Our client, a global education group, has an exciting opportunity for an IT Manager to join their team in KZN You will work 2 days in Ballito and 3 days in Umhlangha.

Position Summary

As part of our global standardisation initiative, the client has re-organised their IT Operations department in South Africa to provide a professional and effective IT service. This strategy increases their competitive edge in the private schooling sector. Within the multinational group, their IT departments continually transfer best practice knowledge between their various schools in the different countries.

The South African IT support staff will work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment which provides services to all users both onsite and via remote connection. Service enquiries will go through the Centralised Helpdesk. As part of this Group, this position will also have responsibility for Group IT Projects.

The South African IT Operations team will form a significant part of the Group as a central hub.

We are looking for a competent IT Manager, who will handle the most difficult or advanced problems, including managing the regional Team of L2 support colleagues. Their expectation is for this person to be an expert in more relevant IT technician fields and be responsible for research and development of solutions to new or unknown issues. One of the primary functions of this position is to supervise a variety of technical projects related to the setup, maintenance and support of the schools' IT systems.

Duties of the Technical Support Regional Team Lead include:

• Being responsible for IT Operation within the region, inclusive of 2 direct reports
• Manage caseloads (full escalations and requests for assistance)
• Diagnose and solve technical issues at 3rd Support Level and where needed, escalate to external vendors and to other internal teams
• Provide technical assistance and remote troubleshooting support including availability to perform on-call (after working hours) activities
• Detect, investigate, recreate and raise defects. Track defects through internal systems and turn-around fixes for production issues, set up environment to reproduce issues and test potential work-arounds and develop ad-hoc solutions to address issues as work-arounds
• Write and review technical documents (Knowledge, Support Plans, Technical Advisory Bulletins) for internal and public use, leverage opportunities for continuing education
• Managing main IT stakeholders in the regions
• Work closely with the Regional IT Manager to improve customer satisfaction
• Managing IT OPEX and IT CAPEX for the given region
• Analysing tickets and work load for the given region
• Handle change management.
• Supervise quality management.
• Organising training
• Ensuring service levels are met
• Working with vendors
• Open to travel between schools and sites
• Organisation Responsibilities
  • This position reports to the Regional IT Manager
  • The IT Manager - KZN manages the L2 Technicians (2 people), including the induction and performance management of team members and the management of sickness/absence and conduct etc.
  • Mentor and motivate the L2 Support Technicians.

Requirements of the role:

• Hard skills:
  • Educated to degree level
  • At least 4 years working experience as IT Manager in a similar environment
  • ITIL experience
  • In-depth knowledge of the diagnosis, repair and debugging of software and computer systems
  • Must have in-depth knowledge LAN/WAN Networking and IT Network Operations experience
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of technologies such as personal devices, laptops, tablets, Windows 7/8/10, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, Android operating systems, WiFi, MiFi, Bluetooth, Broadband, network routing, remote access, personal productivity software, terminal emulators, and video conferencing technology
  • Expert level with Microsoft Office, Adobe, Google Suite
  • Networking and network administration experience, preferred network engineering background
  • In-depth knowledge and relevant experience of firewalls, network protocols and network security
  • VMWare experience (preferably certified)
  • (Ruckus) Wi-Fi experience along with installation, configuration and troubleshooting skills
  • Server administration experience
  • Webserver management experience
  • People Management and Team Lead Experience
  • Cloud based solutions knowledge
  • Experience with both hardware and software issues
  • Advanced level in English (both written and verbal)
• Soft skills:
  • Ability to interface and work with Executive Management in a highly dynamic, demanding, and mobile environment
  • Strong technical attitude and a desire to learn and work in a fast paced, dynamic environment
  • Ability to balance and prioritise multiple concurrent projects effectively
  • Flexibility in work schedule with an ability to be on call to address problems, escalations, and complete projects
  • Superior Customer service and analytical abilities
  • Ability to think analytically, conceptually and systematically to resolve problems, make decisions
  • Attention to detail
  • Able to work independently and efficiently
  • Excellent communication (oral and written), interpersonal, organisational, and presentation skills
• Additional skills:
  • Experience with (Student) Management Information Systems
  • Experience with CRM Systems
  • Strong knowledge of mobility concepts, mobile device management and mobile device operating systems
• The Perfect Match

You will flourish in this IT Manager role, if you have a preference to be a technical leader for 80%; and a people manager for the other 20% in a fast-growing international organisation