Head of IT

Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 10th of April at 17:00

Agency support not required for this role

About Pepper Advantage Ireland:
Pepper Advantage Ireland has been instrumental in helping Irish individuals, businesses and investors navigate their financial journey since 2012. We manage over €19bn worth of assets and have a skilled team of more than 600 people across Dublin and Shannon. We’re here to service loans and mortgages which includes processing loan payments and when needed, working with customers to resolve late payments or assist with financial difficulties.

As part of the international Pepper Advantage Group, we combine local knowledge with global expertise. With operations across the UK, Europe and Southeast Asia, we employ over 3,500 people and have over €40bn in assets under management.

About this role:

The role is responsible for the company’s core IT function and strategy, infrastructure the physical network infrastructure, connectivity, telephony, all hardware and server installations, desktop and operating systems and collaboration tools (such as email, word processing and file sharing). Embedded in the role is the management of appropriate technical security measures to ensure the protection of the company’s data and computer systems. The Head of IT will be a member of the Pepper Ireland Executive Committee.

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

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

Location: Dublin or Shannon

Type of Contract: Permanent

Key Responsibilities:
IT Infrastructure

Deliver and effective management of resilient IT infrastructure 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 set in the Information Security Policy, and the operation of security technologies required 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

IT Applications 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

Disaster Recovery

Ensure a robust IT governance framework, including policies and procedures and roles and responsibilities, to deliver our business strategies 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 costs and 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 & Probity
Please 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 Conduct
Standards 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.

Head of IT

Job Description