Talent Leaders is a Canadian federally incorporated Executive Search and HR Consulting firm, with a strong presence in the Middle East and a proven track record of sourcing exceptional leadership talent across the GCC. We have been exclusively mandated by one of our prestigious clients in Qatar to headhunt a highly qualified Director – Service Operations to lead a mission-critical function that drives digital infrastructure excellence and managed service maturity in a 24x7 environment.

Role Overview
The Director – Service Operations is responsible for orchestrating end-to-end service delivery, ensuring operational excellence across IT infrastructure, technical operations, workplace support, and client services. This role integrates and oversees the Service Desk, NOC, L1 Technical Operations, Control Management, and Workplace Services under a unified model focused on reliability, automation, governance, and client satisfaction. The ideal candidate will bring international exposure, particularly from Western, European, or Gulf-based environments, and a proven ability to lead high-performing IT operations in enterprise or multi-tenant settings.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Service Operations including Service Desk, NOC, Technical Operations, Control Management, and Workplace Services
• Ensure successful, SLA-driven delivery of services to named enterprise clients
• Implement standardized operating models, ITIL-aligned governance, performance dashboards, and automation-first approaches
• Develop and monitor operational KPIs related to SLA compliance, MTTR, CSAT, change success rate, incident management, and proactive support
• Drive client engagement strategy and lead escalations, service transition, and solution design support
• Build executive reporting, analytics (e.g., Power BI dashboards), and contribute to strategic decision-making
• Manage internal collaboration across PMO, Finance, HR, Sales, and vendor relations
• Ensure compliance with internal controls, ISO 20000, ITIL, and best practices
• Coach, mentor, and manage cross-functional service teams for performance, growth, and knowledge contribution

Candidate Profile

• Minimum 12 years of experience in IT service delivery, ideally in a Managed Service Provider (MSP), IT outsourcing, or Data Center environment
• At least 7 years in a leadership role managing multi-disciplinary service operations teams
• Extensive experience working with enterprise or GCC-based clientele in high-availability environments
• Strong knowledge of ITIL (v3/v4 Practitioner required), ISO standards, SLAs, incident/change/problem management
• Familiarity with monitoring tools (e.g., SMAX, Lansweeper, Splunk), and reporting platforms (e.g., Power BI)
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with experience in client-facing executive roles
• Project Management certification (Prince2 preferred)
• Arabic language proficiency is an advantage
• Valid driving license and mobility within GCC as required

Preferred Attributes

• Experience leading in multi-cultural, global team environments
• Strong business acumen with a focus on automation, cost control, and SLA optimization
• Executive presence with the ability to engage C-level stakeholders and translate operational insights into board-level outcomes
• Passion for operational excellence and service transformation through digital enablement and AI-powered automation