Operations Director

Live Operations Director

Location: UK or Ireland (regular travel required)

Type: Contract – Potential to go permanent

Outside IR35

Overview

We are looking for a Live Operations Director to build and lead a global operations function supporting large-scale, multi-country platform deployments.

You will ensure platforms operate as secure, resilient, and high-performing services, combining L1/L2/L3 support with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and automation-first practices. This role works closely with engineering and architecture teams to embed operational excellence into platform design from day one.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and lead a global live operations function
• Define SLAs, SLOs, and reliability metrics (uptime, MTTR, latency)
• Own incident management and continuous improvement processes
• Embed observability, automation, and operability into platforms
• Ensure compliance with security and regulatory requirements
• Act as senior operational contact for clients
• Scale operations to support international growth

Experience

• 8+ years in technology operations, with leadership experience
• Proven track record managing live production environments
• Experience with IT service management frameworks (e.g. ITIL)
• Strong background in cloud, DevOps, and platform operations
• Experience managing client-facing SLAs

Skills

• Strong knowledge of SRE principles
• Expertise in monitoring, observability, and incident management
• Ability to lead in high-pressure environments
• Excellent stakeholder and client management
• Strategic thinking with a focus on continuous improvement
• Experience building and leading high-performing teams