System Lead

Key Responsibilities

1. Team Leadership & People Management

• Lead and supervise a team and oversee 24/7 operational coverage of manpower
• Provide mentorship, coaching, and skill development for junior engineers.
• Conduct performance reviews, identify training gaps, and drive continuous improvement across the team.
• Act as the point-of-escalation for all operational matters.

2. Data Centre Operations Management

• Ensure smooth day-to-day operation of all systems, networks, security tools, and DC facilities.
• Oversee all daily operations across data centre infrastructure, security, systems, and network domains to ensure efficiency, stability, and continuous service availability.
• Ensure compliance with Data Centre SOPs, operational policies, and security guidelines.
• Coordinate equipment movement, installation, decommissioning, and preventive maintenance activities.
• Review shift reports, incident logs, and ensure proper documentation for audits.
• Drive readiness, preventive maintenance, audit compliance, and operational excellence initiatives.

3. Incident & Problem Management

• Act as the senior escalation point for critical incidents across systems, networks, and security technologies.
• Provide expert guidance on infrastructure issues including Windows/Linux servers, virtualization, storage, security appliances, and network technologies.
• Review RCA reports, lead problem management, and drive long-term remediation plans.
• Oversee complex change requests, service requests, patching cycles, and integration activities.
• Ensure alignment with ITIL processes and industry best practices.
• Oversee triaging, root cause analysis (RCA), and ensure timely closure of incidents and service requests.
• Ensure incidents, alarms and alerts are properly logged, categorised, prioritised, and tracked according to SLA.
• Liaise with customers, vendors, and internal stakeholders for critical incidents and troubleshooting.

4. Systems & Network Operations Oversight

• Server, OS, storage systems monitoring and maintenance.
• Network operations including switches, routers, firewalls, VPN and load balancers.
• Ensure routine patching, backup operation, and system health checks.
• Guide the team on best practices for authentication, authorization, encryption and configuration management.

5. Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Coordinate with external vendors for maintenance, replacement, and enhancement activities.
• Ensure timely follow-up on open tickets, service disruptions and preventive maintenance.
• Communicate operational updates, risks, and issues to management and customers.

6. Compliance, Documentation & Reporting

• Ensure operational documentation (SOP, checklist, incident report, RCA, inventory, access logs) are updated and accurate.
• Drive audit readiness for ISO, IT security audits, and internal governance requirements.
• Prepare periodic operational reports and dashboards for management.

Job Requirements:

Education & Experience

• Diploma/Degree in Computer Science, IT, Engineering or related fields.
• Minimum 10 - 15 years of hands-on experience in IT and cloud infrastructure or data centre operations.
• Minimum 5 years experience leading a technical team of Azure Infrastructure Engineer, operation centre, or shift-based environment.

Technical Skills

• IT Infrastructure (Windows / Linux servers, virtualization, storage)
• Network technologies (L2/L3 concepts, routing, switching, firewalls)
• Azure Stack Hub / hybrid cloud environments
• Storage: S2D, SAN/NAS, Unity/VNX
• Windows HCI
• Kubernetes / SDN networking knowledge
• Security tools/products (e.g., BeyondTrust, SEPM, RSA, Palo Alto, Checkpoint, Fortigate, Safenet)
• Data Centre operations (monitoring tools, backup operations, tape management, hardware handling)
• Backup operations / Tape library / DR procedures
• Incident management and ITIL framework
• Knowledge of authentication, encryption, access management concepts

Key Competencies

• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to manage crisis situations, critical escalations, and high-severity incidents.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset.
• Ability to develop team members, build processes, and drive operational excellence.
• Able to support 24×7 operations when required (escalation or major incidents).