Head, Core Technology at Interswitch

Job Description

• The Head, Core Technology manages the effective deployment of solutions through the combined application of software engineering and systems administration practices to support multiple business divisions in this fast-paced payment industry.
• This role is responsible for all site reliability engineering within the organization.
• Ensure stability and scalability, drive the overall availability, reliability and resiliency of Interswitch products and services while anticipating capacity growth through careful planning and awareness of trends.

Responsibilities

• Direct and oversee infrastructure developments and maintenance to ensure the continuous availability, reliability and stability of all applications to ensure minimal downtime and disruption to business operations.
• Ensure system reliability for the production critical databases; web-based consumer facing applications (VM-based and containerized) and our core payment switch.
• Determine the vision and strategy for the core technology team in line with enterprise architecture and overall business objectives.
• Develop a strategic architecture plan ensuring data features are prioritized appropriately, estimates are reliable, benefits can be realized, and design activities are proactively monitored and tracked.
• Lead definition of architectural standards for all technology services and components (applications, data, integration, technology, security, business)
• Present business and IT leaders with signature-ready recommendations for adjusting policies and projects to achieve target business outcomes that capitalize on relevant digital disruptions.
• Elicit the most complex business requirements using a variety of methods such as interviews, document analysis, workshops, and workflow analysis to express the requirements in terms of target user roles and goals.
• Identify and communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the business area or department; explain the relationship to the broader organization's mission, vision and values; motivate people to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.
• Drive the security of all applications, ensuring that the appropriate security program is in place to minimizes breeches and ensure the uninterrupted availability of the infrastructure.
• Lead in detecting and analyzing identified vulnerabilities and remediate any security gaps in line with the security incident management procedure
• Develop, implement and drive adherence to business activities within the area of responsibility comply with relevant external regulatory technology governance, and internal policies to minimize business risk and to protect the reputation of the organization.
• Manage and report on the performance of a substantial, diverse team; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project / account team members and hold them accountable for achieving these; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of team / personal objectives.
• Use the organization's formal development framework to identify the team's individual development needs.
• Enable the team to deliver by providing technical guidance, coaching, development and feedback to ensure that they are able to deliver the required quality while also contributing to their engagement.

Position Requirements
Formal Education & Certification:

• University Degree in the field of Computer Science or STEM major (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) or related field.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Minimum of 12 years of IT and business/industry work experience including architecture design and systems deployment, software lifecycle management, site reliability engineering and infrastructure automation
• Leadership experience in managing multiple, large, cross-functional teams or projects, and influencing senior level management and key stakeholders
• Requires exposure to multiple, diverse technologies and processing environments
• Minimum of 5 years experience in managing teams.
• Experience with the popular public clouds such as AWS and Azure.
• In-depth knowledge of various database technology including relational databases, real-time databases and NoSQL databases.
• Experience developing for and managing Kubernetes clusters.
• Experience creating automated software development build pipelines.
• In-depth knowledge with various techniques and tools for implementing and supporting infrastructure-as-code and automations such as Ansible, Terraform and Chef.

Behavioural Competencies:

• Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments.
• Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
• Accurately defines the key elements of complex, ambiguous situations
• Applies knowledge of business and the marketplace to advance the organization's goals.
• Shares industry developments with the team; helps them grasp business and industry fundamentals and understand how they contribute.
• Develops and delivers multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Pays attention to others' input and perspectives, asks questions, and summarizes to confirm understanding.
• Operates effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear.
• Provides coaching or support to keep people moving forward despite incomplete information.
• Knows the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement
• Equips others to handle day-to-day tasks effectively on their own.
• Integrates systems to improve quality and service.
• Plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals
• Aligns own team's work with other workgroups.
• Looks ahead to determine and obtain needed resources to complete plans
• Takes on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.
• Identifies and pursues new opportunities that benefit the organization.
• Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful.
• Encourages people to incorporate varied perspectives to strengthen the innovation process.
• Builds strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Champions the decisions of the team and operates in a way that builds team spirit.
• Uses compelling arguments to gain the support and commitment of others.
• Thinks carefully and solicits insight into how to build a compelling argument that resonates with others' interests.