Head of IT

Job Title: Head of IT 
Location: London,
with frequent travel to other locations 
Department: Operations 
Reports To:
Head of Compliance and Security 

Position Overview 

Verne is seeking an experienced and driven Head of IT to lead the organisation’s IT strategy, infrastructure and service delivery. This role is responsible for overseeing the design, implementation, and management of all internal IT systems across the group, ensuring secure, resilient, and scalable services that support business operations, compliance obligations, and future growth. 

This position requires substantial experience
in technical leadership managing IT within regulated, multi-site or critical infrastructure environments. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Define and execute the company
  IT strategy, ensuring scalability and alignment with operational objectives, business risk appetite, legal obligations, and industry best practice. 

• Take full ownership of the company's digital and IT infrastructure
  and ensure
  support for
  entry and scale up in new markets.
  Collaborate with business leaders to understand their technology needs. 

• Lead, appropriately scale and mentor the IT team to ensure a high-performing, service-oriented department
   

• Oversee the successful delivery of IT projects, including system upgrades, migrations, and digital initiatives.
  Advise
   leadership on technology trends and opportunities. 

• Manage and optimise day-to-day IT operations across service management, hardware, applications, infrastructure, networking and
  data and analytics. 

• In partnership with Information Security, develop and implement robust
  processes and tool sets across
  security architecture and
  application domains to deter, monitor and respond to threats, vulnerabilities and the changing IT
  risk and regulatory landscape. 

• Work closely with  Compliance
  to implement and maintain strong IT/OT
  and Cybersecurity
   controls and reporting and ensure compliance with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements and standards such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS and
  NIS2.. 

• Identify and mitigate IT related risks, including those related to cybersecurity, third-party services, and business continuity, while developing and maintaining effective disaster recovery planning and strategies. 

• Lead incident investigations
  and root cause analyses, acting as the senior escalation point and lead for IT related  incidents and service disruptions. 

• Represent IT at senior leadership and board-level forums, translating technical concepts into business language. 

• Lead IT planning and investment to support business growth, transformation, and digital innovation including data governance, BI platforms, reporting, and AI/ML initiatives. 

• Establish a structured approach to managing the full lifecycle of existing and future application systems, ensuring all platforms remain scalable, secure, and aligned with business needs. 

• Ensure uptime, security, and performance of all systems and platforms. 

• Monitor and control IT budgets, contracts, and vendor relationships including supporting the Procurement function in developing IT
  compliance requirements and vendor assessments. 

• Collaborate with business stakeholders to scope, prioritise, and deliver technology solutions that improve efficiency and user experience. 

Key Functional Delivery Areas 

• Infrastructure 

• Applications 

• Service Management 

• Data and Analytics 

• IT Governance, Compliance and Security 

• Project Delivery 

• Innovation 

Key Requirements 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field required; a Master’s degree is preferred. 

• 10+ years in IT roles, with 5+ years in senior leadership position. 

• Proven experience in developing and deploying IT strategy, and/or a senior technical leadership role, ideally in a high-availability, compliance-driven, or critical infrastructure environment. 

• Strong technical understanding of enterprise architecture, networking, infrastructure, cloud platforms (e.g. Microsoft 365, Azure) and IT/OT and Cybersecurity.