📢 Head of Data Infrastructure & OperationsLondon (3 days per week) | Global remit | Financial ServicesWe are seeking an experienced, business-oriented technology leader to take ownership of a global data infrastructure and operations capability supporting a mission-critical financial services environment.This is a leadership role overseeing an established team of 25+ infrastructure and platform professionals across the UK, Eastern Europe, and India. The mandate is clear: stabilise, modernise, and operate a high-volume, low-latency data ecosystem while driving measurable business outcomes aligned to strategic objectives.The OpportunityA newly centralised data function has been formed from previously dispersed teams across Technology and Operations. The infrastructure capability is already in place — now it needs a disciplined leader to embed operational excellence, commercial accountability, and strong stakeholder engagement.You will own global data platform operations spanning:Messaging infrastructure (Kafka)Database platforms (MongoDB and others)Cloud infrastructure (GCP primary, AWS secondary)Data platform operations supporting EU, USA, and AustraliaThe environment is fast-moving and outcome-driven. Success is measured by reliability, speed to value, cost control, and business trust — not technical experimentation.Key ResponsibilitiesInfrastructure & Platform LeadershipOwn reliability, availability, scalability, and performance of global data platformsDrive infrastructure-as-code and automation standardsLead capacity planning, cloud cost optimisation, and technical debt reductionEnsure financial discipline in all infrastructure decisions (Cloud Financial Management mindset)DevOps & Operational ExcellenceEmbed CI/CD, monitoring, alerting, and SRE principlesDefine and track SLAs/SLOsLead incident management and root cause processesBuild resilient DR and business continuity capabilitiesCloud & Messaging PlatformsLead GCP infrastructure operations (compute, storage, networking, IAM)Maintain multi-cloud capability (GCP/AWS) Oversee high-throughput Kafka environmentsManage MongoDB and other database platformsLeadership & CultureLead and develop a 25-person global teamDrive a shift from reactive ticket-taking to proactive business partnershipOperate in a federated model with dotted-line reporting into business domainsManage UK/onshore and Bangalore/offshore dynamics effectivelyWhat We’re Looking ForThis is a people leadership role first and foremost. We are not seeking a hands-on technologist who wants to experiment with the latest tools — we need a leader who delivers business outcomes.Essential Experience10+ years in infrastructure engineering, DevOps, or platform operationsProven experience leading DevOps transformation in large-scale environmentsGCP expertise (AWS transferable)Experience operating high-volume, low-latency systems (e.g. gaming, betting, trading, fintech)Strong Kafka and database production experienceExperience in regulated industries, ideally financial servicesGlobal team leadership experienceMindset & ApproachBusiness-first orientation: every initiative must map to strategic objectivesComfortable making pragmatic trade-offs (launch and iterate vs perfection)Commercially aware — understands cloud cost and avoids unnecessary over-engineeringCalm under pressure; experienced in major incident leadershipPrefers dynamic, high-growth environments over slow, bureaucratic corporatesIdeal BackgroundFinancial services or fintechMission-critical environments where downtime materially impacts revenueExperience across corporate banking or SaaS businessesExposure to real-time streaming and event-driven architecturesExperience working with offshore teams (particularly India)Why Apply?This is a high-impact leadership role with immediate visibility. The infrastructure team is already in place — the opportunity is to elevate it, modernise it, and make it a trusted, business-aligned capability within a global organisation.