Director of Operations

Job title: Director of Operations

Location: London / Bristol 

Salary: £126,000 - £177,000

Team: Engineering

Reporting To: (Job title) VP Engineering

This role is based in The UK and requires an existing right to work in the UK.

At this time, we are not able to offer visa sponsorship for this role. We are committed to building a diverse, global team and our sponsorship policy is evaluated on a role-by-role basis. We encourage you to keep an eye on our careers site to stay informed about future opportunities where we are able to offer visa sponsorship.

Kaluza is the Energy Intelligence Platform, turning energy complexity into seamless coordination. We help energy companies overcome today’s challenges while accelerating the shift to a clean, electrified future.

Our platform orchestrates millions of real-time decisions across homes, devices, markets and grids. By combining predictive algorithms with human-centred design, Kaluza makes clean energy dependable, affordable and adaptive to everyday life.

With teams across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan, we power leading companies including OVO, AGL and ENGIE, as well as innovators like Volvo and Volkswagen.

At Kaluza we embrace a flexible, hybrid work model that balances autonomy with the power of in-person connection. Many of our teams find value in coming together regularly to collaborate, strengthen relationships, and accelerate progress. We’re focused on shaping thoughtful, team-driven approaches that support both business impact and individual well-being.

What will I be doing?

You'll be joining the Kaluza Technology community. We’re a large team of both data-led and product focused Software and Platform Engineers, pushing the boundaries of technology and working at an extraordinary scale. As a collective we strive for engineering greatness and by ensuring best practices across the board of the community.

To find out more about what it’s like to work in our Kaluza Technology Community, check out our Tech Blog here: 

https://www.kaluza.com/blog/ 

You’ll be working across Kaluza Retail, Energy Optimisation and Customer Care Platforms, collectively these aim to revolutionise the operating platforms for energy retailers globally. This platform has been built with scale and technical quality in mind and is the foundation for decarbonisation efforts by Kaluza’s customers. 

As Director, you will lead the operations teams, who are pivotal in ensuring the success of our clients. Your core responsibilities will encompass maintaining the stability of our platform for all clients, alongside managing the dedicated teams who provide critical support on the efficient running of our platform and also during live incidents and problem resolution.

You will play a strategic role, collaborating closely with the executive board and other technology and product directors to define and implement an operational strategy. This strategy will serve as the foundation for engineering delivery, accurately reflect product requirements, and guarantee that the highest quality standards are consistently met across the entire Kaluza ecosystem. Your leadership will be crucial in fostering a proactive and responsive operational environment that not only addresses current challenges but also anticipates future needs, ensuring the long-term reliability and performance of our services.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive operations strategy that supports and advances the company's business objectives.
• Forecast technology trends and plan for future technology needs across Kaluza.
• Provide operational metrics to the board, highlighting required strategic or remedial actions.
• Ensure product/platform availability, reliability, and performance through proactive monitoring and management.
• Drive the strategy for the design, deployment, and maintenance of all IT infrastructure.
• Ensure client operations meet contractual SLAs.
• Review existing operational processes and performance metrics to identify and implement improvements that enhance efficiency and reduce costs.
• Establish and enforce robust security protocols and risk management strategies to protect the company's data and infrastructure from cyber threats.
• Develop and implement disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
• Develop and manage the IT operations budget, ensuring cost-effective allocation of resources.
• Oversee vendor relationships, negotiate contracts, and manage third-party service agreements.
• Lead, mentor, and manage a Senior Technology team.Ensure a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and high performance with other departments.
• Partner with other departments and executive leadership to understand their technological needs and translate business requirements into technical solutions.

Our Tech Stack

AWS, Kubernetes, Cilium, Hubble, Kyverno, Traefik, Cloudflare, Sealed secrets, Terraform, Helm, GitHub Runners, KEDA, KNative, ArgoCD, Datadog, Golang, Python, Crossplane, Karpenter, Kafka

About You 

Ideally you’ll have

• Proven experience in a senior leadership role within IT or technical operations. Demonstrated success in managing large-scale IT infrastructures and leading technical change.
• A deep understanding of IT infrastructure, including networking and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP). 
• Exceptional leadership and team management abilities with a track record of motivating and developing technical teams.
• A strong ability to analyse complex situations, anticipate future needs, and develop strategic solutions that align with business goals.
• Experience in budget planning, financial management, and vendor negotiation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Desirable:

• A degree in computer science or relevant experience 
• Service Management  certifications in ITIL, Cobit or similar 
• Cloud Certifications , AWS , Google or Azure 

Kaluza Values

Here at Kaluza we have five core values that guide us as a business: 

We’re on a mission, We build together, We’re inclusive, We get it done, We communicate with purpose.

Read more about our values over on our careers site.

From us you’ll get

• Pension Scheme
• Discretionary Bonus Scheme
• Private Medical Insurance + Virtual GP
• Life Assurance
• Access to Furthr - a Climate Action app
• Free Mortgage Advice and Eye Tests
• Perks at Work - access to thousands of retail discounts
• 5% Flex Fund to spend on the benefits you want most
• 26 days holiday
• Flexible bank holidays, giving you an additional 8 days which you can choose to take whenever you like
• Progressive leave policies with no qualifying service periods, including 26 weeks full pay if you have a new addition to your family 
• Dedicated personal learning and home office budgets
• And more…

We want the best people

We’re keen to meet people from all walks of life — our view is that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We want to build teams which represent a variety of experiences, perspectives and skills, and we recognise talent on the basis of merit and potential.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they tick every box. But if you're excited about joining us and think you have some of what we're looking for, even if you're not 100% sure, we'd still love to hear from you.

Find out more about working in Kaluza on our careers page and LinkedIn.