Technical Operations Manager

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced Technical Operations Manager to act as the operational bridge between our UK and South African technical teams.

This is a leadership position focused on ensuring seamless communication, accountability, service delivery and operational excellence across both regions. The successful candidate will not replace the UK management team but will work alongside them, ensuring priorities are communicated effectively, work is delivered to a high standard, and both teams remain aligned.

The ideal candidate will possess strong technical knowledge, exceptional people management skills, and the ability to build trusted relationships with stakeholders across multiple departments.

Key ResponsibilitiesTeam Leadership

• Lead, mentor and support the South African technical team.
• Act as the primary point of contact between the UK management team and the South African engineers.
• Foster a positive, accountable and high-performing team culture.
• Conduct regular one-to-ones and performance reviews.
• Identify training and development opportunities for team members.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and probation reviews.

Operational Management

• Ensure technical work is prioritised correctly.
• Monitor workloads and allocate resources effectively.
• Remove operational blockers preventing engineers from delivering.
• Ensure SLA compliance across all support functions.
• Coordinate escalations between UK stakeholders and South African teams.
• Monitor service quality and identify opportunities for improvement.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

This role serves as the "glue" between the UK and South African teams.

Responsibilities include:

• Translating UK business priorities into clear operational actions.
• Providing regular progress updates to UK management.
• Ensuring communication flows effectively in both directions.
• Managing expectations with stakeholders.
• Escalating risks before they become operational issues.
• Building strong relationships across technical, operational and commercial teams.

Service Delivery

• Ensure customer issues are resolved within agreed service levels.
• Monitor ticket queues and engineer utilisation.
• Review service performance metrics.
• Drive continual service improvement initiatives.
• Identify trends and recurring issues.
• Improve operational efficiency through better processes.

Technical Oversight

Whilst this is primarily a leadership role, the successful candidate should possess sufficient technical knowledge to:

• Support engineers during complex escalations.
• Understand infrastructure, networking and cloud environments.
• Review technical solutions before implementation.
• Challenge technical decisions where appropriate.
• Assist with planning major technical projects.

Project Coordination

• Coordinate technical projects between UK and South African teams.
• Track milestones and deliverables.
• Ensure projects remain on schedule.
• Manage dependencies across departments.
• Provide regular project updates to stakeholders.
• Identify project risks and mitigation strategies.

Reporting

Produce regular reporting on:

• SLA performance
• Team utilisation
• Customer satisfaction
• Escalations
• Project progress
• Operational risks
• Continuous improvement initiatives

Essential Skills & Experience

• Previous experience leading technical support or infrastructure teams.
• Strong understanding of MSP or IT service environments.
• Experience managing technical engineers.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation abilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Experience working with UK-based clients or teams.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Technical Knowledge

Experience with some or all of the following:

• Microsoft 365
• Azure
• Active Directory
• Networking (TCP/IP, VLANs, VPNs, Firewalls)
• Windows Server
• Virtualisation (VMware / Hyper-V)
• ITIL Service Management
• PSA and RMM platforms
• Cyber Security best practices
• Cloud infrastructure

Desirable Experience

• Previous experience within an MSP environment.
• ITIL Foundation certification.
• PRINCE2, Agile or Scrum experience.
• Experience managing geographically distributed teams.
• Experience with service improvement initiatives.

Key Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong leadership
• Emotional intelligence
• Accountability
• Commercial awareness
• Technical credibility
• Excellent communication
• Stakeholder management
• Problem-solving ability
• Decision-making confidence
• Organisation and planning
• Adaptability
• Professionalism

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys both the technical and people-management aspects of IT. The successful candidate will become the central point of coordination between our UK and South African operations, ensuring both teams work as one cohesive unit while delivering an exceptional service to our clients.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: R45 000,00 - R50 000,00 per month

Education:

• Bachelors (Required)

Experience:

• IT leadership or technical management: 5 years (Required)
• IT systems, cloud platforms (Azure, AWS), and networking: 3 years (Required)
• security tools and system administration: 3 years (Required)

License/Certification:

• Azure Solutions Architect / Azure Administrator (Required)

Work Location: In person