Head of Platform Services & Operations

Who we are

Since 1843, The Economist Group has championed independence, excellence and openness, helping people understand and tackle the critical challenges shaping the world. Today, we are building on that legacy as a global media and information-services company powered by digital innovation, analytical rigour and evidence-based insight.

Across our three businesses -The Economist, Economist Enterprise and Economist Education - we deliver trusted analysis and insights to individuals and organisations in more than 170 countries. United by a shared purpose to drive progress, we empower decision-makers to make sense of change and chart a course through an increasingly complex world.

As a colleague, you will be part of a culture that values ideas, encourages ownership and holds itself to high standards. We invest in people who are curious, thoughtful and adaptable, whether they are launching new products, reporting on global events or harnessing emerging technologies such as AI to improve how we work. Here, fresh thinking is taken seriously, ambition is matched by integrity, and great work is recognised. Working across disciplines, geographies and perspectives, we are united by a commitment to innovation, excellence and creating meaningful impact.

Want to discover more about life at The Economist Group? Follow @EconomistCareers on Instagram to discover the people, stories and opportunities that make TEG unique.

The Role

We are looking for a Head of Engineering Services & Operations to lead the shared engineering capabilities that help product teams build, operate and improve reliable, high-quality and cost-effective digital services. 

The successful candidate will lead a multidisciplinary group spanning Engineering Operations (TechOps and Service Delivery), Site Reliability Engineering, Central Test Automation, FinOps Engineering and Business Platforms. The role is responsible for setting the strategy and operating model for these capabilities, ensuring clear ownership, effective collaboration and measurable outcomes across Engineering.

The role reports to the SVP Engineering. You will lead primarily through experienced managers and senior leads, partnering closely with Product Engineering, Finance, ITOps and other specialist functions across The Economist, while remaining sufficiently close to the technology and operations to engage directly in complex, high-risk or cross-cutting issues when your judgement or experience is needed.

Accountabilities: 

How you will contribute 

• You will define and lead the Engineering Services & Operations strategy, ensuring the group provides effective shared capabilities across operations, reliability, quality engineering, engineering cost management and business platforms
• You will lead, coach and develop the managers responsible for Engineering Operations, Site Reliability Engineering, Central Test Automation, FinOps Engineering and Business Platforms, creating clear accountability and strong collaboration between specialist capabilities
• You will own the overall operating model for Engineering Services & Operations, defining decision rights, service boundaries, escalation paths and ways of working with Product Engineering and other partner functions
• You will ensure Engineering Operations provides effective 24/7 support through TechOps and strong operational governance through Service Delivery, including monitoring, L1/L2 support, incident coordination, service readiness, service catalogue governance and operational communications
• You will provide executive oversight of major incidents, ensuring appropriate incident command, technical escalation, war-room coordination and stakeholder communications are in place, and will step directly into incident leadership where severity, complexity or organisational need requires it
• You will ensure Product Engineering teams retain clear ownership of their software, release readiness, product quality, service reliability and implementation of technical cost optimisation actions, while central specialist teams provide standards, tooling, guidance and governance
• You will ensure SRE drives reliability capability across Engineering, including SLO/SLI practices, observability, alert optimisation, reliability automation, resilience and performance engineering
• You will ensure Central Test Automation provides scalable shared automation frameworks, standards, reporting capability and CI/CD test enablement without becoming a central test execution team
• You will establish and grow FinOps Engineering as the engineering capability for cloud cost visibility, monitoring, forecasting inputs, cost allocation, variance analysis and optimisation insight, working in partnership with Finance
• You will ensure Business Platforms have clear technical ownership, operational support, platform health, change coordination and continuous improvement
• You will establish engineering-wide measures, dashboards and review rhythms covering operational health, reliability, support quality, automation capability, cost visibility and continual improvement
• You will identify systemic issues that cross team boundaries and ensure they are resolved through the appropriate engineering, operational or governance mechanisms rather than allowing ownership gaps to persist
• You will balance urgent operational demands with longer-term capability development, governance and improvement, ensuring short-term incidents do not continually displace strategic work
• You will own engineering-wide operational communications within the agreed remit, while maintaining clear boundaries with Product Engineering, Finance, ITOps and other partner functions
• You will build a culture of continuous improvement, operational learning and evidence-based decision making across the group

