Bilingual Head of IT

Job description / Role

We are extremely proud at Irwin & Dow to be working with one of the leading visionaries in the Middle East, as they continue to develop and grow their business interests, nurture philanthropic ideas and support global and regional humanitarian causes. Our client’s organisation is a huge inspiration to those present in the region and inspires passion and loyalty amongst those who work within it. We are looking for the highest caliber of IT professional for this role; an established Head of IT with demonstrated, consistent career history within the region and accountable for the smooth operations of the IT department across several servers and regional locations.

The main function of this role is to be wholly accountable for the smooth running of all IT systems concerning day to day operational requirements, custodian of IT assets, security and rapid response planning, budgets and timelines. You will develop and monitor all IT project planning and road mapping for the next 1-3 years and have a firm understanding of the business needs. As Head of IT you are expected to recommend new technologies, business solutions and security tools and policies to maintain business continuity and absolute minimal downtime. Any new hardware and tools should be tested and fit for purpose and you will have support from your team consisting of the senior manager and helpdesk specialist at your disposal. Disaster recovery and business continuity is vital to this organisation and this will prove to be an ongoing project within this role. You will also develop a smart IT security response plan in collaboration with the relevant authorities to protect company systems, business applications and extremely confidential and sensitive information. Therefore there is a constant monitoring, evaluation and update of firewalls, antivirus and spam filters. You will also interact with peers, seniors and subordinates across all departments to conduct awareness sessions and ensure all equipment is well functioning and appropriate for the tasks in hand including laptops, mobile phones landlines and printers. It is therefore essential that you are a confident and bilingual communicator in both Arabic & English.

Requirements

The successful applicant should be fluent in both the Arabic and English languages and a strong and effective communicator. Educated to Masters standard in the field of information technology is essential, as is a minimum of 5- 7 years in a similar Senior or Head of IT role. You will also possess particular expertise in security vulnerability assessments and technologies including IDS/IPS, HIDS/HIPS firewalls, SIEM, web application security, end point protection, anti-virus and data encryption. The ideal candidate will also be familiar with best practices and frameworks to ISO 27001 standard.

About the Company

Irwin & Dow was established in 2013 to provide clients with a unique and highly personalised recruitment service, providing the very top calibre of candidates across the business support and secretarial function.

We provide a refreshing approach, working in close partnership with clients and candidates across diverse industry sectors; large MNC’s, government & semi -government entities, SME’s, local businesses and in the start-up and UHNWI support framework.

Great people equal great success: all our candidates are interviewed personally by a member of the team, and we develop longstanding and in-depth relationships with our clients, understanding their corporate culture and goals to ensure a successful outcome for both parties.

Our values of discretion and diplomacy are paramount, and we are pleased to be a partner of choice for clients and candidates.