Department for Education

Operations

• Lead ARIA’s IT Operations function and continuously evolve the organisation’s operational technology maturity, resilience and effectiveness.
• Own accountability for ARIA’s enterprise IT operations and operational service environment, ensuring services are stable, secure, reliable and aligned to organisational needs.
• Act as the senior accountable lead for ARIA’s MSP and operational technology partners, holding providers to account against SLAs, contractual obligations and continuous improvement objectives.
• Drive a culture of operational excellence, proactive service improvement and enablement-first IT operations.
• Maintain accountability for ARIA’s enterprise operational cyber security posture, operational technology risks, resilience planning and compliance obligations.
• Lead governance frameworks, operational standards, policies and controls across enterprise IT domains to ensure proportionate and effective risk management.
• Oversee incident response readiness, disaster recovery planning, operational resilience and security assurance activities.
• Partner with leadership teams to translate operational technology risks into clear organisational decisions and priorities.
• Ensure ARIA’s enterprise IT controls, security foundations and support models evolve to safely enable AI-native ways of working, including increased use of AI tools, automation, data platforms and bespoke technical solutions.
• Oversee ARIA’s enterprise operational infrastructure, cloud environments, identity and access management, SaaS estate, devices and core operational systems.
• Maintain visibility and governance across ARIA’s enterprise operational technology assets, ensuring systems remain secure, supportable and operationally sustainable.
• Lead the management and oversight of enterprise application lifecycle management, rationalisation, operational supportability and cost optimisation.
• Ensure enterprise IT services effectively support organisational productivity, operational continuity and secure collaboration.
• Lead and develop a high-performing IT Operations function, including internal team members, contractors and managed service providers.
• Build strong relationships across ARIA to ensure enterprise technology services effectively support organisational effectiveness and user experience.
• Partner closely with the Head of Engineering & Platforms to ensure operational resilience, enterprise compliance and security considerations are effectively embedded across organisational technology initiatives.
• Contribute to organisation-wide technology governance, standards and roadmap discussions across operational and enablement domains.
• Provide clear reporting, insight and assurance to senior leadership on operational performance, security, resilience and enterprise technology risks.
• Collaborate closely with the wider ARIA team and Programme Directors to deliver a seamless IT environment that empowers, rather than restricts, ambitious R&D initiatives.

Head of IT Operations