IT Services Manager
ABOUT ALU
At the African Leadership University (ALU), we are more than an academic institution, we are a launchpad for Africa’s next generation of leaders. Our mission is bold: to develop ethical, entrepreneurial changemakers who will shape Africa’s future. Through an innovative curriculum, hands-on learning, and a vibrant pan-African community, we equip our students to tackle complex challenges, connect the dots across diverse perspectives, and create solutions that drive lasting impact. We don’t just teach; we nurture adaptable, globally minded problem-solvers ready to thrive in ambiguity, build from scratch, and lead Africa into a prosperous 21st century.
African Leadership University is incorporated in Rwanda as The African Leadership University (ALU) and in Mauritius as the African Leadership College of Higher Education (ALCHE). Each entity is separately accredited to offer qualifications by the Council of Higher Education in Rwanda and the Higher Education Commission in Mauritius. The ALU School of Business (ALUSB) is the engine of education in business, leadership, and entrepreneurship for both campuses.
We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.
HOW WE WORK
The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.
The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The IT Services Manager is accountable for end-to-end stability, security, governance, and performance of the organisation’s technology platforms and IT services. This role leads the IT Support function while owning IT Service Management (ITSM), cybersecurity operations, identity governance, incident response, and vendor compliance.
This is both a strategic and hands-on role requiring deep operational maturity and security discipline.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
1. IT Service Management, Platform Uptime & Operational Security
- Ensure availability, reliability, security, and performance of all core IT platforms (Google Workspace, Salesforce, NetSuite, intranet, identity systems, network services).
- Lead ITIL-aligned incident, problem, and change management, embedding security gates into all change and deployment workflows.
- Monitor infrastructure and SaaS platform logs, taking proactive action on anomalies or security alerts.
- Define and enforce system SLAs and platform security KPIs (MTTR, MTTD, failed logins, anomalous access patterns, etc).
2. IT Support Team Leadership & Secure Operations
- Lead and coach the IT Support team to deliver secure, responsive support.
- Oversee secure device provisioning, endpoint protection installation, OS patching, encryption policies and hardening baselines.
- Maintain secure onboarding/offboarding processes, ensuring zero-day deprovisioning for user accounts and devices.
- Uphold strict documentation, SOPs, configuration standards, and security checklists across all support processes.
3. Vendor & Contract Governance with Security Controls
- Oversee relationships with technical vendors and service providers (e.g., helpdesk, infrastructure, SaaS platforms)
- Enforce vendor adherence to least-privilege access, MFA requirements, Secure API integrations, data handling & encryption controls, incident reporting timelines
- Ensure vendors meet performance expectations, SLAs, cybersecurity requirements and compliance obligations
- Support contract evaluations, renewals, and procurement processes
4. Cybersecurity, Threat Prevention & Compliance
- Implement, enforce, and continuously strengthen cybersecurity protocols including Identity and Access Management (IAM), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Privileged Access Management (PAM), Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR), Network and SaaS access controls, Password and authentication policies
- Maintain and audit user directory services (Google Admin, Azure AD) and ensure tight identity governance (role-based access, zero-trust principles).
- Conduct regular access reviews, audit trails, configuration audits, and logging reviews.
- Lead or support IT and cybersecurity audits (internal and external) ensuring alignment with GDPR, POPIA, ISO 27001 controls, SOC2-aligned standards, and recommended actions from the
- Cybersecurity Audit & Remediation Plan (2025).
- Coordinate vulnerability scans, remediation cycles, patch compliance, and policy enforcement across all endpoints.
- Own security awareness training and phishing simulations to reduce user risk.
- Respond to incidents rapidly, including triage, containment, remediation and root-cause analysis.
- Contribute to organisational disaster recovery planning, and lead DR drills, failover tests, and business continuity readiness.
5. System Lifecycle Support & Documentation
- Maintain detailed documentation, including system architectures, network diagrams, data flows, access controls, asset inventories, security policies and configuration logs.
- Ensure all changes go through proper security evaluation, testing, approvals, and rollback planning.
- Own identity lifecycle processes, including joiner/mover/leaver workflows and role/access policies.
- Contribute to disaster recovery and business continuity planning, including DR drills and readiness reviews
- Maintain documentation and workflows related to user identity management, system roles and access policies
6. Service Governance & Continuous Improvement
- Drive continuous service improvements through user feedback, metrics tracking and post-incident reviews
- Track and report service quality and security posture metrics to leadership.
- Establish and improve internal ITSM practices, aligning with frameworks such as ITIL
- Participate in technology governance forums and audit response processes to ensure service accountability\
- Contribute to risk registers, audit responses and compliance certification efforts.
Ensure the safety and well-being of all young persons and vulnerable adults with whom we deal, by adhering to ALCHE’s comprehensive safeguarding policy, maintaining a zero-tolerance approach to any violations of safeguarding standards.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelors degree in Information Technology, Computer Science or a related field
- ITIL certification or equivalent experience in IT Service Management required
- Cybersecurity certifications (Security+, CISM, CISSP, CEH, or similar)
- Cloud platform security knowledge (Google Admin, AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Knowledge of compliance frameworks (GDPR, ISO 27001, NIST, SOC2)
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
- 8+ years in IT operations or service management, with 5+ years in leadership
- Proven experience managing multi-platform environments (SaaS, cloud, enterprise systems)
- Demonstrated competency in cybersecurity operations, IAM, MFA, endpoint security, and access governance
- Experience leading IT audits, compliance reviews and security hardening initiatives
- Strong organisational discipline, with ability to enforce standards and drive cultural change toward secure practices
- Excellent communication and troubleshooting skills, with strong bias for operational stability and secure-by-design approaches