Data Centre & Infrastructure Operations Manager

Data Centre & Infrastructure Operations Manager
Location: Stevenage area (hybrid working, typically 2 days on-site)
Type: Permanent, full-time
Security: SC Cleared & UKEO (UK Eyes Only - Sole British nationals)

The opportunity
A leading organisation in a highly regulated sector is looking for a Data Centre & Infrastructure Operations Manager to take ownership of critical UK infrastructure and data centre operations. This role is responsible for ensuring environments are stable, secure, resilient and operationally mature, with a strong focus on governance, incident leadership, capacity planning and continuous improvement.

You'll lead across multiple data centre environments, coordinate specialist suppliers, and drive business continuity and disaster recovery preparedness including testing and recovery exercises. The role also includes leadership responsibility for an operations manager within the data centre function, plus involvement in an operational call-out rota for major incidents.

What you'll be doing

• Own the operational management of UK data centres and associated infrastructure services (server, storage, network and cloud platforms).
• Lead operational governance including change control, risk management and service standards.
• Develop and run disaster recovery and business continuity activities including DR testing and failover exercises.
• Lead operational incident response, supporting crisis management and continuous improvement.
• Coordinate facilities and specialist service providers, managing supplier performance and service delivery.
• Deliver capacity planning and operational forecasting across infrastructure and data centre environments.
• Produce and maintain operational documentation including runbooks, procedures, policies and standards.
• Ensure compliance with internal security, safety and operational controls.

What you're looking for
Essential experience

• Strong background managing and operating mission-critical data centre and infrastructure environments.
• Proven DR and BC experience, including leading DR testing and operational recovery activities.
• Strong governance mindset: change control, risk and operational standards.
• Experience in infrastructure capacity planning and forecasting.
• Solid understanding of data centre and facilities fundamentals, including:
  • power distribution, UPS and generator systems
  • cooling and environmental controls
  • building management systems (BMS) and monitoring
  • redundancy and resilience models
• Confident communicator and relationship builder across technical teams, facilities and suppliers.
• Strong supplier/vendor management experience in specialist environments.

Desirable

• ITIL (or equivalent operational framework experience)
• Background in highly secure and regulated environments
• Familiarity with standards such as ISO27001 and ISO22301
• Data centre certifications (eg CDCP/CDCM)
• Experience with DCIM and infrastructure monitoring tools
• Multi-site data centre operations exposure

Security / eligibility note
Due to the nature of the work, restrictions relating to nationality and right to work may apply. The successful applicant must be able to achieve and maintain the required level of UK security clearance.

Apply
If this aligns with your background in critical infrastructure operations and resilience, please apply with a CV