and Governance teams to embed security, privacy, risk and compliance requirements into infrastructure and operational services.
• Lead technology resilience capabilities, including disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware recovery, backup governance, high availability and recovery testing.
• Reduce operational and cybersecurity risk through vulnerability management, patch governance, infrastructure hardening, lifecycle management and proactive controls.
• Provide calm, accountable leadership during major incidents, service disruptions and crisis response events.
• Participate in enterprise risk management, audit and compliance activities and communicate material technology risks to senior leadership.

People Leadership & Organizational Capability

• Lead, coach and inspire managers, technical leaders and operational teams across multiple technology disciplines.
• Build a high-performance, inclusive culture grounded in trust, accountability, collaboration, service excellence and continuous learning.
• Establish clear roles, decision rights, performance expectations and development plans that enable employees to succeed.
• Develop workforce, succession and capability plans that ensure the right skills and capacity are available to meet current and future needs.
• Promote employee engagement, recognition, wellbeing and retention while supporting teams through organizational and technology change.
• Build strong partnerships across IT, business functions, provincial stakeholders and external service providers.

Financial, Portfolio & Vendor Leadership

• Lead significant operating and capital budgets with strong financial stewardship, forecasting, prioritization and benefits realization.
• Develop business cases, investment recommendations and multi-year roadmaps that clearly articulate business value, cost, risk, dependencies and impacts of not proceeding.
• Provide oversight and sponsorship for major infrastructure, operational and modernization programs, ensuring clear governance, delivery accountability and risk management.
• Develop sourcing strategies and act as sponsor for strategic technology vendors and partners.
• Lead contract negotiations, commercial governance, vendor performance management, service reviews, third-party risk and value optimization.
• Identify opportunities to reduce cost and technical debt while improving service quality, resilience and organizational outcomes.

Governance, Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

• Participate as a key member of the senior IT leadership team and contribute to enterprise-wide technology strategy, governance and priority setting.
• Translate complex technical topics into clear business implications, options and recommendations for executive and non-technical audiences.
• Build consensus across stakeholders with competing priorities, dependencies and resource constraints.
• Ensure I&O services, investments and risks are transparent through effective governance, reporting, documentation and communication.
• Build effective relationships across WCLC, provincial partners and the technology vendor community.

What You'll Bring

Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in information technology or a related business environment.
• 5+ years of leadership experience with responsibility for people, strategy, budgets, staffing and service delivery.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise infrastructure, operations, cloud, service management or technology transformation.
• Experience managing material budgets, major initiatives, strategic vendors and enterprise risk.
• Experience advising senior executives and presenting complex technology choices in clear business terms.
• A degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, business or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience in a regulated, highly available, multi-site or customer-facing environment is an asset.

Leadership Capabilities

• Strategic thinking: Connects business priorities, technology direction, risk and investment into a practical roadmap.
• People leadership: Builds trust, develops talent, sets clear expectations and creates accountability.
• Executive communication: Explains complex issues clearly and tailors messages for technical, business and governance audiences.
• Influence & collaboration: Builds consensus and secures commitment across organizational boundaries.
• Decision-making: Uses judgement and evidence to make timely decisions in complex or ambiguous situations.
• Change leadership: Creates clarity, engagement and momentum through transformation.
• Integrity & resilience: Acts transparently, remains composed under pressure and takes ownership for outcomes.

Technical & Professional Knowledge

• Enterprise infrastructure architecture, engineering, operations and lifecycle management.
• Hybrid cloud, data centre, compute, storage, virtualization, backup and high availability.
• Enterprise networks, SASE, telecommunications, secure connectivity and modern workplace technologies.
• Microsoft 365, identity, endpoint management and collaboration services.
• Cybersecurity principles, Zero Trust, vulnerability and patch management, infrastructure hardening and privileged access.
• Disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware recovery and recovery testing.
• IT service management and ITIL-aligned incident, problem, change, asset, configuration and service-level practices.
• Enterprise monitoring, observability, capacity management, automation, and orchestration. DevSecOps principles is an asset.
• Asset discovery, CMDB, technology governance, technical debt and platform rationalization.
• Vendor governance, strategic sourcing, contracts, licensing, third‑party risk and cost optimization.
• Technology financial management, investment planning, business cases, risk, audit and compliance.
• Emerging infrastructure and operational technologies, including AI-enabled operations and automation.

What Success Looks Like

• Critical technology services are secure, reliable, resilient and supported by effective operational practices.
• Technology risks, lifecycle needs and investment priorities are transparent and actively managed.
• I&O roadmaps and investments deliver measurable business value and reduce operational risk.
• Employees are engaged, leaders are developed and the function has the capabilities needed for the future.
• Strategic partners deliver strong performance, innovation and value.
• Business leaders view I&O as a trusted, responsive, and forward-looking partner.

Who we are

You may not be very familiar with WCLC, but you’re almost certainly familiar with the products we help bring to players throughout the Prairie Provinces and the North every day; lottery games like LOTTO 6/49, SPORT SELECT, and dozens of instant scratch tickets.

WCLC is the non-profit organization authorized to manage, conduct, and operate lotteries - at retail and online - and other gaming-related activities for the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba as well as the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. We entertain our players while building the future of lottery - delivering innovative, responsible, and trusted experiences that provide growing value for our provinces and territories

We know it’s our people that make this possible, which is why we invest in building talented, adaptable, and accountable teams who are proud to live and work in our region. We offer a challenging, collaborative work environment, competitive benefits, and a good work-life balance.

We’d love to talk to you about how you fit into that.