Principal Operations Specialist

Sand Technologies

. Design and establish regional operational systems, processes and capabilities for infrastructure supporting physical AI solutions .

Posted 10/31/2026full-timeRemote • South AfricaLeadWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates extensive experience in building and leading operational capabilities for infrastructure supporting AI solutions, with a strong focus on client engagement, compliance, and scalable operational models. Proficient in managing cross-regional teams and implementing industry best practices in ITIL and SRE.

Highest-signal resume keywords

10+ Years In Infrastructure OperationsExperience Leading Operational TeamsTechnical Depth In Azure And AWSFluency In Tiered Support And SLAsExperience With ITIL And SRE Practices

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Infrastructure As CodeIncident ManagementProblem ManagementChange ManagementKubernetesObservabilityData ResidencyCost Reserved CapacityBusiness Case DevelopmentSRE Function Development

Soft Skills

Client-Facing CompetenceLeadershipTeam DevelopmentCross-Regional CollaborationCommunication

Tools & Technologies

PulumiTerraformOpenTofuTerragruntAzureAWSNetworkingIdentity And Access Management

Certifications & Qualifications

ISO 27001

Industry Keywords

Operational Health ReportingClient Security ReviewsRegulated Environments24/7 OperationsSovereign Deployments

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSAzureCloudCyber SecurityKubernetesTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Design and establish regional operational systems, processes and capabilities for infrastructure supporting physical AI solutions
Act as the operational counterpart to clients’ IT and security teams and account leads
Shape support, residency and response commitments in proposals
Own transitions from delivery into regional operation
Define the repeatable hub blueprint, including roles, skills, access, tooling, runbooks, on-call, security, compliance and readiness criteria
Lead new hubs from business case through hiring, onboarding and first client production environment
Operate Client Value Ops across accounts, including tiered support, SLAs, reserved capacity, incident and problem management, cross-region escalation and operational health reporting
Set operating standards, cadence and quality bar across a matrix organization
Partner with Legal, GRC, Cyber Security, IT Operations and Platform teams
Hire and develop hub leads and infrastructure engineers across new regions
Convert hub learnings into improved global patterns, platform feedback and client commitments
Participate in client security reviews and audits
Establish a scalable hub model as Symmetri becomes the standard delivery platform

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years in infrastructure, cloud operations, site reliability or technology operations
At least four years leading operational teams across more than one country or time zone
Experience building an operations capability from zero, including standing up an SRE function, operations centre, managed service or regional support team
Fluency in tiered support, SLAs and SLOs, incident, problem and change management, reserved capacity and sustainable on-call design
Literate in ITIL and SRE practice
Technical depth in Azure, AWS, networking, identity and access, Kubernetes, infrastructure as code and observability
Experience with Pulumi, Terraform, OpenTofu, Terragrunt or equivalents
Experience with data residency, ISO 27001 and similar certifications, client security questionnaires and audits
Experience hiring, onboarding and leading people in more than one country, including people who did not report directly to you
Ability to size a hub, cost reserved capacity and build a business case
Client-facing competence with enterprise IT and executives
Strong pluses: experience opening operations in a new country; operating in Africa, the US and UK; regulated environments; air-gapped or sovereign deployments; follow-the-sun or 24/7 operations; operating ML models and LLM systems in production

Benefits

Comp & perks

Remote position
Global travel to client sites
In-person collaboration in Johannesburg and Cape Town preferred
Opportunity to work with global colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US