Infrastructure Services Director

Hachette UK; Eastleigh, London, Sheffield, Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player seeks a dynamic Infrastructure Services Leader to join their IT Leadership Team. This role involves leading a talented team to deliver essential IT services and infrastructure solutions, fostering a collaborative culture, and managing relationships with technology partners. The successful candidate will have a strong background in IT leadership, cloud-based services, and service delivery. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of IT within a thriving publishing environment, contributing to the growth and success of the organization. If you are passionate about technology and team development, this role is perfect for you.

Benefits

28 annual leave days

Private medical insurance

Dental insurance

Generous pension schemes

Cycle to Work scheme

Wide-ranging training library

Development programmes

Up to 70% off book purchases

Summer hours

Retail discounts

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading IT teams and delivering infrastructure services.
• Strong understanding of cloud technologies and service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the IT team to deliver support services and technical infrastructure.
• Foster a positive culture and maintain relationships with technology partners.

Skills

Leadership

Infrastructure Services

Cloud-based Services

Service Delivery

Stakeholder Management

Education

Bachelor's Degree in IT or related field

Tools

Microsoft

Apple

AWS

Azure

Job description

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 11 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Quercus; Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

Whilst not exhaustive, this gives you a flavour of the main responsibilities of the role. It is intended to reflect the nature, range, and context of the work, which will change over time:

• Deliver the IT organisation, processes and technology solutions required to deliver the frontline support services and the underlying technical infrastructure platforms that support the HUK business plan targets and growth, within the operational and financial constraints.
• Lead, manage and develop their IT team (circa 25) in order to deliver to colleagues, customers and client publishers.
• Foster an inclusive, positive and productive culture in order to be an employer of choice.
• Negotiate, manage and maintain relationships with technology partners to ensure that each meets or exceeds contractual obligations.
• Create, manage and maintain excellent working relationships with stakeholders.
• Lead the creation, management and maintenance of a plan/roadmap in order to effectively deliver the necessary change to support the growth of the HUK divisions and the HUK IT strategy.
• Actively participate in HUK IT Leadership Team and support the CIO in creating the necessary strategy and culture in order to deliver the HUK and Hachette Livre business plans.
• Work closely with the US IT Team to foster synergy and develop ways of working, taking strategic direction from their VP, Group – Security, Platforms, and Operations.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a strong, enthusiastic and collaborative Infrastructure Services Leader to join the IT Leadership Team at Hachette UK in the role of IT Director, Platforms and Operations.

Within HUK IT, we have 4 Directorates – Group Security, IT PMO, Enterprise Applications, Platforms & Operations. Due to an internal move, and a small reorganisation, the newly formed Platforms & Operations Directorate are after a new leader.

Our Platforms & Operations Directorate consists of two Towers, each run by a ‘Head of’. Firstly, we have the Enterprise Platforms Tower, which brings together our 3rd line Teams of Network, Infrastructure and End User. Secondly, we have the Service Operations Tower that consists of our L1 and L2 Service Desk and our small IT Service Improvement provision.

This role reports to the Chief Information Officer, Hachette UK and has a dotted line to the VP, Group – Security, Platforms, and Operations in Hachette Book Group, US.

What will help you be successful in this role?

• You are a curious leader who has likely come up through the technical ranks but branched out across wider IT Services as your career has developed but still has the ability to challenge and direct in a technical capacity.
• You’ve developed and mentored large teams, focusing on their growth and impact.
• You understand consumers by building credibility as a trusted partner to multiple stakeholders in delivering long term strategy associated to technology and business needs.
• You have an owner mentality, demonstrating passion for technology and business success considering the wider business impact on the team and driving accountability.
• You display a growth mindset as a champion for your team, acting with positivity and a ‘How can we’ attitude whilst focusing on long term team needs as well as personal career. Encouraging team development, mentoring and coaching are second nature to you.
• You’ve delivered Infrastructure and services strategies – particularly around moving to cloud-based services and Data Centre modernisation.
• You’ve got a strong service delivery mindset, able to mature and develop this discipline.
• You’ll enjoy collaborating with other IT leaders to have an impact outside of your own area.
• You’ll be used to a diverse tech stack – Microsoft, Apple, Dell servers, AWS, Azure – to name a few. But importantly, you’ll have taken an organisation through a modernisation journey.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays).
• Private medical insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Generous pension schemes.
• Rent deposit loans.
• 2 community days per year.
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months).
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Eye care vouchers.
• Wide-ranging training library.
• Development programmes (including mentoring).
• Up to 70% off book purchases.
• A charity bookshelf.
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks.
• Season ticket loans.
• And much more!

This role can be based at our London, Sheffield, Didcot, Bristol or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org