Senior Manager Information Technology (India) Duration of job

Job Title

Directorate or Region

Department/Country

Location of post

Pay Band

Reports to

Duration of job

Purpose of job:

The post has overall responsibility for maintaining and improving IT services and standards through network of offices across India. It will ensure that global and local IT standards and policies are followed in the maintenance of servers & equipment and in negotiating & managing Service Level Agreements for the provision of IT services within India.

Context and environment:

The British Council is the UK’s International organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

India is a priority country for the British Council and our current operations through a network of 9 offices across India, including the 4 main metro cities and five further cities, engage with over 3 million people a year – and is set to grow. We work across 3 strategic business units, Education & Society, English & Exams and the Arts.

The main focus of this role will be to ensure the effective management of our IT infrastructure in a new operating model as an enabler to allow us to achieve our ambitions for some parts of our business. The role will report to Head Facilities and Administration for the new business model, which will involve various parts of our work in India. It will also oversee any third party vendors for the supply of IT support services for India and work in close collaboration with our BC Management Services Shared Service Centre in Noida, which supports Information Services globally. The post will support the work of two of our main business units and work closely with the Digital team with regard to server management, monitoring installation of web applications, maintaining uptime for web applications, server migration, data backup etc.

South Asia Region: The region is of high priority for the UK covering both high-growth economies

(notably India, with a population of 1.2+bn) and other countries important to the UK from a security perspective, principally Pakistan and Afghanistan. It comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran (non-represented) and Nepal. Programme priority areas are English, where there is a need to develop a stronger product offer for teachers and learners; Higher Education (with large opportunities in market intelligence and knowledge transfer) and the Arts. The region also includes one of the largest Exams businesses in the network.

The local IT staff manages the IT services delivery in collaboration with:

 The Global Service Desk (GSD) – a centralized help-desk support centre for the British Council worldwide.

 The regional HUB – regional IT service centres that manages the Global Technology Infrastructure (GTI) in SA region.

Our infrastructure utilises the following software for its key areas of functionality:

 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 / 2008 SP2 (server operating system)  Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP3 (messaging)

 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 (systems management)  Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 (systems monitoring)  Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 (web caching/filtering)  Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007/SharePoint 2010, MS SQL

 McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7i with ePO (antivirus and security suite)  Symantec Backup Exec 12.x / 2010 R3 (backup)

 Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 (client operating system)  Microsoft Office 2010 (office suite)

 Active Directory integrated wireless infrastructure utilising RADIUS server

Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties: (including people management and finance)

Assess business requirements:

 Identify and support technological needs by identifying suitable solution for the growing business needs.

 Partner with relevant businesses, Facility management & Administration teams to implement these identified solutions seamlessly and effectively.

 Contribute and participate effectively in ensuring that the Global IS Policies are followed across India.

 Contributing IT elements to the country planning process.

 Develop and maintain a three year forward plan for IT hardware and application requirements.

Supervise ICT infrastructure

 Lead for effective functioning of IT systems across 4 offices in India.

 Develop and maintain a hands-on approach while solving IT matters and ensure the smooth functioning and planning of IT and ICT systems in line with IT and ICT strategy.

 Responsible for administration, implementation and upgrading of ICT infrastructure according to business and technical needs, best practice, change and configuration management (including Hardware, Software, GTI and NON GTI LAN, WLAN, EPABX, CCTV, Access Control and Intruder system, Central PA system, Video-conference).

 Responsible for all maintenance and efficient backup systems, inventory management, disposal & replacement scheduling, IT & ICT budgetary management.

 Effective management of all IT related matters by self and ensuring required level of service delivery and support when delegated to others (including third parties).

 Maintain IP telephony system and update users’ extension list over the sites.

Act as a consultant and technical adviser to administration managers and third party suppliers across India on integrating business needs with technical solutions.

 Ensure timely first & second level of support as per the pre-defined SLA (Service Level agreement)\OLA (Operational Level agreement).

 Escalate any problems/issues to relevant teams as required and follow up to ensure resolution. 

 Ensuring the availability of the Local Area Network (LAN) and the Internet connections.  Monitoring servers and take corrective action.

 Ensuring the security of data from internal and external attack.

 Ensuring restricted access to server room and physical security of IT equipment.

 Collecting and collating all relevant information by conducting site surveys leading to input to Technical Design Authority of Global Information Services for developing technical design/ recommendations for the implementation.