What this role does not own

• Product quality, release readiness and service reliability for individual products; these remain with Product Engineering teams
• Product-specific test execution; Central Test Automation enables teams through shared frameworks, standards and reporting capability
• Consolidated financial planning, budgeting and financial reporting; these remain with Finance
• Enterprise identity and access management, endpoint management and corporate IT operations
• Commercial procurement and contracting

What success looks like in your first year

• Engineering Operations has clear service ownership, incident roles and measurable L1/L2 support quality, with major incidents consistently coordinated and reviewed
• The service catalogue is trusted and operationally useful, with clear ownership, support information, runbooks and observability links for critical services
• SRE has a clear reliability operating model with agreed measures for service health, observability, alert quality, resilience and performance
• Central Test Automation has a clear mandate, shared frameworks and standards, and measurable adoption without becoming a central test execution team
• FinOps Engineering is established with regular cloud-cost visibility, credible forecasting inputs, clear allocation and actionable optimisation insight for Engineering
• The group operates to a consistent set of measures and review rhythms, and urgent operational demand does not continually displace strategic capability improvement

Experience, Skills & Professional Attributes

The ideal skills for this role include

• You have significant senior engineering leadership experience across multiple teams or capabilities, including experience leading managers and senior technical leaders
• You have strong experience in one or more of engineering operations, production support, SRE, platform or reliability engineering, service delivery, quality engineering or comparable shared engineering functions, with enough breadth to lead multidisciplinary teams credibly
• You have demonstrable operational leadership experience in a 24/7 digital environment, including major incident decision-making, monitoring and alerting, and L1/L2 support models, and can make sound decisions under pressure without needing to be the deepest technical specialist in the room
• You have sufficient technical and operational depth to engage directly with complex engineering and operational problems when required, while knowing when to empower specialist managers and teams to lead
• You understand modern reliability practices including observability, SLOs/SLIs, resilience, performance and the relationship between product engineering ownership and central SRE capability
• You understand modern quality engineering and test automation practices, including shared frameworks, CI/CD integration, automation standards and reporting
• You understand engineering cost management and FinOps principles, including cloud spend visibility, forecasting inputs, allocation, variance analysis and the distinction between engineering cost insight and Finance ownership of consolidated financial planning
• You have experience establishing operating models, decision rights, governance mechanisms and cross-functional service boundaries in complex engineering organisations
• You can define meaningful measures and use data to drive prioritisation, operational improvement and investment decisions
• You have strong organisational judgement and can balance urgent operational demands with strategic capability development and continual improvement
• You are an effective senior stakeholder manager who can communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences, including during high-pressure incidents or periods of organisational change
• You are an inclusive leader and coach who creates clarity, develops strong managers, empowers specialist teams, communicates credibly with technical and non-technical stakeholders, and drives decisions across organisational boundaries

#LI-Hybrid 

Working Arrangements

The majority of our roles operate on a hybrid working pattern, with 3+ days office attendance required. 

AI usage for your application

We are an innovative organisation that encourages the use of technology. We recognise that candidates may utilise AI tools to support with their job application process. However, it is essential that all information you provide truthfully and accurately reflects your own experience, skills, and qualifications.

What we offer

Our benefits package is designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and work-life balance. It includes a highly competitive pension or 401(k) plan, private health insurance, and 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing resources through our Employee Assistance Program.

We also offer a range of lifestyle benefits, including our Work From Anywhere program, which allows you to work from any location where you have the legal right to do so for up to 25 days per year. In addition, we provide generous annual and parental leave, as well as dedicated days off for volunteering and even for moving home.

You will also be given free access to all The Economist content, including an online subscription, our range of apps, podcasts and more.