Platform Manager

The Cloud Platform Manager will be responsible for owning and optimising the law firms enterprise cloud environment (Azure & Azure local), ensuring its alignment with the firm's broader technology and business strategies. This is a pivotal leadership role in a highly modernising legal technology environment, with a clear remit to support AI enablement, centralised integration, automation, and a mobile-first strategy across a global footprint. Duties and Responsibilities Platform Ownership & Strategy • Act as the primary owner for the Azure cloud environment, including governance, cost management, architecture, and operations. • Develop and maintain a scalable, secure, and resilient cloud platform aligned with the firm's digital transformation goals. • Drive and implement the roadmap for infrastructure upgrades and simplification of cloud services, on-prem services and all our environments. • Align team capacity and structure with business needs, ensuring roles, responsibilities, and workflows are well defined. • Represent the team in strategic planning forums and contribute to organisational leadership decisions. Leadership The successful candidate will be expected to uphold a high standard of operational excellence and personal accountability. This includes taking full ownership of the cloud platform's stability and performance. • While the role primarily operates within standard business hours, there is an expectation of flexibility and responsiveness during critical incidents. A strong dedication to seeing major issues through to resolution, regardless of time of day is an essential. • Lead by example, setting clear expectations and holding individuals and teams accountable for high performance and ethical conduct. • Provide direct line management of individuals where appropriate, ensuring clear direction, regular development conversations, and alignment with team and business goals. Operational Management • Take full ownership of day-to-day BAU operations, ensuring the cloud platform's performance, reliability, security, and compliance. This includes patch management across all infrastructure services, as well as ensuring regular reporting is carried out for patch compliance and vulnerability management. Beyond operational stability, the role demands a continuous improvement mindset - proactively evaluating the platform and driving enhancements to optimise efficiency, resilience, and user experience. • Manage incident response, problem management, and change management processes in collaboration with other platform teams. • Ensure effective monitoring, health checks, and proactive maintenance across services all Cloud infrastructure services (including on-prem services). • Ensure we have Disaster Recovery environments that are fit for purpose and regularly tested. • Take ownership of major incidents related to cloud infrastructure, including root cause analysis and corrective actions. • Be available outside of standard working hours if required for high-priority incidents, demonstrating a commitment to seeing critical issues through to resolution, regardless of the time of day. • Oversee and hold third-party cloud service providers (e.g., managed service partners, platform vendors) to account, ensuring they meet agreed SLAs, security standards, and deliver consistent value to the business. Engineering & Projects • Lead a team of platform engineers and third-party partners responsible for configuration, automation, deployment, and enhancement of the platform. • Oversee delivery of projects related to the Cloud platform, including upgrades, new capabilities, and digital transformation initiatives. • Ensure effective use of tools such as SolarWinds, Azure, Tenable. • Enforce patch management processes and ensure the environment is compliant. • Evaluate and pilot emerging capabilities such as Microsoft Copilot and AI-driven productivity tools. • Oversee the operational integrity, performance, and availability of core data platforms and pipelines that support reporting, analytics, and AI readiness across the firm. • Collaborate closely with the Data & AI teams to ensure cloud infrastructure supports scalable, secure, and reliable data ingestion, transformation, and delivery. Budgeting & Licensing • Own and manage the platform budget, ensuring efficient use of resources and cost optimisation. • Manage and forecast consumption charges, ensuring compliance and maximising license utilisation. • Liaise with procurement, finance, and vendors for renewals and cost planning. Governance, Risk & Compliance • Define and enforce policies for workload management and governance across our cloud estate. • Maintain compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements. • Ensure data governance best practices across cloud environment. Stakeholder Engagement • Collaborate with business units, Technology senior leadership team, and product teams to gather requirements and improve platform services. • Champion change management initiatives that drive behavioural adoption of digital tools across the firm. • Act as an evangelist for Modern cloud tools, driving user adoption and digital workplace maturity. • Provide platform status reporting and updates to senior leadership and stakeholders. Skills/Experience • Committed to maintaining high standards of documentation, ensuring that all key infrastructure processes, configurations, and new services are clearly and consistently documented. Responsible for fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and operational transparency within the team. • Proven experience in managing enterprise-scale Microsoft Cloud environments. • Expert knowledge of Windows Server, with a deep understanding of Microsoft Azure, Conditional Access, Entra ID, Microsoft Defender, and related technologies. • Hands-on experience with cloud management, collaboration tools, and identity/security best practices. • Disaster Recovery Planning and Implementation • Experience managing budgets, licensing agreements, and vendor relationships. • Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to lead cross-functional teams and projects. • Knowledge of ITIL practices and service management methodologies. • Strong problem-solving and analytical abilities. Skills/Attributes • Presents ideas and concepts to non-discipline colleagues and management in a manner that is respectful and understandable. • Primary objective of job is to motivate others to act; understanding, developing, motivating, negotiating, mediating conflict with technical staff and third parties. • Creates an environment in which quality information flows freely between self and others; encourages open expression of ideas and opinions; builds effective teams • Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) and the ability to interact across different cultures and time zones. • Expected to have regular interaction with management and counterparts in multiple businesses and countries. • Demonstrates ability to handle abstract problems with no known solutions. • Adapts to multiple/changing demands readily. • Can see applications for practices from different industries that could benefit our business, and successfully implements them. • Demonstrates strategic and visionary behaviours.