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Head of Technical Operations

Lula|Posted 16 days ago

Skills and experience

Role:Security engineer
Other roles:DevOps engineer, Site reliability engineer (SRE)
Experience in role:8+ years
Must-have skills:
    Azure

Location and salary

Remote policy:Remote
Location of job:Anywhere
Visa requirements:Authorised to work in South Africa With status of citizen/passport holder or permanent resident
Visa sponsorship:Unable to sponsor visa
Employment type:Permanent

Role description

What We Do

We build innovative fintech products to help SMEs make cash flow. From instant access to funding to all-in-one business banking accounts and cutting-edge financial analysis tools, we're on it!

Our purpose is to help SMEs manage their business better, faster, simpler, Lula, so they can spend more time doing what they love.

Speaking of love, we’re looking for Lulas who love to make a difference to join our team and change the game.

Culture Code

  • We Embrace Curiosity- We continuously seek better ways to deliver value with a solutions-over-problems mindset.
  • We win as One - We collaborate, build strong relationships and value diverse perspectives
  • We’re Driven by Purpose - We are passionate and committed to delivering the best products and services for SMEs
  • We Execute with Ambition - We set ambitious goals, embrace challenges, and deliver with focus and determination.

Overall Purpose

Reporting into the CIO, our Head of Technical Operations will play a key role in defining and shaping the Technology vision and strategy at Lula. You will be responsible for leading the technical operations team and building out the infrastructure, SRE, security, support and helpdesk competencies in alignment with Lula's technology strategy. You will be accountable for the performance, stability, continuity, security and compliance of our production infrastructure and services working in collaboration with our engineering teams, partners and third party vendors. The ideal candidate will be a seasoned technical operations leader with a proven track record of building successful teams, fostering a culture of innovation and delivering top quality operational services. This is a senior management role and will be a key member of the Technology Management team.

Responsibilities Include:

  • Articulation and delivery of a Technical Operations strategy which considers the factors of people, process and technology aligned to our technology and business strategies.
  • Contribute as a key member of the Technology Management team collaborating with all members to ensure that we deliver a world class experience to our customers.
  • Oversee the performance, stability, continuity, security and compliance of our production infrastructure and services.
  • Partner with business stakeholders to understand their support and service needs.
  • Manage key third party suppliers ensuring they are performing and delivering to SLO’s and SLA’s.
  • Collaborate with Product and Engineering to deliver against all agreed roadmaps.
  • Build, lead and mentor a high performing Technical Operations team.
  • Direct line management of managers across the infrastructure, SRE, security, support and helpdesk teams.
  • Manage budgets and operational expenditure effectively.
  • Research and implement new technologies that improve our service, support and infrastructure giving us a competitive edge.

The Skills and Competencies We're After:

  • Excellent leadership ability, you inspire your team and our business to achieve company goals
  • Exceptional technical skills, coupled with a commercial outlook
  • Ability to think strategically and make decisions pragmatically
  • Ability to manage multiple complex platforms and services under pressure
  • Ability to adapt to changing circumstances and priorities
  • Excellent planning and organisation skills
  • Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation and negotiation skills
  • Excellent negotiation skills to support the management of vendor and service provider agreements.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to manage expectations, risks and issues in a proactive manner
  • Strong collaboration skills and a passion for working with people
  • Strong understanding of financial principles and experience managing Technical Operations budgets with an eye expenditure.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Deadline driven - you know what success looks like and how to measure it
  • Positive, high energy and committed to live, demonstrate and get excited about the Lula values

The Experience We're Looking For:

  • BSc Degree in Computer Science, BTech, BEng or equivalent
  • Honours and/or Master’s degree an added advantage
  • Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in IT operations, infrastructure management, or a related field, with at least 5 years in a leadership or management role.
  • In-depth knowledge of IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, storage, virtualization, and cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, etc.).
  • In-depth experience configuring and supporting high volume and high availability cloud environments
  • Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles, practices, and technologies. Experience in implementing security measures and ensuring compliance. Understanding of relevant frameworks e.g.: ISO or NIST and PCI-DSS.
  • Proficiency in ITIL-based service management practices and tools. Experience in implementing service delivery and support processes.
  • Relevant certifications such as ITIL, CISSP, CISM, or similar are highly desirable.
  • Experience working closely with a product team and within an agile environment
  • Financial services and banking experience advantageous

All staff appointments will be made with due consideration for the Company's EE targets.

About Lula

201-500 employees

What we do

We’re Lula. We build innovative Fintech products with the aim to help every SME to succeed. Our innovative technology has made it simpler, faster, and more human to connect SMEs to funding solutions. We’ve also recently launched two business banking accounts that help SMEs manage their cash flow better and give them an all-in-one, all-digital business banking solution with faster access to funding than ever before.

Why Work For Us

We are a technology-focused company and strive to continue to be at the cutting edge. All our projects are greenfield, and we detest red tape!

Our Culture

We Embrace Curiosity- We continuously seek better ways to deliver value with a solutions-over-problems mindset. We win as One - We collaborate, build strong relationships and value diverse perspectives. We’re Driven by Purpose - We are passionate and committed to delivering the best products and services for SMEs. We Execute with Ambition - We set ambitious goals, embrace challenges, and deliver with focus and determination.

Our Engineering Processes

To get 'techy' we work on an agile basis, flexible but the focus is on proper design. Pragmatism and deliverable's are the goal.

Our Hiring Process

This is what you can expect when interviewing with us.

Our interview process has the following stages:

We have a 4 steps interview process.

  1. Initial Screening interview with the Talent Lead
  2. On online Technical Assessment
  3. A Technical Screening interview with our Head of Engineering
  4. A Final Interview with Senior Management

A bit more about the technical assessment:

We make use of Coderbyte for all our Technical Assessments.

The assessment typically consists of 2 challenges, a couple of multiple choice questions and a few open-ended questions.

During the process, you are likely to meet the following members of our team:

The Talent Lead, The Line Manager, Team members, and Senior Management

What will they be looking for?

During different parts of the interview process you will be asked different types of questions. Let’s break it down into three main categories of questions that may be asked, namely:

  1. Culture fit questions: Which are aimed at assessing the alignment of candidates to the company and team culture
  2. Technical questions: Which are questions specific to the role in question to assess a candidate's skills and abilities in relation to the role requirements
  3. Competency-based questions: These are questions that ask for real-life examples to test a candidate’s skill in a particular competency.

How to make a good first impression:

Make sure the interviewer sees how you’re a good fit for the role and the company as a whole.

How long does our interview process usually take, from the first call to the offer stage?

Roughly about 2 to 4 weeks

Perks at Lula

First Friday's - We like grabbing a drink together (alcoholic or not) the first Friday of every month
Team Building - We enjoy getting to know one another over team building events that happen once a quarter
Great co-working environment with access to sunroof terrace
Friend Referral - the best people know the best people, which is why we have a generous employee referral bounty
Social Clubs - Connect with likeminded fellow Lula's by becoming a member of one of our Social Clubs, ranging from our Hiking Club to our Wine Club.

Tech Stack

utilities

Google Analytics
Google Analytics

business tool

Google Apps
Google Apps
Slack
Slack
MailChimp
MailChimp
Zendesk
Zendesk
JIRA
JIRA

application and data

Python
Python
jQuery
jQuery
HTML5
HTML5
C#
C#
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure
ASP.NET
ASP.NET
MS SQL
MS SQL
.Net Core 2.0
.Net Core 2.0

dev ops

Selenium
Selenium
Bitbucket
Bitbucket

Office Photos

Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo
Office photo

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