Interim IT Operations Manager

About the assignment: Our client is an international, fast-moving technology organisation of around 35 people. The team is growing and IT responsibilities are currently spread across several people. They are looking for an interim IT Operations Manager who can bring these together, take ownership and run IT end to end. This role suits someone with a start-up or scale-up background: someone who is used to working without large teams or heavy processes, likes to roll up their sleeves, and also knows how to bring structure to a growing organisation.

You work closely with senior management and a part-time CISO, and you lead one Support Engineer.

What you will do: Run day-to-day IT operations: infrastructure, AWS, applications, service desk, network and end-user support.

Own applications and access: lead the evaluation of new tools, and handle configuration, user management and permissions (e.g. GitHub and AI tools).

Manage budget and costs: set up and manage the IT budget, forecast spending and optimise costs, especially in the cloud. You keep cost, performance and capability in balance.

Manage vendors and contracts: select and onboard vendors, negotiate contracts and SLAs, and monitor performance.

Set up practical processes: incident, problem, change and knowledge management, kept as lean as possible, without unnecessary bureaucracy.

Security and continuity: work with the CISO on cybersecurity, ISO 27001 and GDPR, and look after backups, disaster recovery and business continuity.

Improve and automate: find opportunities to use AI and automation to make IT more efficient.

Who you are: 5–7+ years of experience in IT operations or systems administration. Hands-on experience running IT in a start-up, scale-up or other small organisation. Strong AWS knowledge. You can read and understand GitHub repositories, though you don’t need to code. Proven experience with IT budgets and vendor contract management. Familiar with ITIL/ITSM and tools such as Jira Service Management, Zendesk or ServiceNow. Knowledge of ISO 27001 and security good practices.

Independent and pragmatic: you can quickly see what works, what doesn’t and what needs attention first. Curious, positive and a strong communicator, able to translate technology into business terms for stakeholders. You see this as a marathon, not a sprint.

What we offer: A full-time interim assignment with a short lead time. A role with real ownership and impact in a small, ambitious team. Plenty of room to shape IT the way a growing organisation needs it.

Location: Amsterdam. Candidates must be based in the Netherlands.

Assignment details: Location Amsterdam, Start date Immediately, Type Freelance, Rate Maximum €115 per hour (excl. VAT).