Job Description
The primary goal of this role is to formalize and enhance existing DevOps practices by defining and executing a transformation strategy. This initiative aims to drive organizational efficiency and streamline development and operational processes. The role is pivotal in driving DevOps evolution, ensuring alignment with industry standards, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
The role operates within the Engineering Excellence team under the Technology Office and involves collaboration with various stakeholders, including:
* CTO & Director, Technology Office
* Senior IT Stakeholders
* FinOps & DevOps Community
* Service Transition & Operations (including ITIL, Testing, and Part Ops practices)
* Soundboard of experienced DevOps practitioners and Product Owner SDA/SDLC
* Ops and Dev Communities (Engineering Excellence)
Key Deliverables
A structured, iterative transformation plan with the following components:
* Comprehensive Industry Report:
o Best practices for DevOps in large-scale enterprises
o Current AS-IS processes, practices, and workflows within IT
o Evaluation of existing DevOps processes
o Documentation of improvements in processes, knowledge sharing, and training
o SWOT analysis and selection of key improvement areas
o Transformation strategy and execution roadmap
o Financial impact assessment (if applicable)
* Annual Work Plan: Milestone-based execution strategy
* Bi-weekly Progress Reports: Updates to the Engineering Excellence and Cloudification teams
* Executive Presentations: Regular briefings for IT ComDir
* EPIC Transformation Plan: Study costs managed under the Engineering Excellence budget
* DevOps Operating Model: Onboarding framework for teams adopting new DevOps methodologies
Scope Exclusions
The transformation initiative will not include:
* OpenPaaS as a platform
* Group-level CI/CD studies
* FinOps initiatives
* New tool acquisitions
* Structural organizational changes
Mission Overview
The DevOps Transformation Lead will foster a culture of collaboration between development and operations teams to enhance software delivery speed, quality, and reliability. The role involves:
* Mapping AS-IS workflows across the entire application lifecycle—from architectural design through provisioning, deployment, and decommissioning.
* Defining key operational metrics (e.g., performance, security, mean time to recovery, failure rates) and implementing feedback loops for continuous improvement.
* Identifying intersection points between operational and engineering roles to enable true DevOps integration.
* Assessing gaps in current DevOps implementation and formulating mitigation strategies.
* Developing a DevOps value proposition, emphasizing faster issue resolution in production and pre-production environments.
* Validating transformation proposals through stakeholder reviews.
* Executing a phased rollout of validated best practices.
* Standardizing DevOps practices across teams (e.g., middleware configuration, deployment parameters).
* Establishing a DevOps training framework and leading the DevOps community
The transformation initiative will incorporate industry best practices, including:
* Configuration Consistency: Standardizing middleware configurations (e.g., IIS, Tomcat).
* Team Collaboration: Promoting a no-blame culture and cross-functional teamwork.
* Automation: Implementing CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
* Monitoring & Metrics: Establishing performance and security tracking across development and production.
* Security by Design: Integrating security considerations from the outset of development.
* Failure Management: Leveraging incidents for process improvement.
* Tool Selection: Prioritizing foundational knowledge over tool-driven decisions.
* Self-Service Infrastructure: Promoting on-demand provisioning to enhance efficiency.
* Sustainable Evolution: Keeping up with DevOps tool trends while ensuring long-term viability.
* Integration into Existing Teams: Embedding DevOps principles within teams instead of forming isolated DevOps units.
* Cultural Shift: Encouraging shared responsibility rather than reliance on individual "DevOps heroes."
* Gradual Adoption: Implementing automation and process changes incrementally.
* Quality Focus: Balancing speed with robust delivery standards.
* Knowledge Sharing: Ensuring thorough documentation to support collaboration and continuity.
Requirements
AI Strategy French or Dutch fluency Belgium based candidates