Azure Services Director - Global Cloud & AI

This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-growing global technology team at a critical stage in their cloud transformation journey. As Director of Cloud Services, you will take a senior leadership role with the autonomy to shape strategy, drive innovation, and lead advanced initiatives across AI, cloud operations, and managed services.

The role centres on a leading cloud platform at the heart of their digital infrastructure, offering the chance to influence enterprise-wide change, collaborate with highly skilled teams, and deliver large-scale, impactful solutions.

Role Overview:

The Director of Cloud Services is a strategic leadership position responsible for defining the cloud vision, architecture, and operations across the organisation. You will oversee the design and delivery of scalable, secure, and innovative cloud solutions, including AI-enabled services, while ensuring robust managed service support. The role requires leadership of global teams, management of vendor relationships, and alignment of cloud initiatives with business and operational objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

Cloud Strategy & Innovation

Lead the global cloud strategy, ensuring alignment with overall business and digital transformation goals.
Promote adoption of AI and machine learning capabilities to enhance operational efficiency and business outcomes.
Monitor emerging cloud technologies and trends to continuously evolve the cloud roadmap.

Architecture & Design

Collaborate with platform experts and internal teams to architect enterprise-grade cloud solutions across IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and AI services.
Design resilient, scalable, and secure cloud environments that support global operations and business continuity.

Transformation & Modernisation

Partner with enterprise architects and engineering teams to modernise legacy systems and enable cloud-native application development.
Lead integration of AI services into business processes and applications to drive innovation and efficiency.

Global Operations & Service Delivery

Oversee 24/7 global cloud operations to maintain high availability, reliability, and performance.
Implement and manage service support frameworks, including SLAs, incident management, and escalation processes.
Drive operational excellence through automation, monitoring, and proactive problem resolution.

Security, Compliance & Governance

Define and enforce cloud governance frameworks, security policies, and compliance standards across all regions.
Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to implement modern security architectures and advanced threat protection.
Ensure compliance with global regulations and industry standards such as GDPR, ISO 27001, and NIST.

Leadership & Collaboration

Build and lead a high-performing global cloud team, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Take ownership of financial performance, including cloud cost management and optimisation.
Collaborate with business units, IT leadership, and external partners to deliver strategic cloud initiatives.

Qualifications & Experience

Extensive IT leadership experience with a focus on cloud strategy and operations.
Proven ability to manage global cloud environments and distributed teams.
Deep expertise in cloud architecture, platform services, AI/ML integration, and managed service operations.
Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Financial acumen for cloud budgeting and optimisation.
Track record of developing modern cloud services in partnership with cloud providers, with a focus on innovation and continuous improvement.

JBRP1_UKTJ