Head of Systems & Security (UK or Ireland)

Job description

Delivery Associates (DA) is seeking a **Head of Data Ops and Systems** to lead and strengthen our internal technology infrastructure, data capability, and systems operations. This is a **senior leadership role** responsible for ensuring DA's internal systems are fit for purpose, well-integrated, and built on a foundation of strong data architecture and governance. This is an internally focused role. The successful candidate will be responsible for keeping DA’s data and technology foundations reliable and evolving, leading and working alongside platform engineers, full stack developers, and data teams to build the infrastructure and data architecture that underpins how we operate globally. **About Delivery Associates (DA)** Delivery Associates (DA) is a global social impact consultancy specialising in transforming the public sector. We help governments, philanthropies, and social impact organisations turn ambitious goals into an everyday reality for the people they serve. At the heart of what we do is the methodology: Deliverology®, the evolving science of getting things done in the public and social sectors. We use our expertise across strategic planning, delivery and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, digital solutions, and strategic communications to build the capacity of our partners to deliver at every stage of the implementation life cycle. At DA, we value excellence, humility, and passion, ensuring that we deliver the highest quality work while staying committed to making a meaningful difference. **Job Description** We are seeking a senior technology and data leader to join our global team as Head of Data Ops and Systems. This is a role for someone who brings both strategic vision and operational discipline, someone who can set direction for our data and technology foundations while staying close enough to execution to continuously improve how we operate. The Head of Data Ops and Systems will ensure our systems are secure, integrated, and reliable, and that our data is of high quality, well-architected, and used effectively across the organization. This role leads DA’s data and systems function and acts as DA's Data Protection Officer. A strong background in data science, data architecture, and data governance is essential for success in this role. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in building and evolving data infrastructure, proven experience leading technical teams, strong vendor relationships and commercial judgement, and the strategic perspective and hands-on capability to drive consistent standards across a globally distributed organisation. **Key Responsibilities** - **Systems & Infrastructure** - Own DA's systems strategy, architecture, and investment direction, ensuring infrastructure, platforms, and security enable reliability and scale. - Lead a lean technical team, ensuring the infrastructure and systems that support DA’s global operations are built, maintained and continuously improved. - Lead technology architecture and platform decisions, balancing operational resilience with the need to evolve systems over time. - Ensure appropriate cybersecurity governance is in place, including oversight of controls, access policies, data protection and compliance requirements. - Manage system performance, uptime, and incident response, ensuring operational continuity across geographies. - Manage relationships and contracts with technology vendors and system providers, ensuring DA receives value, appropriate service levels, and contract compliance. Technically oversees the vendor management team. - Maintain and improve IT documentation, processes, and standards across the organisation. - **Systems Integration** - Lead the integration strategy across DA's internal platforms and tools, ensuring systems connect effectively and data flows reliably between them. - Identify and resolve integration gaps that create friction, duplication, or data inconsistencies across the organisation. - Evaluate and recommend systems changes or replacements where current tools are not fit for purpose. - Translate operational needs from across the business into clear systems requirements and solutions. - **Data Architecture, Quality & Governance** - Own and evolve DA’s data architecture, designing and maintaining the structures, pipelines and infrastructure through which data flows across the organisation. - Own DA's internal data quality agenda, defining standards, building and managing processes to identify and resolve data issues, and embedding accountability for data quality across teams. - Develop and maintain a data governance framework, including data definitions, ownership, lineage, and access policies. - Provide strategic direction and oversight of data science work, ensuring data is structured, analysed and used effectively across the organisation. - Lead data modelling, data mining and data extraction approaches to improve the quality and usability of DA’s internal data assets. - Act as DA’s Data Protection Officer (DPO), taking responsibility for data protection obligations and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations across global jurisdictions. - **Governance, Strategy & Execution** - Develop and maintain a clear technology and data roadmap with defined priorities, milestones, and success metrics. - Establish strong technology governance, including decision rights, escalation paths, and investment discipline. - Ensure alignment between IT investments, systems, and broader organisational strategy. - Identify, evaluate and manage technology and data risk at an organisational level, ensuring risks are understood, prioritised and addressed effectively across DA’s systems and data landscape. - Lead a portfolio of change initiatives across data and systems, managing interdependencies, sequencing work effectively, and maintaining momentum across multiple concurrent priorities. - Drive organisational change effectively, managing stakeholder expectations, communicating progress clearly, and ensuring new ways of working are embedded across the organisation. - Translate strategy into execution through clear plans, routines, and accountability. - **Leadership & Collaboration** - Build, lead, and develop a high-performing data and systems team, setting clear expectations and creating the conditions for accountability and growth. - Work closely with senior leaders and internal stakeholders across DA's practices and regions to understand needs and deliver effective solutions. - Communicate complex technical topics clearly and confidently to non-technical