Universal Orlando Resort believes in-person collaboration is key to our success. Many of our Team Members work in a hybrid capacity, contributing from the workplace a minimum of three days per week. There are also roles that require being on-site full time. Limited remote opportunities may be available within specific departments. You’ll learn more about this during the recruitment process.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Vice President, Platform Operations & Governance is responsible for the operational excellence of global platform technologies inclusive of applications, infrastructure, and technology governance. This leader will be responsible for directing & establishing how the global technology organization leverages observability, site reliability engineering, advanced automation & AI, and service-based frameworks to increase the resiliency & stability of our application & infrastructure. Responsible for overseeing the governance function which includes change management, release management, incident/problem management; stewardship of technology assets for cost efficiency (finOps for cloud & on-prem resources); and centralized oversight & technical resource/capacity planning.

This role ensures consistent global operating standards, performance monitoring, use of automation techniques, and infuses observability & metric-driven culture into everyday operations of global technology services. Organizes and oversees platform operating reviews across all teams; and setup a 24 x 7 x 365 platform monitoring center of excellence to support UDX locations worldwide, inclusive of incident management & coordination with sites & shared service providers. Responsible for maturing organizational readiness by tooling & automation, implementing best practices from ITIL framework, and incorporating progressive thinking into modernizing & improving the efficiency of the enterprise technology organization.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

Platform Operations

• Oversee and lead team of technologists focused on observability, site reliability engineering, and operational monitoring for global applications & infrastructure using automation, efficient processes, and industry best practices
• Define, communicate, and implement a progressive vision for observability that ensures all technology services are resilient, stable, and monitored
• Setup and establish a 24 x 7 x 365 global monitoring and incident management center for applications & infrastructure; establish BAU operational model that covers all UDX sites using automation and performance monitoring
• Build scalable processes & methodologies for providing technology services that are integrated to the global service model
• Establish and oversee operational excellence across all technology services using metrics, KPI’s, automation, and processes; provide a formal monthly technology operations report describing the state of technology services
• Setup and establish a finOps team that will steward the provisioning, usage, and capacity planning of our company technology resources
• Act as key subject matter expert on observability, site reliability engineering, and operational automation
• Lead by example & oversee a team of technologists (full-time employees, project hires, and partner resources) from different backgrounds to deliver best-in-class solutions
• Drive platform reliability and uptime of all technology services to ensure superior “Digital Show Quality” for Universal’s guests and team members
• Drive focus on operational excellence throughout the organization & partners, including (but not limited to) processes, governance, efficient working approaches, collaboration

IT Governance

• Oversee and lead the change management & release management teams
• Define, communicate, and implement a robust IT governance framework that supports growth & scaling of our global business; develop & implement metric-driven processes
• Report on governance metrics, trends, incidents, etc; coordinate and manage the tracking & follow up efforts related to operational incidents
• Partner with corporate cyber security team on audit, policy definition & implementation
• Oversee, review, and approve change/release management; incident & problem management
• Oversee, review, coordinate deployment of patches across all infrastructure (production & non production)
• Oversee operational incident management and coordinate and interface with related teams
• Plan, coordinate, and participate in company/business audit activities; proactively plan, design, and implement remediation actions
• Plan, manage, and implement industry related certifications (e.g. ISO27001)

Cross-Team Collaboration, Team Culture, Staff Development

• Lead and mentor direct reports/team members in day-to day management and administration
• Provides clear executive decision-making and priority management; coaches and builds confidence in staff to make good business decisions using technology & analytical thinking
• Promote working culture of accountability and technology depth to support Universal’s physical and virtual business aspirations
• Drive Universal Culture of team-member satisfaction through effective communication, planning, risk management, and coaching of high-potential candidates at every level of the organization
• Work seamlessly with other Digital and Technology & business unit leaders to architect and build best in class solutions and experiences.

Administrative

• Manage appropriate departmental budgets; review/approve related budget expenditures with “act as an owner” mentality.
• Understands and actively participates in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UO policy, procedures, training and team member involvement activities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Business Administration, or highly-relevant equivalent experience is required.
• Master’s degree is preferred.

EXPERIENCE:

• 12+ years’ experience in enterprise/shared/infrastructure/network/IT services/IT governance; platform operations & proven success managing reliability of applications & infrastructure.
• Deep experience with observability of applications & infrastructure; site reliability engineering at global scale; managing SLA’s, operational excellence, and IT service management.
• Deep experience using automation & monitoring tooling in enterprise operations.
• Experience with finOps & cost/resource/capacity planning.
• Experience establishing & managing 24 x 7, 365 operations using automation & metrics.
• Experience in coordinating shared services across large corporate entities.
• Experience in large scale technology implementations & program planning.
• Demonstrated experience developing data solutions in “bi-modal” technology environments that combine digital/agile with enterprise/monolithic applications.
• Experience in executive communication, business-focused data story-telling, relationship building and decision making; expert at stakeholder and partner management.
• Or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Your talent, skills and experience will be rewarded with a competitive compensation package.

Universal is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Universal Orlando via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from Universal Orlando HR/Recruitment will be deemed the sole property of Universal Orlando. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Universal Orlando as a result of the referral or through other means.

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