IT Operations Lead; Admiral

.We are looking for an IT Operations Leadto join our Technology team in Admiral Money.

Admiral Money is the dynamic lending arm of Admiral Group, offering personal loans, motor finance, and homeowner loans since 2017. We’re building something special for our customers and are looking for curious, driven individuals ready to learn, take on challenges, and make an impact.

We’re proud to be a certified Great Place to Work for over 25 years, with recognition for Women and Wellbeing. Our inclusive culture empowers everyone to Be You.

Need support during the recruitment process? Just let us know – we’re here to help.

This is a unique opportunity to shape and lead a newly established IT Operations function within a growing Fin Tech business. You'll have strategic ownership of the operational roadmap, helping to build scalable processes, runbooks and service models from the ground up while leading a high‑performing team. Working within a cloud‑first environment, you'll gain exposure to a modern technology stack including Microsoft 365, AWS, Atlassian and enterprise service management tools, playing a key role in ensuring technology services are reliable, efficient and fit for future growth.

• Lead, develop and mentor the IT Operations team, driving performance, wellbeing and career growth.
• Define and maintain operational standards, including SLAs, ticket management, runbooks and service quality.
• Shape and deliver the IT Operations strategy, driving automation, efficiency and continuous improvement.
• Own the IT service model, including support structures, escalation processes and on‑call arrangements.
• Build a runbook‑first culture, ensuring services are well documented, supportable and operationally resilient.
• Partner with Engineering teams to ensure new solutions are supportable, documented and successfully transitioned into BAU.
• Use operational data and insights to identify trends, improve service performance and influence product improvements.
• Oversee administration of key business platforms including Jira, Confluence, Fresh and other SaaS applications.
• Manage user access, licensing, permissions and workflow automation across the technology estate.
• Develop scalable onboarding, capability‑building and succession plans to support team growth and reduce supplier reliance.

• Proven experience leading, developing and motivating an IT Operations, Service Desk or End User Support team.
• Strong people management skills, including coaching, performance management, succession planning and career development.
• Experience building high‑performing teams and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Strong IT Service Management (ITSM) knowledge, including incident, problem, request and change management processes.
• Experience managing SLA‑driven support environments and service performance metrics.
• Ability to define and improve operational processes, support models, runbooks and service documentation.
• Experience using operational data and reporting to identify trends, drive efficiencies and improve customer experience.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across Engineering, Technology and business teams.
• Experience managing service transition activities and ensuring solutions are supportable before entering BAU.
• Practical administration experience across Microsoft 365, Entra  (Azure AD), user lifecycle management and licensing.
• Knowledge of endpoint management technologies such as Intune, JAMF or equivalent MDM platforms.
• Understanding of cloud‑based operational support environments, particularly AWS or Azure.
• Experience administering ITSM and collaboration platforms such as Fresh service, Jira and Confluence.
• Strong communication skills, with the confidence to influence, challenge and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels.
• Educated to A‑Level standard (or equivalent experience).
• ITIL Foundation certification (v3 or v4).
• Formal people management qualification or equivalent management/coaching experience (e.g. CIPD, CMI, ILM).

• Experience leading an IT Operations…