Director, Cloud Operations

Job Description

Applied Systems, Inc., a worldwide leader in insurance technology, is currently searching for a Director, Cloud Operations to join our team. As the Director, Cloud Operations, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and executing Applied’s global SaaS strategy. You will be responsible for assessing Global Cloud operations processes and procedures to ensure the delivery of operational excellence to our internal and external customers.

 

The Cloud Services team is responsible for the design, implementation, and management of technologies that enables Applied Systems to deliver reliable and highly available Cloud solutions to its worldwide customers. Cloud Services manages compute, storage, networking, security, virtualization, operating system, and application layers across four self-managed data centers in the US, Canada, UK, and Public Cloud providers GCP, AWS, and Azure. The Cloud Services staff is globally distributed, ensuring 24/7/365 coverage. 

 

What You Will Do 

• Partner with the SVP of Cloud Services to successfully develop and execute on Global Cloud and CX department strategy 

• Provide leadership, promote understanding, and achieve buy-in around transformational work being done to improve customer experience and operational excellence 

• Drive key department initiatives and provide regular progress updates to department leadership, addressing root causes and owning solutions 

• Contribute to weekly Cloud Services management and change review board meetings 

• Collaborate across Cloud teams and more broadly across departments (i.e. Information Security, Corporate IT, Customer Experience and other internal teams) to ensure the success of department initiatives and goals, support escalation, rapid response problem resolution and solution collaboration 

• Ensure the Applied Cloud exhibits the highest level of performance, stability, availability, security, and data integrity 

• Conduct detailed needs analysis and gap assessments to identify areas for improvement and provide direction and recommendations for optimizing processes and workflows 

• Establish service levels and provide ongoing measurement, metrics, reporting and dashboards of the effectiveness, performance and customer satisfaction of all services, hold team accountable to meeting those standards  

• Strategize with Cloud Leadership to meet department goals, lead process improvements and documentation efforts, collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and address customer pain points, and enhance resource effectiveness through standardization, automation, and implementation of new technologies 

• Ability to work after hours and on weekends when required and/or necessary

• Pursue a program of self-development in continuing education, staying abreast of changes in Applied Systems’ software, technology, and the industry 

• Recruit, hire, onboard, coach, and retain high performing cloud operations leaders and teams 

• Accelerate skill development and adoption of new technologies, fostering an environment on continuous learning for the Cloud Operations team

• Guide prioritization across teams and demonstrate adaptability in resource alignment and realignment based on business needs 

• Define and cascade goals to ensure teams deliver business results based on company objectives each year

• ​​Performs other duties as assigned by immediate manager or management team

 

What You’ll Need to Succeed 

• 10+ years related work experience and/or an equivalent combination 

• Experience leading a global operations 24x7 team across multiple time zones and geographies 

• Experience building, leading, and optimizing operations teams 

• Proven leadership, influencing, and negotiating skills in a highly matrixed environment

• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills

• Experience in building high-performing teams with a strong service-oriented focus for a multi-national organization

• Proven experience in building a strong process-oriented operation, focusing on delivering high efficiencies and customer satisfaction 

• Highly detail-oriented with the ability to multi-task and prioritize work to ensure timely delivery

• Proven experience in managing profit and loss statements, budgeting, and financial forecasting 

• Considerable experience in successfully implementing changes at a team level and across the ent