APAC lead for Networks

Purpose of the role

To  lead and manage engineering teams, providing technical guidance, mentorship, and support to ensure the delivery of high-quality software solutions, driving technical excellence, fostering a culture of innovation, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to align technical decisions with business objectives. 

Accountabilities

• Lead engineering teams effectively, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture to achieve project goals and meet organizational objectives.
• Oversee timelines, team allocation, risk management and task prioritization to ensure the successful delivery of solutions within scope, time, and budget.
• Mentor and support team members' professional growth, conduct performance reviews, provide actionable feedback, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Evaluation and enhancement of engineering processes, tools, and methodologies to increase efficiency, streamline workflows, and optimize team productivity.
• Collaboration with business partners, product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions and ensure a cohesive approach to product development.
• Enforcement of technology standards, facilitate peer reviews, and implement robust testing practices to ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

About GTIS

Global Technology Infrastructure Services (GTIS) is a global team of approximately 3,500 colleagues based in EMEA, US, APAC and Africa. We are accountable for delivering and supporting resilient, secure infrastructure technology and services to customers, clients and colleagues. 

About Networks Services
Barclays Foundation Services – Connectivity is part of GTIS delivering robust, resilient and high availability network connectivity across different infrastructure components meeting the business requirements of our applications, business users and customers.

Key Accountabilities

Lead large APAC Networks team focusing on Solutions, Engineering, Change, Run, Automation/SRE & vendor relations. Ensuring timely delivery on projects and providing regional operations leadership during APAC hours.   Accountable leader to manage all regional stakeholders from Technology, Operations and Business across all APAC countries. Working closely with all country CIOs to ensure relevant risk and controls, regulatory and compliance ask is managed and all relevant remediation programs are being managed effectively, Responsibility includes working with CIOs to manage business led initiatives in connectivity space.

Working with global networks leadership to drive the transformation and large tech debt remediation activities across all regions. Drive recruitment for futuristic skills to accelerate transformation and work with partners to recruit core networks skills for operations, delivery and remediation activities.

People: Collaborate with the developers and product designer, involving them early enough and providing them direct access customers, leverage the team's skills and mind. Promote an open, collaborative culture that promotes phycological safety. A leader of empowered teams.

Working closely with wider CIO organisations and business colleagues in the region to provide relevant solutions for their business and regulatory requirements – while ensuring global engagement model and prioritization activities.

Stakeholder Management and Leadership

• Strong Stakeholder Management skills that result in partnerships  in order to achieve business success. 
• Establish mutual respect and mutual trust with each stakeholder including senior leadership of the company; share product’s vision and strategy, and motivate and inspire the product team, as well as the various stakeholders and others in the company that must contribute to the product in one way or another; Leadership skills -  the need to influence and inspire people with the stakeholders looking to them for leadership especially in stressful situations.

Decision-making and Problem Solving

• Ability to figure out solutions to hard problems with many constraints, using sound judgement to assess risks, and to lay out your argument in a well-structured, data-informed, written narrative.

Risk and Control Objective

• Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise-Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Barclays Policies and Policy Standards. Prior experience handling audits and interactions with regulators.

Person Specification

• An inspiring leader that will craft a product culture that values customer centric proficiency and partnerships with stakeholders and business, whilst operating at a high level of integrity, collaboration, safety and transparency.
• Strategize and oversee the implementation of networks operating model in the region and globally.
• Support teams keeping abreast of the latest innovations.
• Encourage the adoption of modernisation methodologies across the teams. Guide future leaders in maintaining their product and technical acumen while developing strong management skills.

Essential Skills/Basic Qualifications:

• Proven track record over multiple years as a technology leaders in networks domain and excellent understanding of various networks technologies
• Managing Network Operations for financial services domain
• Exposure to risk and controls, audits, regulatory interactions, product management and vendor relations
• Leader in quarterly planning cycles and assigning objectives (problems to solve) to product teams.
• Proven ability to go deep and quickly learn new domains, as well as solid understanding of all major parts of the business.
• Proven detailed experience in designing large-scale network solutions in large financial institutions.
• Capable of bringing together expert knowledge from across the organization and consolidating into a cohesive end-to-end solution
• Proven track record of coaching and developing other people
• The ability to effectively communicate and sell complex solutions
• Experience in participating in virtual teams in a complex network environment
• Technical knowledge of all major components of network infrastructure used within the Barclays group (data, firewalls, voice.)
• Thorough knowledge of the TCP/IP protocol Suite, VLSM, IP address allocation
• Proven knowledge and expertise of specific technical platforms:
• In Depth knowledge of routing protocols IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF and BGP
• Demonstrate servant-based leadership and knowledge of leading by context rather than control.

Desirable skills/Preferred Qualifications:

• Certifications in Networks technologies

Experience working in a finance, banking or a fintech company