Azure Service Manager

Job Description:

As an Azure Service Manager, you will be the operational backbone and strategic orchestrator of our enterprise cloud hosting ecosystem. In this role, you will bridge technical engineering teams, business units, and managed service partners to ensure our Microsoft Azure infrastructure and database platforms operate with uncompromised reliability, optimal performance, and cost efficiency.

You will hold end-to-end accountability for service health, operational governance, SLA/SLO performance, vendor management, disaster recovery readiness, and continuous service improvement (CSI). If you thrive at the intersection of enterprise cloud operations, ITIL governance, and cross-functional leadership, this role offers an exceptional opportunity to shape Mars’ digital journey.

Key Responsibilities

1. Service Delivery, Governance & Operational Excellence

Service Ownership: Own end-to-end availability, reliability, and lifecycle governance for enterprise Azure infrastructure and managed database services.

SLA & Performance Management: Define, monitor, analyze, and report on Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and operational health scorecards.

Continuous Service Improvement (CSI): Champion automation, process refinement, and service enhancement programs to systematically reduce toil, prevent recurring incidents, and increase operational velocity.

2. Azure Platform Operations & Technology Domains

Azure Virtual Machines (Azure VMs):

Oversee provisioning workflows, maintenance windows, OS patching, and lifecycle governance across multi-region VM estates.

Evaluate workload performance, rightsizing, capacity utilization, and resource scaling.

Validate business continuity, backup integrity, and disaster recovery (DR) failover readiness.

Azure SQL Virtual Machines (Azure SQL VMs):

Oversee high availability (Always On availability groups), failover clustering, and database disaster recovery plans.

Collaborate with database administrators to monitor performance tuning, patch cadences, storage IOPS, and reliability metrics.

Azure Storage Services:

Enforce governance, security, and access controls across Azure Blob, Azure Files, and Data Lake repositories.

Implement and monitor backup retention, data archival, lifecycle management policies, and replication strategies (LRS, GRS, ZRS).

Azure Database for MySQL (PaaS):

Supervise managed MySQL platform health, connection pooling, high availability, and automated maintenance schedules.

Oversee backup/restore testing, point-in-time recovery capabilities, and capacity planning.

What We Are Looking For

Required Qualifications & Experience

Experience: 5+ years of progressive experience in IT Service Management (ITSM), Cloud Operations, or IT Infrastructure Operations within an enterprise hybrid-cloud environment.

Cloud Platform Knowledge: Solid operational and functional understanding of core Microsoft Azure services, including Azure VMs, Azure SQL / Managed Instances, Azure Storage, PaaS databases, Azure Monitor, and Log Analytics.

ITSM & Governance: Strong background in ITIL practices (Incident, Problem, Change, Capacity, Availability, and Continual Service Improvement). ITIL v3 or ITIL 4 Foundation certification preferred.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Demonstrated experience holding third-party vendors, MSPs, and system integrators accountable to SLAs and contractual obligations.

Crisis Management & Communication: Proven track record in orchestrating cross-functional responses during critical outages with clear, calm executive communication.

Language Skills: Professional fluency in English (both written and verbal) with exceptional presentation and stakeholder engagement skills.