Head of Infrastructure

Tech Rise; Rotterdam; Hybrid; EUR 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Tech Rise is seeking an experienced Head of Infrastructure to lead the global IT infrastructure strategy for an international organisation. Reporting directly to the CIO, you will build a secure, resilient, scalable and cost-efficient infrastructure across regions.

The role is hybrid with 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home. You will set standards, operate the model, and drive AI adoption while ensuring governance, cost transparency and performance across the global infrastructure

Qualifications

• 12+ years of leadership experience within IT Infrastructure & Operations in a global or multinational environment.
• Proven experience developing and executing infrastructure strategy across geographically distributed teams.
• Strong experience leading Infrastructure Architecture and/or Engineering teams.
• Experience managing and negotiating large-scale international vendor and MSP contracts.
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms, network architecture, endpoint management, automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.
• Experience with infrastructure cost optimization and/or FinOps at scale.
• Strong understanding of disaster recovery, resilience, backup, security, risk and IT governance.
• Strong commercial and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to operate effectively at senior and Board level.
• Excellent English communication skills. Speaking Dutch is an advantage, but not required.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the global IT infrastructure strategy, roadmap and operating model.
• Establish global infrastructure standards across cloud, networks, endpoints, automation and support.
• Lead Regional Infrastructure & Operations Managers and the Global Infrastructure Architects team.
• Own global SLAs, reliability targets and operational KPIs.
• Define and drive infrastructure resilience, disaster recovery, backup and security standards.
• Ensure critical infrastructure is designed to avoid single points of failure across regions.
• Lead the global infrastructure vendor strategy, including major international vendor and MSP negotiations.
• Drive infrastructure cost optimisation, FinOps governance, benchmarking and cost transparency.
• Drive automation, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) adoption and platform engineering.
• Lead the adoption of AI within Infrastructure & Operations and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and capabilities.
• Set recruitment, training and certification standards across Infrastructure & Operations teams.
• Work closely with senior leadership and advise stakeholders at Board level on infrastructure strategy, investment, risk and future requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Infrastructure strategy

Global / multinational experience

Vendor & MSP management

Cloud & network architecture

Automation & IaC

FinOps / cost optimization

Stakeholder management

Job description

We are looking for an experienced Head of Infrastructure to lead and shape the global IT infrastructure strategy for an international organisation.

Reporting directly to the CIO, you will be responsible for creating a secure, resilient, scalable and cost-effective infrastructure environment across multiple regions. You will lead Regional Infrastructure & Operations Managers and the Global Infrastructure Architects team, setting the global strategy, standards and operating model while ensuring effective execution across the organisation.

Working model: Hybrid – 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home.

What you’ll be responsible for

• Define and drive the global IT infrastructure strategy, roadmap and operating model.
• Establish global infrastructure standards across cloud, networks, endpoints, automation and support.
• Lead Regional Infrastructure & Operations Managers and the Global Infrastructure Architects team.
• Own global SLAs, reliability targets and operational KPIs.
• Define and drive infrastructure resilience, disaster recovery, backup and security standards.
• Ensure critical infrastructure is designed to avoid single points of failure across regions.
• Lead the global infrastructure vendor strategy, including major international vendor and MSP negotiations.
• Drive infrastructure cost optimisation, FinOps governance, benchmarking and cost transparency.
• Drive automation, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) adoption and platform engineering.
• Lead the adoption of AI within Infrastructure & Operations and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and capabilities.
• Set recruitment, training and certification standards across Infrastructure & Operations teams.
• Work closely with senior leadership and advise stakeholders at Board level on infrastructure strategy, investment, risk and future requirements.

What we’re looking for

• 12+ years of leadership experience within IT Infrastructure & Operations in a global or multinational environment.
• Proven experience developing and executing infrastructure strategy across geographically distributed teams.
• Strong experience leading Infrastructure Architecture and/or Engineering teams.
• Experience managing and negotiating large-scale international vendor and MSP contracts.
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms, network architecture, endpoint management, automation and Infrastructure-as-Code.
• Experience with infrastructure cost optimisation and/or FinOps at scale.
• Strong understanding of disaster recovery, resilience, backup, security, risk and IT governance.
• Strong commercial and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to operate effectively at senior and Board level.
• Excellent English communication skills. Speaking Dutch is an advantage, but not required.

The opportunity

This is a senior global leadership position with the opportunity to define how infrastructure is designed, governed and operated across an international organisation. You will have significant influence over technology strategy, architecture, resilience, automation, investment and the future development of the global infrastructure function.