Senior Manager - Digital & Technology (Charter)

Aldar Education is currently seeking a Senior Manager - IT to support our Charter schools in the UAE. This is an exciting opportunity to join the highly successful Aldar family of schools and to help shape the future of Abu Dhabi’s leading school group.

This senior role is accountable for leading IT service operations across Aldar Education managed Charter Schools, ensuring services are secure, reliable, consistent and aligned to school and group priorities. The role provides strategic and operational leadership across service management, compliance, incident and problem management, change enablement, asset lifecycle, supplier performance, budget control, reporting and continuous improvement. It acts as the senior operational owner for the Charter Schools technology service model, translating group strategy into practical delivery plans and providing clear escalation, assurance and communication for school leaders, HQ stakeholders and external partners.

Since its inception in 2007 with just 250 students, Aldar Education has grown into a highly sought-after education provider, with more than 25 owned and managed premium and super-premium schools and academies- in partnership with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including Rugby School, King’s College Wimbledon, and Cranleigh. The Group now serves over 38,000 students through 5,000 educators from more than 100 nationalities to deliver world-class education across a broad range of curricula and learning pathways from nursery through to K12.

At Aldar Education, our impact goes far beyond the classroom: we are proud to contribute to the UAE’s vision for a sustainable, knowledge-based economy through premium education. With this in mind, we hire educators and industry professionals who not only embody our values and cultural ethos but also bring a genuine passion for education—qualities central to our mission of shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

If you are passionate about excellence and ready to make a meaningful impact, we invite you to apply and be part of our journey.

Strategic Service Leadership and Governance:

• Lead IT service operations for Charter Schools, setting the service direction, governance model, standards, controls and performance expectations required to deliver reliable, secure and customer-focused technology services.
• Translate Group Digital and Enterprise Services strategy into practical operating plans, service targets, lifecycle priorities and measurable outcomes for Charter Schools.
• Own the Charter Schools IT service management framework, including incident, request, problem, change, knowledge, service catalogue, configuration, asset and service level management.
• Act as the senior escalation and decision point for significant service issues, major incidents, stakeholder concerns, operational risks and service failures.
• Establish clear reporting, dashboards and governance routines to support performance oversight, risk management, investment planning and continuous improvement.

Operational Delivery, Risk and Compliance:

• Provide accountable oversight of day-to-day technology operations across Charter Schools, including end-user devices, classroom technology, AV, networks, connectivity, telephony, printing, cloud services and core school systems.
• Ensure operational readiness for academic terms, examinations, inspections, admissions activity, major school events, new school openings and critical business periods.
• Coordinate with Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Applications, Data, Digital and central service teams to ensure changes, maintenance, upgrades and remediation are planned, tested, communicated and delivered with minimum disruption.
• Maintain compliance readiness against applicable ADEK ICT standards, organisational policies, audit obligations, inspection requirements, safeguarding expectations and approved corrective action plans.
• Ensure data handling, access control, confidentiality, privacy, cybersecurity, business continuity, backup and disaster recovery requirements are followed in line with legal, regulatory and organisational requirements.
• Lead operational communications during outages, planned changes, major incidents and significant disruptions, ensuring updates are timely, accurate, diplomatic and suitable for business stakeholders.

Educational Technology and Transformation Delivery:

• Lead the adoption, governance and operational support of educational technology, classroom platforms, AI-enabled education initiatives and digital learning solutions across Charter Schools.
• Oversee operational delivery of technology projects, refresh programmes, service transitions and transformation initiatives, ensuring they meet approved scope, budget, schedule, quality, compliance and readiness requirements.
• Represent Charter Schools through project planning, design, procurement, implementation, testing, acceptance, transition and post-implementation review activities.
• Ensure new or changed services have clear ownership, documentation, support arrangements, supplier escalation routes, training plans, performance measures and adoption support.

Asset, Supplier and Financial Governance:

• Govern technology lifecycle management across acquisition, configuration, deployment, utilisation, maintenance, repair, warranty, refresh, redeployment, return, disposal and audit compliance.
• Maintain accurate records for assets, software, licences, warranties, contracts, ownership, assignment, location, condition, support status and lifecycle stage through approved platforms.
• Lead technology procurement planning, requirements definition, technical evaluations, supplier assessment, business-case development and value-for-money recommendations within delegated authority.
• Manage supplier governance for IT and AV services, including performance reviews, AMC management, KPI and SLA tracking, risk monitoring, escalation management and service-improvement actions.
• Oversee the Charter Schools IT budget position, including expenditure, commitments, forecasts, renewals, planned investments, financial risks, CAPEX and OPEX planning.

People Leadership and Stakeholder Management:

• Lead, coach and performance-manage school-based IT and AV teams, setting objectives, clarifying accountability, building capability and supporting consistent service behaviours.
• Plan team capability, resource coverage, workload allocation, escalation arrangements, knowledge sharing, succession needs and continuity of support across Charter Schools.
• Maintain trusted working relationships with Principals, school leadership teams, HQ functions, Education, Finance, Procurement, People and Culture, ADEK, vendors and service partners.
• Translate technical matters into clear business impact, risk, options, recommendations and decisions for senior stakeholders and governance forums.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology / Computer Engineering / Electronics / Communications Engineering
• ITIL V3 or V4 Certification is a must, or ISO equivalent.

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years’ progressive experience in IT service management, technology operations or infrastructure leadership, including significant responsibility for multi-site service delivery, team leadership, budget control, supplier management, major incident management and service improvement.

Job Specific Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong leadership capability in IT service operations, governance, service transformation and continuous improvement across a multi-site environment.
• Excellent knowledge of ITIL practices, including incident, request, problem, change, knowledge, CMDB, asset and service level management.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft 365, endpoint management, identity and access, networking, Wi-Fi, AV, printing, backup, cloud services and school technology operations.
• Sound awareness of cybersecurity, data protection, safeguarding, business continuity, disaster recovery and operational resilience requirements.
• Strong budget, procurement, contract, supplier, reporting and asset lifecycle management skills.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders, communicate technical matters in business terms and lead effectively during high-pressure operational periods.

What We Offer:

Aldar Education is a family of world-class, child-centered, and innovative schools based in the UAE. We educate students across our group of owned and managed schools and as we grow, so does our need for highly skilled, inspirational, and dedicated school and educational leaders. We offer an attractive remuneration package including a range of benefits. Our future-focused learning model includes both students and staff, so we place a special emphasis on professional development, coaching, and training.

Successful candidates will have access to a wide network of professionals and opportunities to both lead and contribute to training others as well as developing themselves.

This job description is not all-inclusive. Aldar Education reserves the right to amend this job description at any time. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. We are dedicated to our national development strategy and encourage UAE Nationals in their application to our company.

Aldar Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Offers of appointment are subject to satisfactory references and police clearance.