Head of IT

Head of IT

Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 15th of July at 17:00

Agency support not required for this role

About Pepper Advantage Ireland:Pepper Advantage Ireland has been instrumental inhelping Irish individuals, businesses and investors navigate their financialjourney since 2012. We manage over €17bn worth of assets and have a skilledteam of more than 450 people across Dublin and Shannon. We're here to serviceloans and mortgages which includes processing loan payments and when needed,working with customers to resolve late payments or assist with financialdifficulties.

As part of the international Pepper Advantage Group, wecombine local knowledge with global expertise. With operations across the UK,Europe and Southeast Asia, we employ over 3,500 people and have over €75bn inassets under management.

About this role:

The role is responsible for the company'score IT function and strategy, infrastructure the physical networkinfrastructure, connectivity, telephony, all hardware and server installations,desktop and operating systems and collaboration tools (such as email, wordprocessing and file sharing). Embeddedin the role is the management of appropriate technical security measures toensure the protection of the company's data and computer systems. The Head of IT will be a member of the PepperIreland Executive Committee.

The successful candidate will have a strongbackground in IT & project and change governance leadership, communication,and interpersonal skills. They will alsohave a deep understanding of IT infrastructure, security, AI, and vendor management, as well as knowledge ofITIL and other IT service management frameworks.

This is a senior role for a candidate withextensive experience who can ensure we deliver a high level of services, aswell as excellent leadership, communication and interpersonal skills. The candidate will report into the IrelandCEO with a dotted line into the Global CIO and will also have responsibilityfor a number of direct reports.

Location: Dublin or Shannon

Type of Contract:Permanent

KeyResponsibilities:
IT Infrastructure

Deliver and effective management of resilient ITinfrastructure required to operate the company. IT infrastructure refers to:

• The physical cabling of the company's premises and the associated network hardware such as firewalls, racks, routers & switches.
• Secure connectivity to the Internet, third party service providers and external workers
• All IT related hardware, such as servers, workstations, laptops, printers and scanners.
• Operating systems and other software platforms, such as database platforms, web servers and load balancers
• All telephony related services including desktop and portable handsets, call centre technology and reporting, and unified communication cloud technologies
• Drive the selection of appropriate technologies to support the company's objectives
• Manage the licencing of all company software, ensuring the IT platform is appropriately licenced
• Management of third party relationships related to the provision, support and maintenance of the IT infrastructure

Security

Delivery and effective management of controls as setin the Information Security Policy, and the operation of security technologiesrequired by the company to

mitigate IT risks, such as:

• Identity management, authentication and authorisation to network resources
• Malware protection and Firewall configuration
• Deployment of security patches and KRI reporting of estate patch coverage
• Email and cloud protection technologies such as data loss prevention tools, spam filtering tools and cloud access security brokers
• Conduct simulated phishing campaigns to improve threat awareness
• Delivery of KRI reporting to support the company in its management of risk
• Work closely with the Chief Information Security Officer in respect of Pepper Ireland's Information Security matters that align with industry best practice and Global requirements

ITApplications Development and Support

• Setting the strategic direction and vision of the department, ensuring alignment to Pepper Advantage business Goals & Objectives
• Responsibility for the performance and budget of the department against company PRF targets, reporting out progress to senior stakeholders in the business
• Support the global initiatives and Global CIO to embed and migrate onto the Prism modules
• Manage the team to define and create development and support methodologies, processes, and governance.
• Oversight of the department to ensure change is delivered with set SLAs, performance improvement plans to be created and managed should SLAs not be met
• Pro-actively identify opportunities for digital strategy and growth (AI) and staying up to date with industry standards

Leadership& Team Development

• Manage a team of IT and Change professionals to assist with the role requirements to deliver a defined, responsive, controlled and measured service to the business
• Establishing and maintaining appropriate internal control safeguards
• Interact with other managers to provide project management expertise to deliver change
• Consider Customer and Client and outcomes in all aspects of strategic planning

