Director of Azure Cloud Services

The Director of Azure Cloud Services is a strategic leadership position responsible for driving the global Azure cloud vision, architecture, and operations across the organisation.

This role oversees the delivery of scalable, secure, and innovative cloud solutions, including AI-driven services, while ensuring robust support in a managed service environment. The successful candidate will lead global teams, manage vendor relationships, and align cloud initiatives with business and operational goals.

You will work with skilled teams to develop Azure Cloud Service offerings, establish new capabilities in an evolving environment, optimise cloud usage, and further shape our strategic direction and cloud adoption.

Key Responsibilities:

Cloud Strategy & Innovation

• Define and lead the global Azure cloud strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and digital transformation goals.
• Promote the adoption of AI and machine learning capabilities within Azure to enhance operational efficiency and user experience.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and trends to continuously evolve the cloud roadmap.

Architecture & Design

• Collaborate with Microsoft and subject matter experts to architect enterprise-grade Azure solutions across IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and AI services.
• Design resilient, scalable, and secure cloud platforms that support global operations and business continuity.

Transformation

• Partner with enterprise architects and engineering teams to modernise legacy systems and enable cloud-native development.
• Lead the integration of Azure AI services (e.g., Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, Machine Learning) into business processes and applications.

Global Operations & Service Delivery

• Oversee 24/7 global cloud operations, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability.
• Implement and manage service support models within a managed service environment, including SLAs, incident management, and escalation procedures.
• Drive operational excellence through automation, monitoring, and proactive issue resolution.

Security, Compliance & Governance

• Establish and enforce cloud governance frameworks, security policies, and compliance standards across all regions.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to implement zero-trust architectures and advanced threat protection.
• Ensure compliance with global regulations including GDPR, ISO 27001, and NIST.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Build and lead a high-performing global Azure team, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Take full accountability for the financial performance of the business area.
• Collaborate with business units, IT leadership, and external partners to deliver strategic cloud initiatives.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in IT leadership, with 5+ years focused on Azure cloud strategy and operations.
• Proven experience managing global cloud environments and distributed teams.
• Strong expertise in Azure services, cloud architecture, AI/ML integration, and managed service operations.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong financial acumen for cloud cost optimisation and budgeting.
• Demonstrated ability to develop modern cloud services using the latest technologies, with a strong track record of partnership with cloud providers. This role requires a commitment to continuous improvement and agility in adapting services to evolving cloud capabilities.
• Experience with hybrid and multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP).
• Relevant certifications (not essential), e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure AI Engineer, CISSP.

The Organisation:

Capita Technical Operations Delivery is a global shared service, responsible for delivering innovation and digital transformation for Capita’s businesses and clients. We work collaboratively with Capita’s divisions to shape the right digital technology solutions to help clients work differently, engage differently, sell differently and to be resilient to whatever next comes their way. We create innovative technology and software solutions for Capita’s clients and businesses while ensuring secure, resilient and predictable service delivery. Technology Operations brings together 3000+ colleagues from across Capita into a single function to deliver world-class technology and software solutions for Capita’s businesses and clients.

What’s in it for you?

Don’t forget, you’re part of a network of thousands of experienced, innovative and dedicated individuals across multiple disciplines, sectors and countries. There are countless opportunities to learn new skills and develop in your career, and we’ll provide the support you need to do just that. Our purpose is to create a better outcome for you.

What we hope you’ll do next:

Choose ‘Apply now’ to fill out our short application and send us your CV.

We’re an equal opportunity and Disability Confident employer, which means we recruit and develop people based on their merit and passion. We’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment process and working environment for everyone. If you need the job description or application form in an alternative format (such as large print or audio), or if you’d like to discuss other changes or support you might need going forward, please email reasonableadjustments@capita.com and we’ll get back to you. For more information about equal opportunities and process adjustments, please visit the Capita Careers website.