The Multichoice Group is a broad-based multinational media and entertainment group headquartered in South Africa, Dubai and Netherlands with principal operations in pay television, video entertainment, advertising and content security serving rapidly growing base of 20 million+ households. Eminent brands within the Group include DSTV, GOTv, SuperSport, M-net, DStv Stream, Showmax and Europe based content security leader Irdeto. Key areas of operations are:Storytelling ranging from content creation, production and aggregation including the best global general entertainment, sport and eminent African content library, delivered to customersPay Television: direct-to-home satellite and digital terrestrial television services;SVOD: subscription video on demand services across multiple online platforms with a focus on library and local content in developing markets, andAdvertising: providing dynamic media solutions; handling commercial airtime, on-air sponsorships, content integration, and online sales across a variety of 130+ channel brands on linear TV, VOD, social media, and digital platforms.The group’s strength lies in its focus on local language and culture, its entrepreneurial spirit and the quality of its workforce. Multichoice Group has a successful history of identifying trends early, adapting them for the markets in which it operates and leveraging them to maximum advantage. The group generates revenues primarily through subscription model, with a growing contribution from advertising revenue. Its key objectives are to:Expand Pay TV, SVOD subscriber base and Advertising salesFocus on investment and technologyMaintain a local approachProvide quality serviceAttract innovative and motivated employeesPurpose of the Position:This role is responsible to oversee and streamline the technical operations within SDE, ensuring the efficient functioning of IT infrastructure and services. The role is responsible for managing technical teams, optimizing processes, and implementing best practices to maintain system reliability and performance.Key Performance ObjectivesGeneral Operational DeliveryBuild business requirements, executes projects and derives business insightsLocate and define new Infrastructure process improvementsComplete projects/tasks assigned or working with other staff (internal /external) and following up on assigned projects/taskEngage with customers to unpack requirements and design with for future requirements based on future needsCreate Information and Insights Packs inclusive of PowerPoint, Dashboards or Reporting, or any fit-for-purpose information management toolsManage the processes and standards for Change Controls and deployments. Implement approval process for quality of operational servicesRecruit and retain best talent available in the marketManage SLAs and KPIs for SDE servicesAsset managementNegotiation of feature deployment sets with development leadsDevelop and maintain relevant policies, procedures, and governance.Standard Operating ProceduresChange ControlPeople ManagementManage direct reports to achieve resultsEstablish and manage Performance Optimization documents for all direct reportsEstablish Training, Personal Development & Retention plans for staffSupervise team deliverablesTake ownership of training requirements and ensure that staff expertise is kept up to date with best industry practiceBenchmarking & GovernanceResponsibilities evolve but are not limited to the development, design, administration, implementation, maintenance, support and improvement of all IT systems, software and equipment within SDE.Work with other team like EBS ARB, SRB, Networks, InfoSec in the design, deployment, implementation and support of infrastructure systems focused on best practices and repeatable standardized processes.Ensure the stability, integrity and efficient operation of the organization’s technology infrastructure through the appropriate operation of technologies.Proactively ensure the highest levels of systems and infrastructure availability.Manage and monitor all installed systems and infrastructure for the organization to be in line with company guidelines or SOP.Provide advice regarding the appropriate hardware and/or software to ensure the system/s meets organizational requirements.Conduct high-level root-cause analysis for service interruption/disruption and establish preventive measures.Demonstrating leadership and advanced knowledge of virtualization technology, storage and networking fundamentals.Engage with management and stakeholders regularly with reports on project status, activities, daily tasks and achievements.Creation, updating and enforcement of all IT related Policies and Procedures and Security protocols.Performing disaster recovery operations, data backups, testing and restores when required in line with the company’s Disaster recovery and business continuity plan and procedures. Keeping abreast of the latest advancements in technology, protocols, and best practicesProvide 3rd Level technical support to other members within Software and Data engineering throughout the design processAssisting in the development of new engineering standards and procedures for use in future projects.Perform cost analyses on all future Infrastructure projects and develop long term plans for DR.Analyze the impact of proposed changes to existing infrastructure on existing systemsResponsible for the design, deployment, implementation and management of Cloud-based systems, which may include the development and implementation of cloud-applications, migration of existing on-premise applications to the cloud and the debugging of cloud stacks.CommunicationEffective communication from team to business, and from business to teamEffective communication with all 1st and 2nd line support staff in various Operations teamProjects ManagementTake total ownership for implementation of relevant projectsEffective project planning and prioritizationReportingProduce daily and monthly operational reportsProduce incident reportsProduce trending and correlation reportsProduce Root Cause Analysis of incidentsProduce service metric reports to match SLA/KPIsFormal qualifications and work experienceBachelors’ degree or higher in a Computer Science or related field. Masters’ degree preferred10+ years of Software Engineering experience of which at least 2-3 years should have been at management level within a “software development” environmentAzure Cloud Certifications (AZ900, AZ104, AZ400, AZ500, DP203) will be an advantageITIL v4 training certification will be preferredProven track record of supporting complex enterprise systems/applications in an agile environmentFunctional CompetenciesPractical understanding of digital TV broadcast and receiver technologiesSoftware deployment pipelines and hosting knowledge requiredIn-depth infrastructure, Server, OS, networks and monitoring knowledge requiredExperience in administering, customizing and using alerting & monitoring systemsExperience in administering, customizing and using devops systemsAdvanced knowledge of Windows Server (2016 / 2019 / 2022) Operating Systems.Knowledge of Linux Servers.Experience in managing large server infrastructure both physical and virtual servers.Technical Competencies (List the key technical competencies)Microsoft Windows Server 2016/2019/2022Active Directory/Azure Active DirectoryAzure IAAS\SAASDHCP/DNSSCCM / WSUSVMware / ESX /HyperVSAN technologies - inc EMC / NetAppNetworking (Routers, Switching)Windows 10/11/Office 365 ProPlusVeeam BackupFirewallPowerShell#J-18808-Ljbffr