DisasterRecovery

Ensure a robust IT governance framework, includingpolicies and procedures and roles and responsibilities, to deliver our businessstrategies and effectively

manage IT risks:

• Develop, implement, and maintain the IT risk management framework (including business continuity and disaster recovery programs, IT security and
• operational risk)
• Oversee outsourcing relationships and manage vendor relationships with affiliated and third-party IT service providers and suppliers
• Ensure the required governance structures are in place to record and report on all project and program risks to all stakeholders in an appropriate manner
• Ensure risks are regularly reviewed and that appropriate risk mitigation plans are in place

Financial Management

• Ensure the processes are in place to estimate costsand get the required project approvals at the outset of a project
• Ensure the processes are in place to track costs and deviations from the approved project budgets are reported
• Ensure the required governance structures are in place to report project costs to relevant stakeholders in an appropriate manner

Skills & Experience

• Degree in Financial Services/IT/Computer (preferred)
• Minimum 10+ year's financial services industry experience in an IT leadership/Project or Program Management senior role
• Executive-level experience preferred
• Excellent knowledge of IT systems and infrastructure (essential)
• Background in designing/developing IT systems and planning IT implementation (essential)
• Solid understanding of data analysis, budgeting, and business operations (essential)
• Knowledge/experience of working within a regulated and/or banking industry (essential)
• Experience in vendor and 3rd party management including relationship management, contract management, resource capacity planning and management,
• solution delivery management (desirable)
• Knowledge of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud IT environments (ideally Microsoft centric)
• Knowledge and/or understanding of cloud native application architectures
• Knowledge of IT infrastructure, security, and vendor management
• Knowledge of ITIL and other IT service management frameworks
• Experience leading and driving continuous improvement

Regulatory Requirements for this Role:
Fitness & ProbityPlease note that this role is a Fitness and Probity Standards Impacted role and has been classified as a PCF Pre Approved Controlled Function and Controlled Function (CF)

This has been designated a PCF49 Role and is pre-approved by the Central Bank of Ireland.

This has been designated a CF1 and CF2 Role as described below.

CF1 Ability to exercise a significant influence on the conduct of the affairs of a regulated financial service provider
CF2 Ensuring, controlling or monitoring compliance by a regulated financial service provider with its relevant obligations
PCF49 - Over all responsibility for managing the firm's information and communications technology which the firm relies upon.

You will be required to agree to abide by the Fitness & Probity Standards and complete all required due diligence checks.

IAF: Conduct Standards Please note the Common Conduct Standards apply to this role. They impose a set of conduct obligations on individuals carrying out CFs within Pepper. These standards are prescribed in the Individual Accountability Framework and subject to regulatory reporting for non-compliance.

The standards are:

• Acting with honesty and integrity;
• Acting with due, skill, care and diligence;
• Cooperating in good faith and without delay with the Central Bank and other relevant regulatory authorities;
• Acting in the best interests of customers and treating them fairly and professionally; and
• Operating in compliance with standards of market conduct and trading venue rules.

IAF: Additional ConductStandards Please note as you hold a PCF role in addition to the Common Conduct Standards your role is also subject to the Additional Common Conduct Standards.

They impose an additional set of enhanced obligations on individuals carrying out PCF roles within Pepper.

These standards are prescribed in the Individual Accountability Framework and subject to regulatory reporting for non-compliance.

The additional expected standards are:

• that the business of the regulated financial service provider is controlled effectively.
• that the business of the regulated financial service provider is conducted in accordance with its obligations under financial services legislation.
• that any delegated tasks are assigned to an appropriate person with effective oversight.
• that any information of which the Bank would reasonably expect notice in respect of the business of the regulated financial service provider is disclosed promptly and appropriately to the Bank

Pepper is an equal opportunity employer.
Role Profiles are subject to change in line with business needs.