Associate Director, IT Operations - DevSecOps

$147,200 - $208,350/Yr

Wolters Kluwer - Riverwoods, IL

Full-time - Mid Level

Riverwoods, IL

Publishing Industries

About the position

Wolters Kluwer Global Business Services (GBS) is seeking an Associate Director, IT Operations (Health Infrastructure Portfolio Management) to lead the transformation of application operations towards a DevSecOps and lean-agile practices. This role is pivotal in utilizing AI-augmented Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) to enhance efficiency, resilience, and innovation within the organization. The Associate Director will be responsible for managing application operations and the environments associated with the Health portfolio, which includes key areas such as DevSecOps, SRE, FinOps, Technical Debt, and Observability. In this position, you will promote collaboration with various business units, project teams, and both internal and external groups to effectively manage application operations processes and environments. Your focus will be on delivering cloud-centric operations with an automated-first approach, emphasizing product centricity. You will be challenged to integrate AI and agile methodologies to create a dynamic and responsive environment that balances reliability with optimal performance and security, ultimately delivering value to stakeholders. The role requires proficiency in formulating IT strategies, effective communication, and resource planning to support the demands of business units and their usage of IT services across Wolters Kluwer. You will develop a comprehensive understanding of the application portfolio, including the technologies used, business capabilities, and skill sets required to support applications within the respective divisions.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership, vision, and direction to the IT Operations, GBS Infrastructure Portfolio Management, and GBS organizations to ensure alignment with company goals.
• Collaborate with CTOs, BRMs, and other IT leaders to develop an overall IT strategy that aligns with business strategies and initiatives.
• Build productive relationships with business leaders and application managers to influence how applications can create new sources of value.
• Act as a change agent to modernize applications and capabilities in alignment with the WK DevSecOps practice.
• Provide architecture and engineering advisory as needed within IT Operations in Infrastructure Portfolio Management Systems.
• Define and enhance methodologies and practices for infrastructure and application lifecycle management based on best practices and continuous improvement.
• Ensure application processes comply with corporate social responsibility, environmental, and technical policies and applicable standards.
• Lead incident resolution for supported applications.
• Manage application group personnel, developing their skills and capabilities to meet organizational needs.
• Work with product management to implement and manage application product roadmaps, status reporting, metrics, and benchmarks.
• Manage relationships with major vendors and service providers to ensure cost-effective solutions.
• Conduct regular surveys of stakeholder satisfaction with application products and implement action plans for improvement as necessary.
• Implement operational readiness processes for the portfolio of applications in the Health division to ensure quality of services in production and development environments.
• Support GBS in creating and implementing a strategy for Global IT Services.
• Develop senior leadership for the Infrastructure Portfolio Management mission and strategies for the Global IT organization.
• Communicate objectives and concepts internally and externally to ensure alignment and understanding across teams.
• Ensure adequate resources for various Infrastructure Portfolio Management roles across IT technical domains and teams to execute effectively.
• Arbitrate disputes over the allocation of responsibilities among teams.
• Champion awareness and acceptance of Infrastructure Portfolio Management processes among IT senior management.
• Obtain support from business and IT senior management for Infrastructure Portfolio Management processes and associated procedures.
• Liaise with other process owners to establish integration and collaboration across various management processes.
• Perform high-level monitoring and review of critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to service management processes.
• Develop continuous improvement measurements for Infrastructure Portfolio Management processes, including CSFs, KPIs, and associated metrics.
• Build partnerships with other IT team leaders to determine training requirements and deliver training to appropriate teams.
• Lead teams to plan and resource support for multiple Business Units and GBS IT teams' requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or equivalent degree; or work equivalent experience required.
• Minimum 10 years of broad Information Technology experience.
• Proven ability to build and manage relationships in a matrixed environment.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects with competing demands for resources.
• Experience modernizing production environments to deliver higher resilience, availability, and disaster recovery capabilities.
• Experience with mergers and acquisitions.
• Experience as a trusted advisor to partners including BU leadership, divisional leadership, and application development leads.
• Experience with application and datacenter modernization projects.
• Proficiency in process formulation and communication.
• Strong analytical and business management skills.
• Proficiency in working in a fast-paced, complex, dynamic, and multicultural business environment.
• Ability to build relationships and influence individuals at all levels of the organization.
• In-depth knowledge of system management processes, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and experience.
• Demonstrated experience in mentoring, coaching, performance feedback, and regular evaluation.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with ITIL and ITSM processes.
• Experience with application lifecycle processes.
• Experience with traditional and cloud operational processes.
• Demonstrated experience working with geographically diverse associates and vendor partners.
• Demonstrated budget management, tracking, and forecasting experience.
• Demonstrated on-time and on-budget system delivery experience.
• Knowledge of organizational policies and procedures.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with AI integration in IT operations.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and practices.
• Experience in leading cross-functional teams.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, & Vision Plans
• 401(k)
• FSA/HSA
• Commuter Benefits
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Vacation and Sick Time
• Paid Parental Leave