ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY We are working with a fast-scaling tech company operating across multiple entities, who have just restructured their IT function around a clear mission: make the business measurably more productive through AI-native tools, automation, and disciplined systems architecture. This role sits inside their newly formed AI Operations & Enablement team, separate from helpdesk and user support, with a direct mandate to redesign how the business runs at a systems level. You'll have executive sponsorship, a real budget, and the autonomy to shape the enterprise landscape from day one. WHAT YOU'LL WORK ON Systems architecture. Own the target-state architecture for business systems across the group. Rationalise duplication, establish integration patterns, and set the principles that govern how new tools are evaluated, rolled out, and governed, including security and compliance requirements. AI governance and tooling infrastructure. This is the biggest immediate priority. Stand up the controls, infrastructure, and governance framework that lets the business safely build and run AI-native workflows, including token and billing controls, usage visibility, safe internal app development, and agent monitoring. Define how staff build custom AI-powered tools without creating risk. Automation and AI-native operations. Design and ship automations that take work out of IT and out of the rest of the business. Demonstrate internally what an AI-forward operating function looks like and bring other teams along with you. Vendor and SaaS portfolio. Own the vendor portfolio end-to-end — discovery, rationalisation, contract renegotiation, renewals, and benchmarking. Immediate projects include consolidating overlapping tools and sunsetting redundant systems. Manage the IT systems budget and defend it on commercial merit. Multi-entity integration. Design and run the integration of IT environments across the group and its subsidiaries. Bring architectural discipline to an org growing through both restructure and acquisition. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Enterprise IT depth, AI-native mindset. You've worked inside real enterprise environments, SSO, identity, MDM, endpoint management, DLP, SaaS admin, and you bring the discipline that comes with that. But you think lean, you use AI in your own workflows, and you can point to specific automations or tools you've built or shipped. Genuine AI governance experience or strong intuitions. You've thought carefully about how to control AI tool sprawl, manage token spend, and give teams the ability to build AI-powered apps without creating security or compliance risk. You don't need a playbook handed to you. Commercial instincts on vendor spend. You've negotiated renewals, retired redundant tools, and benchmarked against peers. You're comfortable owning a budget and defending it. You'll manage through influence rather than reporting lines. You need to be comfortable building, writing, and shipping yourself. Regulated industry exposure. Familiarity with ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, or equivalent. The security and compliance program is owned by a dedicated team, you'll partner with them, not run it. Strong systems engineering instincts. You manage systems through APIs, automation, and reproducible configuration, not manual administration.