Head Of IT Operations, Security & Service Management

Head Of IT Operations, Security & Service Management

Born from the vision to elevate Dubai's global prominence, Wasl was founded on May 25, 2008, with the mission to transform the city into an even more captivating destination for residents, businesses, and visitors alike. Created from the union of the Dubai Development Board and Real Estate Department, Wasl embarked on a journey of seamless integration. This strategic merger not only streamlined operations but also empowered our team with enhanced expertise, enabling us to adopt dynamic, market‑driven investment strategies.

Today, Wasl stands tall as a cornerstone of Dubai's real estate landscape. As one of the city's largest and most diversified real estate management companies, we proudly oversee an expansive portfolio of landmark assets, entrusted to us by DREC and other esteemed partners.

Job Description

Job Details

Position Title: Head – Operations, Security & Service Management

Reports To: Director – Information Technology

Department: Information Technology

Position Summary

The Head – Operations, Security & Service Management provides strategic leadership and governance across IT operations, infrastructure, security, development delivery, and managed services. The role is responsible for ensuring the availability, performance, and security of the organization's IT platforms across hybrid environments including on‑premise and cloud infrastructure.

The position oversees end‑to‑end managed services governance, infrastructure operations, DevOps practices, and application development demand management, ensuring that all services are delivered in alignment with business objectives, enterprise architecture standards, and operational excellence frameworks.

This role also ensures that application development activities follow a structured Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and that development, infrastructure, and operations teams work in close alignment to support reliable and scalable digital services.

The position acts as a key advisor to the Director of IT on operational strategy, service performance, cybersecurity posture, and technology optimization initiatives.

Job Dimensions

Number of Staff Supervised: Direct Reports: As defined by IT Organizational Structure; Total Reports: Inclusive of internal teams, managed service providers, and functional technical leads

Scope includes oversight of:

• Infrastructure & Cloud Platforms
• Service Desk & End-User Services
• Managed Services Operations
• IT Security Operations
• Application Operations & Development Oversight
• DevOps and Release Management

Key Responsibilities and Performance Standards

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute the IT operations and infrastructure strategy aligned with organizational digital and business objectives.
• Establish operational governance frameworks to ensure high availability, reliability, scalability, and security across all technology platforms.
• Drive operational excellence by implementing industry best practices across ITIL, DevOps, and infrastructure management frameworks.
• Align IT operations with enterprise architecture, digital transformation initiatives, and evolving business needs.

IT Operations and Infrastructure Management

• Oversee day‑to‑day IT infrastructure and platform operations, including servers, storage, networks, cloud environments, and enterprise platforms.
• Ensure that IT systems meet defined availability, performance, scalability, and disaster recovery targets.
• Lead the management of hybrid IT environments, including on‑premise data centers and public/private cloud platforms.
• Develop and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity strategies to ensure resilience of critical systems.

Managed Services Governance

• Own the end‑to‑end governance of managed IT services, ensuring vendors meet contractual obligations, service level agreements (SLAs), and operational performance targets.
• Establish a strong managed services governance model, including performance monitoring, service reviews, escalation mechanisms, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Act as the primary escalation authority for managed service performance issues, ensuring service stability and accountability.
• Lead regular vendor performance reviews and service improvement programs to enhance service delivery quality and operational efficiency.

Application Development Governance

• Govern and streamline the end‑to‑end application development demand process, ensuring that all requests follow defined intake, prioritization, and approval mechanisms.
• Establish and enforce a structured Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework covering requirements validation, design, development, testing, deployment, and post‑implementation review.
• Oversee development activities to ensure quality, compliance with coding standards, and alignment with enterprise architecture principles.
• Ensure effective coordination between development teams and infrastructure operations, assessing the impact of system changes, releases, and integrations on operational environments.
• Govern release management and deployment processes to maintain production stability and minimize operational risks.

DevOps and Platform Engineering

• Drive adoption of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines to enhance development efficiency and improve deployment reliability.
• Promote automation and infrastructure‑as‑code practices to increase operational efficiency and reduce manual intervention.
• Ensure development environments, testing platforms, and production systems are properly aligned and governed.

Security and Compliance

• Establish and maintain IT security controls and operational security frameworks to safeguard enterprise systems and data.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, cybersecurity, and data protection requirements.
• Collaborate with security teams to strengthen the organization’s cybersecurity posture and incident response capabilities.

Service Management

• Implement and maintain IT service management frameworks based on ITIL best practices.
• Ensure efficient management of incidents, problems, changes, and service requests to maintain service stability.
• Monitor and report on service performance metrics, including incident trends, SLA compliance, and operational improvements.

Financial and Operational Management

• Manage the IT operations and infrastructure budget, ensuring effective cost control and optimization.
• Monitor vendor contracts, licensing, and operational costs to ensure financial efficiency and value realization.
• Support strategic planning and budgeting activities for infrastructure and operational technology investments.

Stakeholder Management

• Maintain strong engagement with business stakeholders, IT leadership, and transformation teams to ensure service alignment with business priorities.
• Provide regular reporting to senior leadership on operational performance, risks, and improvement initiatives.

Key Technical Skills and Knowledge

• IT Infrastructure Management – Expert: Management of large‑scale hybrid IT environments ensuring availability and scalability.
• Advanced: Oversight of public, private, and hybrid cloud services.
• IT Service Management (ITIL) – Expert: Service delivery governance, incident and problem management.
• Cybersecurity Operations – Advanced: Implementation of operational security frameworks and compliance controls.
• DevOps & CI/CD – Advanced: Automation of development and deployment pipelines.
• Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity – Advanced: Ensuring operational resilience and system recovery.
• Expert: Managing managed service providers and service performance.
• Advanced: Governance of development delivery and operational stability.
• Intermediate: Budget planning and cost optimization.
• Expert: Driving IT strategy aligned with business objectives.

Communications and Working Relationships

Internal:

• Managed Service Providers

External:

• Infrastructure and Cloud Vendors
• Technology Partners
• Regulatory and Compliance Authorities

Context, Work Environment and Decision‑Making Authority

• Operates in a high‑availability enterprise technology environment supporting critical business systems.
• Responsible for key operational decisions related to infrastructure, platform services, managed services performance, and operational security.
• Provides strategic recommendations to IT leadership on technology operations, risk mitigation, and service optimization.

Financial Responsibilities

• Own the IT operations and infrastructure budget.
• Responsible for forecasting and optimizing CAPEX and OPEX related to infrastructure and operational technology.
• Monitor vendor costs, service contracts, and operational expenditure.

Selection Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related discipline.
• 10–15 years of experience in IT operations and infrastructure management.
• Minimum 5–7 years in a senior IT leadership role.
• Experience managing hybrid environments, enterprise platforms, and managed services.
• Experience with SAP ecosystems, Microsoft platforms, and cloud environments.
• Certifications in ITIL, Cloud platforms, or cybersecurity.
• Master’s degree in IT Management or Business Administration.
• Certifications such as PMP, CISSP, TOGAF, or Cloud Architecture.

Our Values

At Wasl, we are more than just a real estate company. We are active contributors to Dubai's thriving economy, fostering enduring relationships with our valued stakeholders. Our customer‑centric approach is rooted in trust, respect, and a relentless pursuit of innovation in every aspect of asset management.