audiences. - Actively seek ways to innovate across data, systems, and technology, and support delivery teams across DA to do the same. - Foster a culture of reliability, continuous improvement, and high operational standards. **Core Competencies** We are looking for people with the following competencies: - **Results Orientation:**Takes clear ownership for data and systems outcomes. Ensures priorities are delivered, decisions are followed through, and technology investments translate into tangible organisational impact. - **Strategic Thinking:** Able to set a clear direction for data architecture, systems capability, and technology infrastructure, making sound choices about where to invest, what to standardise, and how to sequence change over time. - **Communication:** Communicates clearly and credibly with senior leaders and internal teams. Translates complex technical and data topics into clear options, implications, and decisions. - **Technical Leadership:** Brings deep technical grounding across data science, data architecture, systems engineering, and infrastructure, with the credibility to lead technical teams, make sound architectural decisions, and engage hands-on when needed. - **Problem Solving & Risk Management:** Proactively identifies, assesses, and mitigates technical, data, security, and delivery risks. Brings sound judgement to complex trade-offs and steps into difficult problems decisively to drive progress. - **Leadership & People Management:** Builds, leads, and develops multidisciplinary technology teams, setting clear expectations, fostering accountability, and creating the conditions for high performance and colleague growth. - **Adaptability & Systems Thinking:** Operates effectively in a global, multi-country, and evolving environment, understanding interdependencies across technology, data, processes, and people, and adapting approaches as context and constraints change. **Mindsets** We work closely in diverse, global teams, leaning on each other's strengths. We don't expect any one person to do all these things perfectly. Our teams are made up of people who are: - **Accountable:**Takes ownership for data and systems outcomes, following through on decisions and commitments. - **Decisive:** Makes timely, well-judged technical and strategic decisions in complex and evolving contexts. - **Strategic:** Thinks long-term, sets clear direction, and balances short-term operational needs with strong, durable foundations. - **Collaborative:** Works effectively across technical and non-technical teams and across the wider organisation, valuing different forms of expertise. - **Curious:** Continuously learns and stays close to developments in data architecture, data science, and enterprise systems. - **Humble:** Confident in expertise while open to challenge, evidence, and different ideas. **Required Skills & Experience** - **Educational background:**Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, data science, or a related field. Extensive professional experience may be considered in place of formal education. - **Professional experience:** Significant senior experience leading data operations, data architecture, and systems functions in global organisations. - **Data expertise:**Strong background in data science and data governance, including data quality management, data modelling and governance frameworks. - **Data architecture & engineering:** Proven experience designing and evolving data architecture, pipelines, and infrastructure. Experience leading and managing teams of platform engineers and developers. Familiarity with BI and analytics platforms, and with data mining, extraction, and cleaning techniques. - **Systems & integration:** Proven experience managing and improving integrations across enterprise platforms and tools, with a solid grounding in IT systems, infrastructure, and security. - **Data protection:** Significant experience in data protection with a strong working knowledge of data protection obligations across global jurisdictions. - **Hands-on technical credibility:** Comfortable engaging at a practical level when needed. Able to dive into technical details, review designs, or support teams in solving concrete problems. - **Governance, risk & execution:**Proven ability to establish technology and data governance, manage risk, and translate strategy into executable roadmaps. Familiarity with relevant standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 is an advantage. - **Programme & portfolio management:** Demonstrated experience managing a portfolio of technology and data initiatives, delivering organisational change, and managing stakeholder expectations across complex, fast-paced environments. - **Innovation:** A track record of identifying and realising opportunities to innovate across data and technology. - **Communication:** Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with senior leaders and non-technical audiences. Fluency in English is required; additional languages are a plus. - **Authorization + location requirements:** This role is based in Ireland or the UK. Candidates must have the right to work in Ireland or the UK. Delivery Associates will not sponsor applicants for work visas. **What We Offer** - **Impactful work:**Opportunities to engage with senior leaders and contribute to an organisation delivering meaningful social outcomes globally. - **Global team collaboration:** Work with diverse teams across geographies. - **Excellent colleagues:** We strive to be as talent-dense and diverse as possible, so we are always learning from each other. Access to world-class training programmes and mentorship from senior leaders. - **Growth environment:** Everyone's career pathway is unique, so be part of a growing organisation committed to continuous improvement. - **Flexibility:** Remote working environment with opportunities for global collaboration. - **Healthy compensation:** Our colleagues enjoy a comprehensive benefits package for the effort they put in. **Our Values** These values serve as an anchor, enabling us to stay true to who we are and what we stand for. - **Passion:**It is all about impact. - **Excellence:** Delivering to the highest standards. - **Humility:** Pride without ego. For more information, visit or contact our talent team at [talent@deliveryassociates.com](mailto:talent@deliveryassociates.com) By applying for a role at Delivery Associates, please note that your personal data will be processed in accordance with our [Recruitment Privacy Notice](https://www.deliveryassociates.com/recruitment-privacy-policy). This does not form part of any contract of employment. #LI-MG1 #LI-REMOTE