Systems Team Manager

This position will be responsible for participating directly in the planning and managing of platform and DevOps support initiatives for the Data Services organization at Markel. This includes the effective management of a team of IT engineers to direct their priorities and objectives to meet the goals established for the organization.

Job Summary:

What part will you play? If you are looking for a place where you can make a meaningful difference, you have found it. Because, at Markel, the work you do gives people the confidence to move forward and seize opportunities. If you enjoy technology, are team-oriented and a servant leader, you will find your fit amongst our global community of optimists and problem-solvers. We are always pushing each other to go further because we believe that when we realize our potential, we can help others reach theirs. Come Join us and play your part in something special!

This position will be responsible for participating directly in the planning and managing of platform and DevOps support initiatives for the Data Services organization at Markel. This includes the effective management of a team of IT engineers to direct their priorities and objectives to meet the goals established for the organization.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership for the day-to-day management of the platform and devops support functions for all Data Services operational platforms and deployment processes to ensure they are well-managed, resilient, and secure.
• Responsible for ensuring that organizational priorities are well communicated and understood by the team so that priority initiatives within Data Services are successful. This includes managing necessary collaboration across Data Services Delivery, Business Intelligence and Application Support teams.
• Work closely with our partners to co-ordinate Cloud resource provisioning and Cloud platform and devops support needs to ensure resilient platform and release processes are maintained and viable to support critical application processes.
• Ensure the prioritization of support resources required to support our On-Prem Data Warehouse and Azure Cloud Month-end Financial Close operations.
• Ensure 100% compliance to expected release management responsibilities for the Data Services organization.
• Responsible for the appropriate allocation of team resources to ensure PI dependencies for Data Services Application Delivery and Business Intelligence teams meet expected due dates.
• Oversee the effective administration of Azure cost controls, including monthly cost reviews, as part of Cloud governance to ensure alignment to budget.
• People management is considered a priority responsibility to oversee the skills training, career planning/management, and mentoring for each associate on the team.
• Responsible for succession planning and cross training for the critical resources to ensure remediation of key-man dependencies on the team.

Skills and Experience:

• Must possess an excellent understanding of IT infrastructures and operating platforms including the management of required upgrades and licensing of third-party software applications running on those platforms.
• Core experience managing high-performing IT support and/or delivery teams preferably within a cloud platform environment. Insurance experience is a plus.
• Exceptional skills in the mentoring and development of team resources to ensure a core focus on providing career development opportunities for your direct reports.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver quality platform solutions and support processes by expected timelines and within expected budget targets.
• Strong experience working effectively in a cross-team engagement framework, including both internal and external IT and Business partners, to ensure the delivery and maintenance of resilient, well-managed operational platforms and applications for our customer base.
• Demonstrated ability in the identification and communication of operational platform/application risks and issues with appropriate escalation to avoid extended outages for supported platforms.

• Possess a strong, demonstrated ability to plan team objectives and initiatives, monitor their progress and communicate timely status reports to senior management accordingly.
• Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills (written and verbal) targeting both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Solid knowledge of agile practices (preferably Kanban) in an enterprise infrastructure environment is highly preferred!
• Solid knowledge of DevOps fundamentals would be extremely helpful in this role.

Qualifications:

Required Technical Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in information technology service/product management leadership.
• 2+ years of experience in cloud and devops delivery management with strong focus on Microsoft Azure as the cloud platform, to include a functional knowledge of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS segments of the Azure cloud infrastructure.
• 1 to 2 years managing within an Agile framework.

Soft Skills Required:

• A servant leader and role model with outstanding planning, analytical, decision-making, organization, communication, and teamwork skills. As well as solid enterprise infrastructure knowledge with the ability to influence others and build consensus.
• Accountable for supporting Enterprise and Data Services priorities with the ability to make difficult and quick decisions daily with incomplete information for all services across the journey.
• An empowering and creative leader with an experimental approach and a demonstrated willingness to learn and develop others.

Must be authorized to work in the U.S., and not require sponsorship now or in the future.

Who we are:

Markel Group (NYSE - MKL) a fortune 500 company with over 60 offices in 20+ countries, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, specialist advisory and investment operations around the world.

We're all about people | We win together | We strive for better

We enjoy the everyday | We think further

What's in it for you:

In keeping with the values of the Markel Style, we strive to support our employees in living their lives to the fullest at home and at work.

• We offer competitive benefit programs that help meet our diverse and changing environment as well as support our employees' needs at all stages of life.
• All full-time employees have the option to select from multiple health, dental and vision insurance plan options and optional life, disability, and AD&D insurance.
• We also offer a 401(k) with employer match contributions, an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, PTO, corporate holidays and floating holidays, parental leave.
• Markel offers hybrid working schedules of 3 days in the office and 2 days remote.

Are you ready to play your part?

Choose 'Apply Now' to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

The base salary offered for the successful candidate will be based on compensable factors such as job-relevant education, job-relevant experience, training, licensure, demonstrated competencies, geographic location, and other factors.

Caution: Employment scams

Markel is aware of employment-related scams where scammers will impersonate recruiters by sending fake job offers to those actively seeking employment in order to steal personal information. Frequently, the scammer will reach out to individuals who have posted their resume online. These "job offers" include convincing offer letters and frequently ask for confidential personal information. Therefore, for your safety, please note that:

• All legitimate job postings with Markel will be posted on No other URL should be trusted for job Markel Group Careers.
• All legitimate communications with Markel recruiters will come from Markel.com email addresses.

We would also ask that you please report any job employment scams related to Markel to [email protected].

Markel is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of any protected characteristic. This includes race; color; sex; religion; creed; national origin or place of birth; ancestry; age; disability; affectional or sexual orientation; gender expression or identity; genetic information, sickle cell trait, or atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait; refusal to submit to genetic tests or make genetic test results available; medical condition; citizenship status; pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, familial status, or family responsibilities; military or veteran status, including unfavorable discharge from military service; personal appearance, height, or weight; matriculation or political affiliation; expunged juvenile records; arrest and court records where prohibited by applicable law; status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence; public assistance status; order of protection status; status as a smoker or nonsmoker; membership or activity in local commissions; the use or nonuse of lawful products off employer premises during non-work hours; declining to attend meetings or participate in communications about religious or political matters; or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Should you require any accommodation through the application process, please send an e-mail to the [email protected].