Head of Corporate Infrastructure

iSAM is an innovative, financial technology firm specialising in quantitative trading, compromised of iSAM Funds and iSAM Securities.

iSAM Securities regulated by the FCA, SFC, and CTFC, and CIMA registered, is a leading algorithmic trading firm and trusted electronic market maker, providing liquidity, technology and prime services to institutional clients and trading venues globally. The firm offers full-service prime brokerage and execution via its cutting-edge proprietary technology, as well as market leading analytics, cleared through the group's bank Prime Brokers.

iSAM Funds is an alternative asset manager specialising in systematic investing. Each strategy is unique, provides a specialist quantitative approach and is designed to deliver highly diversifying absolute returns for institutional portfolios.

About the Role

We are seeking a Head of Corporate Infrastructure based in our London headquarters, reporting to the Chief Technology Officer.

This role is responsible for defining and delivering the strategy, performance, and evolution of Corporate Infrastructure across the organisation. The successful candidate will combine strong technical depth with a clear focus on leadership, stakeholder engagement, and operational excellence.

While remaining technically credible and able to guide architectural and operational decisions, the primary focus of the role is leadership, strategy, and organisational impact rather than full hands on delivery.

Key Responsibilities Leadership, Strategy & Stakeholder Engagement

• Define and own the Corporate Infrastructure strategy and multi year roadmap, aligned to business objectives and technology direction.
• Act as a partner to business units, ensuring Infrastructure services meet evolving needs and deliver an excellent end user experience.
• Build, lead, and develop a high performing global Corporate Infrastructure team, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Provide clear direction and priorities across the team, balancing operational stability with strategic change.
• Own vendor relationships, strategic partnerships, and technology procurement decisions.
• Drive an automation first and engineering led culture across the team.

Service Ownership & Operational Excellence

• Own the performance and reliability of end user services, including Service Desk and End User Computing, ensuring a consistent and high quality global experience.
• Ensure robust lifecycle management of end user platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux), with strong governance around compliance, patching, and security.
• Oversee workplace technology across offices, including AV, collaboration tools, and office infrastructure.

Identity, Security & Risk Management

• Provide leadership oversight of identity and access management (AD, Entra ID, RBAC, joiner/mover/leaver processes).
• Partner closely with Cyber Security to strengthen the organisation's security posture, including zero trust initiatives and endpoint protection.
• Ensure infrastructure services meet regulatory, audit, and compliance requirements expected within financial services.

Core Infrastructure & Cloud Services

• Own the strategy and reliability of core services such as DNS, DHCP, PKI, and certificate management.
• Oversee Microsoft 365, Azure infrastructure, and collaboration platforms, ensuring scalability, resilience, and cost efficiency.
• Ensure effective backup, recovery, and disaster recovery capabilities across corporate services.
• Own and maintain the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) based corporate business continuity plan.

Technical Oversight & Guidance

• Act as the senior technical authority for Corporate Infrastructure, providing guidance on architecture, tooling, and engineering standards.
• Support the team in solving complex technical challenges and act as an escalation point where required.
• Ensure adoption of modern engineering practices, including Infrastructure as Code, automation, and CI/CD approaches.
• Maintain sufficient hands on awareness to make informed decisions, without being a primary delivery resource.

Skills & Experience Leadership

• Proven experience leading and scaling infrastructure or end user technology teams in a complex, regulated environment.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both technical and non technical audiences.
• Track record of building high performing, engaged teams.

Technical Background

• Strong background in Microsoft centric infrastructure (AD, Azure, Microsoft 365, endpoint management).
• Deep understanding of identity and access management, security principles, and enterprise infrastructure design.
• Experience across both on premises and cloud environments.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals relevant to corporate infrastructure.
• Experience with enterprise backup and recovery solutions.
• Strong appreciation for automation first environments (PowerShell, Python, IaC, CI/CD).
• Experience introducing or scaling modern infrastructure practices (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, Git workflows).
• Ability to guide teams towards engineering best practices
• Experience overseeing macOS (e.g., Jamf) and Windows (e.g., Intune) environments at scale.
• Understanding of modern workplace tooling, collaboration platforms, and office infrastructure.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic thinker with a strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Clear communicator, able to translate technical concepts into business value
• Collaborative and approachable leadership style
• Pragmatic decision maker, balancing risk, speed, and quality
• Strong focus on continuous improvement and team development
• Naturally curious, with a desire to stay close to evolving technologies without being hands on