Director of Global Technology Operations - EMEA - London, N1C 4AG

Director of Global Technology Operations - EMEA - London, N1C 4AG, United Kingdom

Job Summary:

We are UMG, the Universal Music Group. We are the world’s leading music company. In everything we do, we are committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship. We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries. We identify and develop recording artists and songwriters, and we produce, distribute and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to delight and entertain fans around the world.

As one of three Technical Operations Center Directors operating within a "follow-the-sun" model, you will be a pivotal leader responsible for maintaining the continuous, 24/7 operational excellence of our global technical infrastructure. This role requires a unique blend of deep technical expertise, robust leadership capabilities, and exceptional strategic acumen. You will not only oversee daily activities, incident management, and team performance within your assigned region but also play a critical role in fostering strategic relationships across various business units. Your ability to translate technical capabilities into business value and ensure seamless operational handoffs across global teams will be key to our continuous service availability and success.

This is a hybrid role, requiring four days per week in the office.

Job Functions:

Operational Leadership & Management

• Oversee 24/7 Operations: Direct and manage the Technical Operations Center within your region, ensuring continuous monitoring, proactive issue identification, and rapid resolution of incidents to maintain system availability and performance.

• Incident & Problem Management: Lead major incident response, driving root cause analysis, and implementing preventative measures to minimize future disruptions.

• Process Optimization: Develop, implement, and refine operational policies, procedures, and best practices to enhance efficiency, standardization, and service delivery across the global operations centers.

• Performance Monitoring: Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLAs), using data-driven insights to drive continuous improvement.

• Compliance & Audit Reporting: Establish and monitor operational policies to complete audit requirements as needed.

Strategic Relationships & Business Alignment

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as a primary liaison between the Technical Operations Center and other critical business units (e.g., Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales).

• Business Value Translation: Understand business objectives and translate them into actionable technical operational strategies, ensuring technical efforts directly support organizational goals.

• Partnership Development: Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with internal stakeholders and external vendors, ensuring alignment on service delivery, technology roadmaps, and support requirements.

• Communication & Reporting: Provide clear, concise, and timely communication on operational status, incidents, and strategic initiatives to senior leadership and relevant business stakeholders.

Team Leadership & Development

• Global Team Management: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of technical operations professionals, fostering an engaged culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning within the regional team and across the "follow-the-sun" structure.

• Talent Management: Oversee recruitment, training, and performance management for your team, ensuring adequate staffing and skill development to support 24/7 global operations.

• Seamless Handoffs: Establish and enforce robust handoff protocols and communication strategies with the other "follow-the-sun" Directors and their teams to ensure seamless transitions of operational responsibilities and ongoing issues.

System & Infrastructure Oversight

• Technical Strategy: Contribute to the overall technical strategy, ensuring the stability, security, and scalability of the company's production environments and critical systems.

• Technology Adoption: Evaluate and recommend new tools, technologies, and methodologies to enhance operational efficiency, monitoring capabilities, and automation. This includes driving automation for all repeatable processes and introducing service reliability engineering practices for infrastructure to reduce toil in daily operations.

Job Requirements:

Skills/Abilities:

Technical Skills:

• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, cloud platforms, networking, and system architecture.
• Experience with incident management, problem management, and change management frameworks (e.g., ITIL) including practical application of technical methods and procedures.
• Familiarity with monitoring tools, automation, and scripting.
• Proficiency in project management methodologies.

Soft Skills

• Exceptional leadership, communication (written and verbal), and interpersonal skills.

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities under pressure.

• Strategic thinking with the ability to align technical operations with broader business objectives.

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with diverse internal and external stakeholders.

• Adaptability and resilience in a fast-paced, dynamic global environment.

• Self-motivated with a high degree of initiative and excellent follow-up skills, along with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in technical operations, network operations, or IT infrastructure roles, with at least 5 years in a leadership or directorial capacity.

• Proven experience managing 24/7 mission-critical environments, ideally within a global or "follow-the-sun" operational model.

• Demonstrated success in building and leading high-performing technical teams.

• Experience with ITIL best practices including Incident, Problem, Release, and Change Management.

• Experience in AI, Automation, and system reliability engineering principles.

• Knowledge of all infrastructure disciplines

Education:

• BA or BS degree in an IT related field or an equivalent combination of formal education and applicable experience required.

• Relevant industry certifications (e.g., ITIL Expert, PMP, AWS/Azure/GCP certifications).