 Implementing approved updates/upgrades on receipt of guidelines and Technical Design within the agreed timeframes and ensures minimum ICT service disruptions.

 Ensuring installation of standard and approved software on business system.  Enhancing the business processes of the organisation and identify requirements for

improvements and new functionality.

Compliance

 Knowledge of the Council’s IT policies and standards in relevant areas (e.g. Data Protection; Standards on the use of Council IT systems and equipment.

Monitor compliance with IT policies and procedures (Software, Web Filtering, etc.), and advise any necessary action for non-compliance.

Assist with IT reviews as scheduled by the Regional Hub.

 Maintain anti-virus solution and manage outbreaks according to British Council standard process. Ensuring staff are familiar with security standards, including data protection, and reporting suspected or actual security breaches.

 Participate in disaster recovery procedures of IT systems as directed by the overall business continuity plan.

 Ensure appropriate action is taken on receipt of Monthly compliance reports and all actions and reporting is completed within the specified time frames

 Perform monthly review and quarterly audit of 25% of all systems (hardware and applications) on site.

 Perform half yearly reconciliation of the software & hardware inventory with the reports provided

by Global IS.

Application support and User Training

 Respond to user requests for GTI application or hardware support, and process these requests via the standard Incident management process.

 Responsible for timely closures and follow up on escalated issues to meet operational requirements. Manage support call logs and provide technical resolution within agreed timelines.  Manage the investigation and resolution of problems relating to business applications.

 Ensure that all requests for new software are submitted to GSD for testing.

 Collaborate with GSD and HUB to assist with the rollout new business applications. 

 Determine IT & ICT training needs, identify and design training solutions to meet the identified training needs. Responsible for planning the delivery of training programme in coordination with HR.

ICT procurement

 Responsible for IT related procurement is determined in line with the business needs and rolling plans. Ensure adherence to British Council procurement policies, process and timelines.

 Collaborate with Facilities Management and Administration team for effective asset management of all ICT and IT equipment in India.

 Effective risk management and develop a plan to mitigate risks.

 Monitors contract and evaluate performance of IT & ICT suppliers, services and products to ensure delivery at the agreed service levels.

Internal Customer service

 Responsible for internal customer services standards and ensuring that are consistently achieved.  Collaborate and proactively liaise with Shared Service Centre IT Hub for IT relation solutions and

quick resolution of concerns raised, if required.

Line management

 No direct line management but dotted line management of the IT aspects allocated to Administration Managers across locations.

 Responsible for direct supervision of our third party outsourced IT suppliers and IT operations helpdesk.

Outlook contacts database management

 Overall responsibility for administration of Outlook database and coordinating with business units to maintain standards and integrity of any Outlook Contacts databases or CRM system if this is fully adopted.

Key relationships: (include internal and external)

 Business Heads  All staff members

 Global Services Desk, Business Transformation and Support Services  Administration Managers and executives across India.

 Shared Service Centre colleagues External

 Vendors and service providers

Other important features or requirements of the job

(e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc)

Late evenings or unsocial hours as well as work over weekends based on business needs. Some travel to other offices in India

Please specify any

passport/visa and/or nationality

requirement.

Post holder will need valid work permit to work in India.

Please indicate if any security

or legal checks are required

for this role.

Reference Checks as per British Council India HR policy

Person Specification

Essential Desirable Assessment stage

Behaviours Working together – (more demanding):

Ensuring that others benefit as well as me

Being accountable – (more demanding):

Putting the needs of the team or British Council ahead of my own

Making it happen – (more demanding):

Challenging myself and others to deliver and measure better results

Interview only

Creating shared purpose – (Essential) demanding): Making regular opportunities

to understand others better

Shaping the future – (essential):

Looking for ways in which we can do things better

Connecting with others – (essential):

Making regular opportunities to understand others better

These behaviours will be needed to

successfully carry out the role, but will not be assessed for

recruitment purposes

Skills and Knowledge

Using Technology – Level 3 Managing Risk – Level 2 Managing People – Level 2

Communicating and Influencing – Level 1 Planning and organising – level 2

Short listing, Interview and Performance Reviews

Experience At least 5 years IT experience on Windows environment: server administration, web application, networking and providing technical and business application support. Knowledge, experience and understanding of best practice in IT processes and

systems.

Short listing and Interview

Qualifications  Graduate from a reputed University  Certification in MCSE in W2K3 or

ITIL V3 Foundation

above _CCNA Certification PRINCE 2 or other project management qualification