We are on an exciting journey building a digital environment for the Knauf Group that is as groundbreaking as our products for the construction industry. If you are looking for a global impact that is shaped by values such as entrepreneurship, commitment, partnership and Menschlichkeit, the position of Department Head - Hybrid Data Center (m/f/d) could be the ideal challenge for you.

What you'll do

As a Department Head of Knauf's Hybrid Data Center organization, you will:

• take full ownership and responsibility for management of department's strategy, processes, budget, technology and people. 

• translate Knauf IT and unit strategy into department strategy and concrete tactical plans, roadmaps and initiatives to ensure fulfillment of Knauf IT obligations towards business partners and other departments. 
• through process standardization and continual service improvement activities, guarantee workload optimization and infrastructure landscape coherence.
• manage your department's budget in order to fulfill assigned financial adherence targets and cost optimization.
• have a chance to work with cutting edge technologies from the implementation stage to operations and continual improvement actions.
• All of that through direct work with our greatest assets which are people - both on the subordinate Team Lead level, and Specialist level.

Who you are

• Leadership and people management
  • Management and change management skills, ability to work in highly changing and diverse environment. Experience in modernization, and globalization of IT departments towards cloud-based technologies, with technological legacy debt.
  • Ability do work with geographically dispersed teams, with direct and matrix reporting models in virtual and physical setup.
  • Professional experience in creating, modernizing and leading small or midsized teams up to 30 people
  • Experience in working with subordinate wider leadership (Team Leads, Team Managers)
  • Experience in building virtual, global teams, setting up 24/7 support models
  • Substantial experience in working in international IT Service Organizations
    

• Methodological expertise
  • Project leadership experience (Agile, Waterfall)
  • ITIL Service Delivery
  • Infrastructure Support Models experience, best practices enablement
  • Working experience of support models in highly dispersed environment with various vendors, stakeholders and support teams engaged in the support process.

• Subject-matter expertise
  • Experienced professional in respective subject areas ( eg. ITIL, Application Operations, Service Delivery)
  • Extensive process expertise (ITIL, Project Management, Infrastructure Support Models)
  • Vendor and Service Managment working knowledge and experience
  • Strong analytical skills, and ability to take decisions based on data available

Technical skills you have

• Working, (hands-on preferred) knowledge of Data Center Technologies such as:
• Backup & Restore - TSM (IBM Spectrum Protect)/ Rubrik / Azure
  San & Storage knowledge (support, configuration, vendor management Virtual Environment (Vmware / Azure)
• SAP Infrastructure (Power Systems)
• Server Management (Windows / Linux - different flavors)
• SQL Management (on prem and cloud based - serverless)
• Monitoring (Platform knowledge) - PRTG / Nagios / New Relic
• Familiarity with Command Center (monitoring) concept, operational monitoring and event management knowledge
• Strong Cloud (Azure / AWS) Architectural Knowledge
• Familiarity with Vulnerability Management concepts, and operational methods
• Ability to work in geographically diverse and wide-spread environment, with multiple locations and support models

What we offer

• An open, dynamic corporate culture with flat hierarchies
• Independent work with creative freedom
• Attractive remuneration
• A wide time window for flexible working, including weekly home office days
• Continuous individual training and further education
• An open exchange of knowledge within the IT community

If you are looking for a variety of challenging tasks with global reach and family atmosphere, then you are most welcome at Knauf IT!

Knauf as an employer

Knauf is an international market leader in the building materials' industry. About 40,000 employees at over 300 locations worldwide generate a turnover of over 12,6 billion euros. The foundation of our success as family business are our corporate values of humanity, partnership, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit. Knauf IT, headquartered in Kitzingen, Germany, is an important driver of the global growth and digital transformation of the Knauf Group. 500 experts are supporting colleagues and customers with modern IT solutions and services.

The Knauf Group is a proud equal opportunities employer. We are committed to a diverse and inclusive working environment and therefore base all our employment selection decisions, within all aspects of our business, on experience, skill, and integrity. We strongly encourage applicants from all walks of life to apply for our positions, irrespective of age, sex, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, origin, religion, etc.