Director, IT Operations & Service Management

Ethniki Asfalistiki has been a leading company in the Greek insurance market for 135 years. Since its establishment in 1891, the company has been offering simple, innovative, and reliable solutions that protect what matters most to its policyholders, enabling them to face each day with confidence and peace of mind.

In November 2025, Ethniki Asfalistiki entered a significant new chapter in its history by becoming part of the Piraeus Group, one of the largest and most dynamic financial organizations in Greece.

Today, Ethniki Asfalistiki employs more than 700 people, has a flexible and extensive network of Certified Insurance Intermediaries, and is trusted and preferred by 1.9 million policyholders. Guided by values such as integrity and reliability, the company places people at the heart of its business, making insurance clear and accessible and removing complexity to help customers feel informed and in control.

Ethniki Asfalistiki’s vision is to remain a leading insurer, always standing by its customers, redefining insurance through innovation, empathy, and simplicity, while building a sustainable future.

About The Role

Ethniki Asfalistiki is looking for a Director, IT Operations & Service Management to lead its consolidated technology operations organization — application management for core insurance (on mainframe and other platforms) and digital/integration estates, infrastructure (hosted data centers, mainframe as-a-service and Microsoft Azure), IT service management and enterprise data platforms. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, the Director is accountable for keeping our systems that serve 1.9 million policyholders available, secure, resilient and cost-efficient, while a multi-year transformation program modernizes the estate and retires legacy platforms.

This is a senior leadership role for an operations leader who combines engineering depth with the discipline of ITIL-based service management and the regulatory rigor of a supervised financial institution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the IT Operations & Service Management directorate — application teams across P&C, Life & Health, digital and integration, infrastructure, mainframe & cloud, IT service management and data platforms — setting objectives, KPIs and clear accountabilities across in-house teams and managed-service partners.
• Own the availability, performance and service levels (SLAs/OLAs) of all our business systems, with transparent reporting to the CTO and business owners.
• Safeguard digital operational resilience in line with DORA: ICT incident management, backup, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans that are regularly tested and evidenced, working closely with the CISO.
• Govern the daily, weekly and monthly production cycles — batch processing, interfaces and the critical business flows behind underwriting, claims, collections and payments — including the systems that support the monthly financial fast-close.
• Run ITIL 4 service-management practices end to end — service desk, incident, problem, change enablement, service requests, monitoring & event, capacity and configuration management — on the ServiceNow platform.
• Chair the Change Advisory Board (CAB) and own production readiness and operational acceptance, so that releases planned by the Change Delivery directorate enter service without compromising stability.
• Ensure BAU work and catalogued service requests are delivered directly by the Run teams, and provide application-team capacity to change initiatives and build squads in line with the quarterly quotas set by the IT Portfolio Board, taking delivered solutions into service at go-live.
• Own the legacy decommissioning and simplification roadmap: retire end-of-life systems, reduce technical debt and key-person dependencies, and shrink the run-cost base.
• Manage the Run budget and vendor managed-service contracts, ensuring run-cost predictability, supplier performance and value for money.
• Strengthen in-house engineering on core insurance and integration estates and scale DevOps/CI-CD, end-to-end observability and APM, automation and AI-assisted operations; operate the infrastructure and service desk behind the business platforms owned by Change Delivery.
• Operate the enterprise data platform, with data-availability and quality service levels for Data & AI and business consumers.
• Support internal audit, external audit and Bank of Greece engagements with robust documentation and evidence, and remediate findings on time.
• Build and develop high-performing teams and workforce: skills mix, succession and a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement.
  
  

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field.
• Master's degree in Information Technology or a related discipline will be considered an asset.
• At least 15 years of experience in Information Technology, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role overseeing large-scale IT operations, infrastructure, applications, and services.
• Proven track record running hybrid estates — hosted/outsourced data centers, mainframe (z/OS, including as-a-service models) and public cloud (Microsoft Azure) — together with managed-service and hosting providers.
• Strong understanding of IT Service Management frameworks and best practices (ITIL, ISO 20000, ServiceNow).
• Sound understanding of DORA and operational-resilience requirements, with hands-on experience of DR/BCP testing and of audit and supervisory engagements.
• Experience running transaction-heavy production operations: batch scheduling, interfaces and financial-critical cycles such as monthly closing.
• Demonstrated success in executing modernization roadmaps while keeping services stable.
• Familiarity with SAP-based core insurance platforms, mainframe estates, integration/API platforms and modern data platforms (data lake / lakehouse) is a strong advantage.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with the ability to manage and develop multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making Composure and sound judgement under pressure, including major-incident and crisis situations.
• Fluency in Greek and English, both written and spoken.
  
  

Will be considered a plus

• ITIL certification.
• Experience within highly regulated industries such as insurance, banking, or financial services.
• Exposure to modern operational practices including DevOps, observability platforms, automation, and AIOps.
  
  

What We Offer

The company invests in long-term cooperation and provides a modern and stable work environment, with a hybrid work model. We offer a competitive remuneration package and excellent career prospects, coupled with continuous training and development.

Applications

All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality, and successful candidates will be contacted.

At Ethniki Asfalistiki, we believe in creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity and celebrates the unique contributions of each individual.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we recognize that a diverse workforce is essential for our success. By bringing together people from different backgrounds and experiences, we can promote a more innovative, creative, and productive work environment.

We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging where everyone feels respected, valued, and empowered to contribute their best.