[Hiring] Principal Operations Specialist @Sand Tech Holdings Limited

Role Description

We are transitioning toward a structure focused on centralized enablement combined with regional infrastructure deployment and operations. Under this framework, a core global team establishes overarching standards, operational patterns, and governance guardrails. Dedicated Client Infrastructure Hubs across each market actively provision, maintain, and manage sustained regional platforms for local clients. Operating as long-term functional units rather than transient delivery groups, these hubs pull expertise directly from Delivery Enablement, IT Operations, along with GRC and Cyber Security. Unifying these efforts, our Client Value Ops layer serves as the unified operational interface across all client engagements globally.

We are seeking an experienced Principal Operations Specialist to join our global enablement team. As a principal contributor, you will be responsible for designing and establishing the regional operational systems, processes and capability that operates and maintains the infrastructure that powers our physical AI solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the capability that makes regional operations work.
• Be the operational counterpart to clients’ IT and security teams.
• Define the repeatable pattern for standing up a hub.
• Lead each new hub from a business case with regional sponsors to the first client environment in production.
• Operate the unified layer across all accounts.
• Set the operating standard, cadence, and bar for the hub.
• Hire and develop hub leads and infrastructure engineers in each new region.
• Turn what the hubs learn into better global patterns and client commitments.
• Spend real time in front of clients, answering operational questions accurately.
• Shape a hub model that scales with the deployment of the platform.

Your First Twelve Months

• A hub blueprint exists and is in use.
• Every live hub has a named lead, published SLAs, and accurate runbooks.
• Client Value Ops provides one view of the operational health of every live client environment.
• US and Africa hubs have an agreed business case and service assurance backbone.
• Identify what must be identical in every hub and what must differ by region.
• Be the operational voice in at least one client security review or audit.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in infrastructure, cloud operations, site reliability or technology operations.
• Experience leading operational teams across more than one country or time zone.
• Built an operations capability from zero.
• Experience standing up an SRE function, operations centre, or regional support team.
• Fluency in operating models including tiered support, SLAs, and incident management.
• Technical depth in Azure, AWS, networking, Kubernetes, and observability.
• Experience in regulated and sovereign environments.
• Matrix and multi-country leadership experience.
• Commercial awareness and ability to build business cases.
• Client-facing competence with enterprise IT and executives.

Requirements

• Strong in most qualifications, familiar with the rest, and willing to learn.

Strong Pluses

• Experience in opening operations in a new country.
• Operating in Africa and other emerging markets.
• Experience in public sector, utility, health, or regulated environments.
• Experience with air-gapped or disconnected deployments of data-intensive systems.
• Experience in follow-the-sun or 24/7 operations design.
• Experience operating ML models and LLM systems in production.

Location

The existing delivery enablement team members are based in Johannesburg and Cape Town. To maximize in-person collaboration time, we have a preference for hiring in these cities, in that order. Exceptionally strong candidates based in other locations will be considered. This is a remote position, but will require some travel.

This role requires global travel to client sites during the early stages of establishing hubs. Due to the considerable amount of virtual work and interaction with colleagues and customers, especially within the EMEA region, it is essential that the successful applicant has the drive and ethic to succeed in working in small teams physically but in larger efforts virtually. Self-drive to communicate constantly using web collaboration and video conferencing is essential.