Position Title: Manager, Application Infrastructure Operations
CARE is a leading humanitarian organization dedicated to eradicating poverty and social injustice. We currently work in over 93 countries with a focus on women and girls as the most disproportionately affected by poverty, while engaging men and boys as well to ensure the success of our mission. We are looking for a resourceful, talented and innovative person to join our team in the capacity of Manager, Application Infrastructure Operations for the East and Central Africa and Southern Africa regions. This position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.
CARE USA Core Values Commitment
The Core Values Commitment describes who we are, what we do, and how we do it. It reflects our core values of TRANSFORMATION, INTEGRITY, DIVERSITY, EQUALITY and EXCELLENCE, which serve as a foundation for all what we do. The Core Values Commitment articulates our shared expectations of each other including our board, staff, volunteers, interns, partners and contractors globally.
Job Summary
The Manager, Application Infrastructure Operations is a key position in the East and Central Africa and Southern Africa regions, leading the execution of IT Enterprise Application infrastructure strategy, architecture, service delivery, standards, and procedures. This role works with both regional management and country office IT staff to implement, monitor, and maintain core network services, and helps plan future IT investments to support changing business needs.
The person in this role must be a good communicator, capable of developing and maintaining strong, collaborative relationships with staff at the regional management level, as well as staff at all levels in country offices.
At the regional level, this role acts as a liaison and advisor between the IT organization and other parts of the business. Using your knowledge of the overall technical direction, IT policies, processes and procedures of CARE USA, you will advise of potential opportunities and challenges with upcoming programs/projects including a technology component.
At the country office level, this role provides technical guidance and hands-on assistance to local IT staff on all aspects of application infrastructure design, configuration, maintenance, monitoring and troubleshooting. At times, you may deliver technical training to different groups of staff, including IT, Executive, Program, and Support staff. The ability to simplify and explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences will help to smooth the acceptance and adoption of technology in all areas of the business.
This role reports to the Director of Technology Operations.
Duties and Responsibilities
Regional Application Infrastructure Operations Management and Leadership – 25%
Provide oversight of the implementation of CARE’s ICT Infrastructure Operations Services strategy across CARE offices in the designated region.
Provide consulting services to CARE’s Country Offices and Regional Management Units in the designated region for assessing, determining needs, strategic planning and implementing technology globally. Work with the department managers and staff to develop team strategies and goals that align with the organization ICT strategies.
Oversight and Support of Global Technology Operations – 50%
Tier 3 support for the resolution of all customer support issues for the technical infrastructure, including but not limited to Identity and accessibility, licensing, automation, SaaS support.
Establish, improve, and maintain documentation for managed processes and applications.
Provide mentorship and learning opportunities for IT staff in country offices.
Provide practical direction to country office IT staff and clearly communicate a shared vision. Ensure alignment with CARE USA’s system standards. Being flexible when dealing with and managing changing conditions in the organization.
Responsible for relationship management of the team’s customers and peers. This includes:
- Understanding the customer’s business strategy and goals
- Working with the customer to identify and prioritize their service level needs.
- Establish positive and collaborative relationships with other team members and peers.
Network and System Security – 15%
In conjunction with cybersecurity staff, participate in the implementation and management of both physical and logical security for SaaS and hosted applications and platforms. Tasks may include application hardening, vulnerability assessments, security audits, data security and privacy controls, etc. Monitoring, escalation, and response to known breaches and vulnerabilities.
Vendor Management – 10% of time
Participate in the selection, negotiation, acquisition, and monitoring of IT services (e.g. HRIS solution, communications platform, etc.) for the designated region. Monitor service issues through the vendor support process and escalate as appropriate.
Qualifications and Experience
Essential:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent combination of education and work experience
- 8+ years working in an IT environment
- 5+ years of experience in hands-on systems or networking support roles
- 5+ years as a team lead, manager, or escalation engineer for IT systems
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Self-motivated and capable of working independently
- Experience with Office 365
Desirable:
- Certification in Microsoft and/or Okta technologies.
- ITIL certification
- Familiarity with SSO authentication types and technologies
- Working knowledge of ITIL framework
- Experience with cyber security terminology, technologies, and standards
- Experience with public cloud providers and services
How to apply
Interested candidates who meet the criteria are encouraged to send in their applications that includes a cover letter and updated CV attached as one document to ECSA.Recruitment@care.org with the subject title “Manager, Application Infrastructure Operations”. The closing date is 24th July 2022.
Applicants are required to have the legal ability to work in Kenya and while we would like to respond to all applicants, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
CARE seeks to improve the lives of the most marginalized, particularly women and girls. Our diversity is our strength. We strongly encourage women of various backgrounds and abilities to apply.