Allianz Hiring for Head of Dev Ops Job at Guildford, England Full Time

Are you an experienced Head of Dev Ops and looking for a new challenge? As an experienced technology leader, do you enjoy providing technical leadership, innovating and growing a capable team to deliver the needs of the business – fantastic, we have something that might pique your interest!

At Allianz, we are at an exciting and pivotal moment following the acquisition of the LV= General Insurance Group and the General Insurance division of Legal & General, elevating us to the second biggest general insurer in the UK. As part of this growth, we are continuing to invest in Information Technology , and as such, we are now looking for talented, ambitious, and passionate Information Technology professionals to join us on our journey to build a ‘Best in Industry’ team which sets the gold standard within the Allianz Group.

Role Purpose

The purpose of this role is to provide IT ownership for the application portfolio of Allianz Insurance, and to ensure that application development is undertaken in a controlled, efficient and cost effective manner.

Development Operations is also the owner of third party supplier relationships that underpin many of our business applications. The Head of Development Operations leads the IT Development Managers in this responsibility.

Supervisory/Management

• Accountable for managing people, setting direction and deploying resources; typically is responsible for performance evaluation, pay review and resourcing decisions.
• Results are primarily achieved through the work of others and typically depend on the manager’s ability to influence and negotiate with parts of the organization where formal authority is not held.
• Progression within Career Band reflects acquisition of broad technical expertise, business and industry knowledge, and process and people leadership capabilities.
• Accountable for business, functional or operational areas, processes or programs

Key Accountabilities

Strategy & Planning

• Management of the Business Demand for fix and small change across the enterprise
• Management of the IT capacity to deliver demand
• Management of regular release cycles for all applications
• Definition of software development frameworks and processes
• Maintains an overall development roadmap for the applications under management.
• Key contributor to the IT Strategy, in particular elements relating to Applications
• Ensuring the activity of Development Operations is in line with overall IT Strategy

Management Activities

• Stability of all Application services within SLA expectations (Accountable for all application services within the Allianz UK IT estate).
• Management of all direct reports – IT Development Managers and other Management roles
• Set priorities for the design, maintenance, development, and evaluation of all applications. Development of Roadmaps for each application.
• Oversee the effective management of all third party suppliers and partners delivering application maintenance and development to Allianz UK contracts and licensing arrangements.
• Participates in the relevant IT elements of the procurement process to ensure compliance to each application strategy and roadmap.
• Management of software development lifecycle based deliveries.
• Management of software development to agreed Allianz UK IT development standards.

Common Activities

• Understand the “health” of the application estate, including maintaining “road maps” for change and improvement of all applications
• Understand third party development plans for the future of applications (where appropriate)
• Management and delivery to regular release cycles for small and medium change.
• Identification and implementation of change to reduce cost, eliminate risk and improve quality associated with the on-going use of the system by the business
• Ensuring that Development Operations participates effectively within larger scale projects and programmes of change to develop both existing and new applications across the enterprise
• Negotiate with vendors, outsourcers, and contractors to secure application maintenance and development services.
• Building strong awareness of the Allianz business in the UK and globally.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships across the organisation
• Ensuring staff are recruited in order to fulfil the requirements of the function, and maintain effective performance measurement, management and development procedures.
• Partnering with colleagues across the business (Change, IT, Facilities and Data) in the effective delivery of all BAU IT services and project and programme related activities.

IT Risk and Controls

• Establishing, Managing and Chairing development operations / design/ governance meetings as needed
• Proactively understanding and managing areas of risk across the application estate

IT Security and Access Controls

• Ensuring that application development and maintenance takes full account of requirements for IT Security and Access Controls in design, build and testing and on-going run

Budget and Cost Controls

• Manage all application costs and associated budgets
• Manage all AZT (Group, local branch and India) costs associated with all applications (aside desktop) and the people involved in AD&M.
• Establishing, monitoring and reporting on relevant aspects of the IT budget.
• Managing expenditure so as to remain within budget, seeking prior authorisation for any additional unbudgeted expenditure

Technical Skills

• Deep understanding of system development methodologies and tool-sets
• Fluent understanding of system testing approaches, methods and tools
• Deep understanding of configuration management processes and disciplines
• Strong Business awareness and customer service focus
• Strong business awareness and focus on customer service.
• Adaptive and responsive to change.
• Ability to build and manage relationships.
• Ability to build partnerships across Allianz business units.
• Ability to effectively work with virtual teams.
• Results and delivery focused.
• Ability to use planned and structured approaches.
• Excellent communication skills; approachable; authoritative; diplomatic; demonstrates empathy.
• Effective team-manager, trainer and coach.
• Team building, leadership and motivation.

• Extensive experience and understanding of system development methodologies and tool-sets.
• Extensive experience and understanding of system testing approaches, methods and tools.
• Extensive experience of configuration management processes and disciplines.
• Deep understanding of outsource vendor governance and management practices.
• Extensive experience in Service Reporting.
• Extensive experience in IT contract & License management and negotiation.
• Excellent communication skills; approachable; authoritative; diplomatic; demonstrates empathy; strong focus on performance measurement, management and talent development.
• Extensive expensive of management of Third Party Suppliers providing application maintenance and development services.

Qualifications

• Degree level or equivalent appropriate experience.
• Masters level degree in a relevant professional discipline is desirable
• ITIL or equivalent professional qualifications are desirable
• BCS or CII qualifications are desirable

At Allianz we want everyone to bring their full self to work, so we invest in our people’s personal and professional development. This helps us build the high performing workforce of tomorrow, but don’t just take our word for it – at the British Insurance Awards we won seven awards, including General Insurer of the Year and Commercial Lines Insurer of the Year.

We’re at a pivotal moment in our history following the purchases of the LV= General Insurance Group and the General Insurance division of Legal & General, making us the second biggest general insurer in the UK. We’re building our future together, and we’re excited about the possibilities ahead – interested in being part of the team?

At Allianz we believe that the difference in our people makes the difference to our business. We’re committed to removing any barriers in our recruitment process so if you’re having difficulties with your online application or any other stage, please email us at [email protected]

For external applicants only –

Please be aware that we will require satisfactory pre-employment evidence to include DBS, Financial Probity and Fraud checks, before you can commence employment with us.