Director, IT Core Infrastructure

About Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the company behind the PlayStation brand and a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, is a leading technology and entertainment organization known for delivering advanced hardware and online services to over 100 million users globally. SIE is dedicated to creating exceptional experiences under the PlayStation name, celebrated for innovation and entertainment prowess.

Role Overview

The Director of IT Core Infrastructure is a senior technology executive accountable for shaping strategy, carrying out transformation initiatives, and managing delivery and operations of SIE’s worldwide core IT infrastructure. This encompasses leadership of diverse teams managing internal and client networking, physical site connectivity, hybrid cloud and on-premises infrastructure, as well as enterprise endpoint administration across multiple operating systems including mobile, Linux, Windows, and Mac.

Reporting to the Senior Director of IT, this role supervises multiple managerial layers, ensuring performance, security, scalability, dependability, resilience, and user satisfaction of core infrastructure services. The Director translates organizational strategy into prioritized actions, investment decisions, and long-term roadmaps while balancing transformation efforts, operational efficiency, technical debt, risk, and costs.

The role focuses on advancing Core Infrastructure towards automated, software-defined, self-service, and progressively autonomous operating models, requiring strong technical expertise as well as broad strategic leadership across infrastructure realms.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and clear direction for a globally distributed Core Infrastructure organization, setting priorities and operational accountability.
• Assume full ownership for service availability, reliability, security, resilience, and user experience.
• Balance competing demands including operational needs, technological transformation, risk mitigation, and budgeting within the infrastructure portfolio.
• Empower management teams to independently manage their services with clear accountability standards.
• Develop and implement enterprise-aligned Core Infrastructure strategies and multi-year transformation roadmaps.
• Champion automation, infrastructure as code, AI-enabled operations, observability, and modern engineering practices to enhance reliability, scalability, efficiency, and delivery speed.
• Drive standardization and simplification of technology and service frameworks for scalable global operations.
• Collaborate with Information Security, Service & Support, and other technology groups to devise integrated solutions and influence enterprise strategy.
• Establish robust operational processes including service management, incident response, change and lifecycle management, capacity planning, and resilience.
• Ensure compliance with performance, security, availability, and regulatory standards, and improve business continuity.
• Utilize operational metrics and data to identify systemic challenges, optimize expenditures, and enhance automation.
• Act as trusted advisor to senior leaders on infrastructure-related strategies, investments, risks, and opportunities.
• Lead complex initiatives crossing multiple technology functions requiring alignment and stakeholder management.
• Represent Core Infrastructure in enterprise planning, architecture, and risk discussions, offering a broad organizational perspective.
• Communicate intricate technology decisions effectively to executive stakeholders and foster cross-functional partnerships.
• Lead development and mentoring of global managers, architects, and senior engineers to build leadership depth.
• Continuously refine organizational structures, roles, and skills to adapt to evolving business and technology demands.
• Advocate a culture prioritizing engineering excellence, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and measurable results.
• Oversee financial planning, budgeting, investment prioritization, and resource management within the Core Infrastructure portfolio.
• Make judicious investment tradeoffs balancing transformation, technical debt, operational demands, resilience, and security.
• Drive cost optimization efforts, develop solid business cases for technology spending, and manage vendor partnerships effectively.
• Maintain governance frameworks, standards, and policies to support efficient and agile Core Infrastructure operations.
• Identify and mitigate infrastructure risks related to availability, security, scalability, lifecycle, capacity, and resilience.
• Set and monitor service level objectives, availability targets, and business outcome metrics to support accountability and continuous improvement.
• Challenge and improve existing processes to reduce complexity and enhance automation and scalability across IT operations.
• Contribute to the ongoing evolution of IT operating models and the wider technology organization.

Candidate Requirements

• Minimum 12 years of experience in infrastructure engineering, enterprise technology, or similar technical fields.
• At least 5 years managing multiple managers and leading large, globally dispersed technology teams.
• Comprehensive understanding of enterprise infrastructure services with deep expertise in one or more key domains and proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.
• Track record managing and evolving large-scale, critical enterprise technology environments.
• Experienced in driving substantial technology, organizational, or operational transformations across multiple teams or domains.
• Proven capabilities in developing leadership talent and creating succession-ready organizational depth.
• Strong skills influencing senior stakeholders and leading cross-organizational initiatives within complex, matrixed settings.
• Expertise in crafting and executing multi-year strategies, roadmaps, investment frameworks, and operational models.
• Solid financial and commercial insight including expertise in investment prioritization, vendor management, and cost control.
• Excellent ability to distill complex technical matters into clear business implications and communicate effectively to executive audiences.

Compensation and Additional Information

The base salary range for this position is approximately €109,400 to €164,000 per year, supplemented by bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package. Benefits include paid leave, wellness programs, and employee discounts on Sony products. Salary and benefits may adjust based on location and individual qualifications under a hybrid working policy.

Background checks, including criminal record reviews as applicable, will be conducted during the offer process. Personal data will be processed in compliance with privacy standards.

Equal Opportunity

Sony is committed to equal opportunity employment, evaluating candidates without regard to gender identity, race, religion, marital status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, union membership, or other protected statuses. The company fosters an inclusive workplace culture and encourages diverse applicants. It also practices fair chance hiring policies considering applicants with records.