Director, Global On-Premise and Hybrid Cloud Operations

At Index Exchange, we’re reinventing how digital advertising works—at scale. As a global advertising supply-side platform, we empower the world’s leading media owners and marketers to thrive in a programmatic, privacy-first ecosystem. 

We’re a proud industry pioneer with over 20 years of experience accelerating the ad technology evolution. Our proprietary tech is trusted by some of the world’s largest brands and media owners and plays a crucial role in keeping the internet open, accessible, and largely free. 

We process more than 550 billion real-time auctions every day (in comparison, Google processes 8.5 billion searches per day) with ultra-low latency. Our platform is vertically integrated from servers to networks and runs primarily on our own metal and cloud infrastructure. This end-to-end infrastructure is designed to provide both stability and agility, enabling us to adapt quickly as the market evolves. 

At the core of it all is our engineering-first culture. Our engineers tackle internet-scale problems across tight-knit, global teams. From moving petabytes of data and optimizing with AI to making real-time infrastructure decisions, Indexers have the agency and influence to shape the future of advertising. We move fast, build thoughtfully, and stay grounded in our core values. 

About The Role:

We are seeking an experienced Director of System & Services Operations to lead our engineering teams in ensuring the seamless operation of our complex on-premise and hybrid cloud environments, with a strong emphasis on meeting low-latency requirements. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional operational excellence skills, a deep understanding of on-premise and hybrid cloud 24x7 operations, and a proven track record in incident management and reporting. This critical leadership role requires someone who can drive operational efficiency, optimize system performance, and maintain the highest standards of service delivery and proactive communication.

Index’s scale spans the globe, our transactions happen 24x7 in our global data centers, and every second that passes millions of requests are evaluated across our exchange. In order to achieve our mission, global efficiency and reliability are absolutely key, as every millisecond quite literally counts in our business.

Here’s What You’ll be Doing:

You will lead a team of talented engineers and collaborate with cross-functional teams to achieve operational innovation and excellence. Your primary focus will be on developing and leading the teams managing and optimizing the 24x7 support systems and process.

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and execute strategies that align with the organization's goals, focusing on enhancing system and services operations in on-premise and hybrid cloud environments. Drive innovation and continuous improvement efforts to meet evolving business demands.
• Team Leadership and Development: Manage and mentor a high-performing team of system administrators, devops engineers, and operations engineering professionals. Set Systems & Services Operations up for success by continuously improving the organizational design and ensuring the team has the right balance of skills, roles and seniority among team members. Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning to drive team growth and success.
• Operational Excellence: Take ownership of the day-to-day operations of our systems and services, ensuring optimal performance, availability, and reliability. Model the behavior of proactively identifying and resolving operational bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and risks to maintain a high level of service quality.
• On-Premise and Hybrid Cloud Expertise: Leverage your deep operational expertise in on-premise and hybrid cloud environments to design, implement, and manage 24x7 support. Ensure seamless operational integration between these environments for a consistent experience.
• Governance & Oversight: Implement strategies and best practices to achieve and maintain performance across all systems and services. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and optimize our observability, instrumentation, and 24x7 command and control governance systems.
• Incident Management: Lead incident response efforts, overseeing the rapid resolution of critical incidents while minimizing service disruption. Develop and refine incident management processes, ensuring clear communication, efficient escalation paths, and robust post-incident analysis.
• Reporting and Analytics: Develop comprehensive reporting mechanisms to track system performance, operational metrics, and service-level agreements (SLAs). Provide insightful reports and analysis to senior leadership to inform strategic decision-making.
• Vendor and Stakeholder Management: Collaborate with external vendors, partners, and internal stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of services. Manage relationships and contracts, ensuring alignment with business needs and standards.

Here's What You Need:

• Proven experience (8+ years) in managing complex on-premise and hybrid cloud environments with a strong emphasis on low-latency requirements.
• Demonstrated expertise in operational excellence methodologies, with a track record of driving process improvements and efficiencies.
• Strong incident management experience, including leading high-pressure incident response efforts and post-incident analysis.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make informed decisions under pressure.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with experience in working with cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
• Prior experience in vendor management, contract negotiations, and SLA enforcement.
• Proficiency in relevant technologies, tools, and frameworks related to on-premise and hybrid cloud operations engineering environments.
• Previous experience in a leadership or managerial role overseeing technical teams.
• Proven project management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., AWS, GCP, ITIL) are a plus.

Why you’ll love working here: 

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans for you and your dependents  

• Paid time off, health days, and personal obligation days plus flexible work schedules  

• Competitive retirement matching plans  

• Equity packages  

• Generous parental leave available to birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive parents  

• Annual well-being allowance plus fitness discounts and group wellness activities     

• Commuter benefits and discounts, where available  

• Employee assistance program  

• Mental health first aid program that provides an in-the-moment point of contact and reassurance  

• One day of volunteer time off per year and a donation-matching program  

• Bi-weekly town halls and regular community-led team events  

• Multiple resources and programming to support continuous learning 

• A workplace that supports a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment – learn more here 

Equal employment opportunity 

At Index Exchange, we believe that successful products are built by teams just as diverse as the audience who uses them. As such, we are committed to equal employment opportunities. We celebrate diversity of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. Additionally, we realize that diversity is deeper than any status or classification—diversity is the human experience. For those who show grit, passion, and humility—Index will welcome you. 

Accessibility for applicants with disabilities  

Index Exchange welcomes and encourages individuals with disabilities to apply to work with us.  

If you require an accommodation, please share the details of your request and any information how we can assist you with the hiring recruiter when they contact you. Index Exchange will make reasonable efforts to ensure accommodation requests are met throughout the recruitment process. 

Index everywhere, Index anywhere 

Our corporate headquarters are in Toronto, with major offices in New York, Montreal, Kitchener, London, San Francisco, and many other global cities. As a major global advertising exchange, we are committed to operating as a tightly knit global team and embracing and empowering talent wherever our colleagues may be.