General Manager, IT Service Operations at Equity Bank

Job Purpose:

• General Manager, IT Service Operations will play a pivotal role in leading the organization’s core IT Service Operation functions, ensuring consistent stability, optimal performance, and reliability of IT Services across Equity Group.
• The incumbent will provide strategic direction and operational leadership to ensure seamless service delivery, continual process improvements, and consistent alignment with organizational goals, compliance mandates, and service level agreements (SLAs).
• This position is accountable for overseeing and optimizing end-to-end operations of the Service Monitoring Center, Service Desk, Major Incident Management, and Problem Management & Continual Improvement functions in a dynamic, high availability 24x7 environment. 

Job Responsibilities/ Accountabilities:

• Lead and oversee the day-to-day operations of the Service Monitoring Center (SMC), Service Desk, Incident & Problem Management functions within a 24x7 enterprise environment.
• Serve as the key escalation contact and principal decision-maker for Major Incidents, driving resolution efforts and coordinating communication to various stakeholders.
• Enhance and enforce ITIL-based processes for Event, Incident, Problem & Continual Improvement, and Service Request Management across all IT operational teams.
• Manage and mature Service Desk operations to achieve/exceed first-contact resolution, customer satisfaction and SLA adherence targets.
• Develop Service Monitoring strategies for end-to-end real-time service, system & infrastructure monitoring, proactive issue detection, and incident escalation.
• Lead Post-Incident Reviews (PIRs), drive follow-ups for permanent fixes, preventive actions and address incident recurrences.
• Monitor and report on service KPIs, SLAs, and operational performance metrics to IT leadership and business stakeholders.
• Drive process automation and continual service improvement (CSI) initiatives across all operational towers.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls, security policies, and regulatory standards across operations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, and external partners to improve service resilience and operational capabilities.
• Provide coaching and direction to a team of operational managers and technical staff to build a high-performing operations organization.
• Oversee staff performance, recruitment, development, and support efforts to retain effective teams.

Essential Knowledge:

• Strong understanding of ITIL v4.
• Working knowledge of monitoring tools and IT Service Management platforms.
• Familiarity with infrastructure components, networking, cloud environments, and enterprise systems.
• Experience in vendor and SLA management.

• Problem solving capabilities.

Key Critical Competencies:

• Strategic thinking with hands-on execution capabilities.
• Strong leadership and team development skills.
• High resilience and ability to manage pressure during critical incident situations.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret performance data and drive decisions.
• Crisis and conflict management.
• Results-driven with a mindset for continuous improvement.
• Proactive and customer-focused approach to service delivery.
•  Customer-centric mindset with a passion to deliver value and improved service experience. 
• Experience in managing and leading teams to successfully deliver outcomes within defined time frames.
•  Capable of multi-tasking, good time management and prioritization of workload.

Requirements:

• University degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 10–15 years of experience in IT Operations, with at least 3-5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven experience managing Service Desk, Service Monitoring Center operations and ITIL-based operations in large-scale or enterprise environments.
• Must have ITIL v4 Certification.
• Hands-on experience in handling major incidents, root cause analysis, and 24x7 IT support functions.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure monitoring, escalation protocols, and incident command structures.
• Excellent skills in communication, decision-making, and influencing at executive levels.
• Experience managing geographically distributed teams.
• PMP / PRINCE2 Certification is a plus.
• Exposure to cloud-based operations (AWS, Azure) and DevOps practices is advantageous.
• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure components including hardware, databases, operating systems, LANs, WANs and transaction processing systems.

• Experience managing vendor relationships and complex projects.
• Unix/Linux & CCNA Certification is an added advantage.
• Champion a culture of innovation, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making within IT Service Operations teams.

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https://equitybank.taleo.net/careersection/ext_new/jobdetail.ftl?job=250000IV&tz=GMT%2B03%3A00&tzname=Africa%2FNairobi