Director -Technology Operations

Provide strategic and operational leadership to a technology operations function (employees, contract personnel and/or vendor partners) dedicated to a portfolio of technical business applications and/or services, including operational maintenance, production support, oversight of incidents and remediation planning, development support, and proactive analysis (to include solution/service innovation and change management). Work closely with the business and leadership to understand business needs and develop and drive an operating plan and strategy to meet those needs.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the business to understand strategy, needs, and end-user needs, then develop and drive a services/support strategy to meet those needs. Review and compare offering with current and future needs, identify gaps and ensure strategy addresses gaps. Prioritize initiatives based on business need, cost and impact. Determine and/or recommend approach to provide services (internally or outsourced). Provide cost, feasibility and impact/benefit analysis to support and gain strategy approval.
• Collaborate with supplier performance team to review service level agreements/objectives (SLA/Os) and performance against them. Regularly review offering for potential areas of improvement in processes, support and/or service offering. Establish and maintain a communication process that drives effective two-way communication with end-users/customers. Employ effective change management processes to ensure effective adoption and desired utilization rates of services, products and/or initiatives.
• Oversee critical and escalated incidents to ensure service restoration targets are met. Track and communicate status to senior leadership as appropriate. Ensure incident management and resolution processes are followed. Ensure action plans are in place to address recurring availability/performance impacts on technical assets, systems and infrastructure. Ensure escalation and effective hand-off of support issues to other technology groups as required.
• Provide strategic direction to a technology operations team of employees, contractors and/or vendor partners. Develop and maintain an organization of high performing people through effective hiring, coaching and rigorous performance/talent management. Plan and implement a resource strategy (internal vs. vendor) based on business need, scope of work, cost, and skill requirements. Foster a collaborative, success-oriented team environment where resources are empowered and accountable.
• Manage the annual budget and financial planning process for assigned organization, technical assets/service portfolio and related projects, to include vendor contract budget(s). Prioritize and plan technology service/support solutions within the annual business-as-usual and investment budgets. Collaborate with involved teams across the business and with vendor partners to effectively and accurately estimate work and cost associated with services/deliverables as it relates to area of responsibility.
• Collaborate with enterprise procurement to ensure appropriate processes are followed and to effectively manage vendor relationships (high quality work in cost effective model with strong SLA/Os established and managed). Monitor vendor performance to ensure contractual obligations are met. Troubleshoot issues and service gaps to identify process improvements and implement accordingly. Ensure resources (on- and off-shore) of appropriate skill set and adoption of preferred methodologies.
• Maintain up-to-date skills in relevant technologies. Provide innovation and leadership in the selection, implementation and use of tools and best practices. Establish and maintain effective and productive working relationships with business partners, vendor partners and their resources, as well as other teams across technology. Maintain a broad understanding of business, business needs, and how technology drives and supports the business.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, MIS, or related field; or equivalent work experience.
• 7-10 years of relevant work experience required.
• 5+ years of experience providing day-to-day management/supervision and mentorship to a team of technical employees and/or vendor partner resources.
• 7+ years of broad technical experience with proven expertise in a majority of the following areas: servers, networks, hardware, operating systems (Windows, UNIX, Solaris, Linux, AIX), virtualization software, middleware and related base build infrastructure and software.
• 3+ years of experience and proven success identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement to procedures, process and technology to optimize services and operations, enabling greater availability, capability, efficiency and end-user satisfaction.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Major Incident Management function running a high functioning team of incident managers.
• Good knowledge of Service Management functions and its application in Command Center operations.
• Familiarity with running global command center operations working with multiple Operations teams and running incident bridges.

About Our Company

The Ameriprise Financial Technology team mission is to create innovative technology solutions and engaging digital experiences for our clients, advisors, and employees. We embrace an inclusive and collaborative culture that allows us to partner across the business and lend our expertise in the areas of corporate computing, network infrastructure and security. We celebrate the unique qualities and reward the contributions of our talented, passionate employees. If you're motivated and want to work for a strong, ethical company that cares about you and your community, take the next step with Ameriprise Technology.

Ameriprise Financial is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, gender identity, disability, veteran status, marital status, family status or any other basis prohibited by law.