Head of IT

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

About Grok Global Services

Grok is the leading provider of global infrastructure, support and expertise to universities from around the world. We manage operations across many global markets in order to serve our clients, and we are growing rapidly. We now seek a Head of IT to support this growth.

At Grok, we value cultural awareness, curiosity, humility, and confidence. The ideal candidate will thrive in a dynamic environment and have a passion for contributing to Grok’s mission and growth journey.

Position Summary

The Head of IT is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Grok’s global technology environment, including IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, enterprise systems, digital platforms, and vendor management. The role is accountable for ensuring Grok’s technology ecosystem is secure, resilient, scalable, and aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives as the business continues to grow globally.

Working closely with the AVP, Corporate Services, the Head of IT will establish and strengthen the governance, policies, standards, and operational frameworks that underpin Grok’s technology and information security environment. The role provides strategic direction while remaining hands-on in leading the day-to-day delivery of IT services, cybersecurity operations, system administration, vendor performance, and technology projects, driving operational excellence, business continuity, and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

1. IT Strategy & Governance

- Develop, maintain, and deliver a multi-year IT and cybersecurity roadmap aligned with Grok's strategic priorities and evolving business needs.

- Provide recommendations on technology investment, platform consolidation, and build-versus-buy decisions.

- Establish and maintain appropriate IT and cybersecurity governance frameworks, policies, standards, and operating procedures.

- Report regularly to the AVP, Corporate Services and relevant leadership stakeholders on technology risks, roadmap delivery, system performance, security posture, and emerging priorities.

2. Infrastructure, Systems & Digital Platforms

- Lead the strategic direction and operational management of Grok’s global IT infrastructure, SaaS environment, enterprise systems, digital platforms, and broader technology stack.

- Ensure systems are reliable, scalable, secure, appropriately integrated, and fit for business requirements.

- Define and maintain Grok's enterprise technology architecture, ensuring systems, platforms, integrations, and data flows are secure, scalable, interoperable, and aligned with business needs.

- Lead the management of devices, system administration, and technology lifecycle planning.

- Oversee the implementation, configuration, maintenance, and continuous improvement of core technology platforms.

- Partner with business leaders to identify and implement digital solutions, automation, and emerging technologies that improve operational efficiency, employee experience, and business outcomes.

3. Cybersecurity

- Lead Grok's cybersecurity strategy, controls, policies, monitoring, and incident response arrangements.

- Maintain appropriate security controls across devices, systems, platforms, networks, data, and third-party services.

- Lead the investigation, management, escalation, and resolution of cybersecurity incidents.

- Develop, maintain, and test the organisation's cybersecurity incident and data breach response plans.

- Deliver ongoing cybersecurity awareness, education, and training across the organisation.

- Monitor emerging threats and recommend proportionate actions to strengthen Grok's security posture.

4. Identity & Access Management

- Oversee the timely provisioning, modification, and deprovisioning of user accounts, system access, and permissions.

- Establish and enforce role-based access controls, privileged access standards, and appropriate approval processes.

- Conduct periodic access reviews and ensure access is promptly removed or adjusted during employee transfers and offboarding.

- Maintain accurate records and controls relating to user access across core systems.

5. Vendor, Contract & Cost Management

- Manage IT and cybersecurity vendors, contracts, renewals, licences, service-level agreements, and performance.

- Lead vendor selection, due diligence, commercial negotiations, and ongoing relationship management.

- Identify opportunities to consolidate platforms and vendor relationships to improve cost efficiency, service quality, security, and scalability.

- Monitor technology expenditure and support effective budgeting, forecasting, and investment prioritisation.

6. Compliance, Data Protection & Risk

- Monitor relevant data protection, privacy, cybersecurity, and technology-related regulatory obligations across Grok's operating markets.

- Maintain appropriate documentation, controls, and evidence to support audits, client due diligence, insurance requirements, and enterprise security questionnaires.

- Conduct and coordinate technology and cybersecurity risk assessments, ensuring material risks are documented, escalated, and appropriately managed.

- Support the organisation's broader risk, privacy, and compliance frameworks from a technology perspective.

7. Business Continuity & Resilience

- Own the technology components of Grok's business continuity, disaster recovery, backup, and system resilience arrangements.

- Ensure appropriate backup, recovery, redundancy, and restoration procedures are established and maintained for critical systems and data.

- Regularly test recovery plans and address identified gaps or weaknesses.

- Work with business leaders to identify critical systems, dependencies, recovery priorities, and acceptable service interruption levels.

8. IT Operations & Service Delivery

- Lead the day-to-day delivery of IT services and support across Grok's global operations.

- Build and lead Grok’s IT capability over time, including identifying future resourcing requirements and developing scalable operating models.

- Ensure technology issues, incidents, and service requests are resolved efficiently and in line with agreed priorities.

- Establish appropriate service standards, escalation processes, documentation, and performance measures.

- Provide hands-on support and technical leadership where required, while progressively building scalable and sustainable IT operating practices.

9. Management Team Member

- Serve as a member of Grok’s management team, upholding the company’s interests and contributing to cross-functional initiatives.

- Mentor junior staff and support a positive, collaborative organisational culture.

- Adhere to Grok’s Management Code of Conduct.

Capabilities & Experience

- 8–12+ years’ progressive experience in information technology, including at least 3–5 years in an IT leadership role.

- Experience supporting a mid-sized, multi-site or multinational organisation, with exposure to cross-border operations and governance.

- Proven experience developing and delivering IT strategies, technology roadmaps, governance frameworks, and operational improvements.

- Direct, hands-on responsibility for cybersecurity, including policies, access controls, incident response, risk management, and security awareness.

- Strong working knowledge of cloud and SaaS platforms, identity and access management, endpoint management, network security, and system administration.

- Experience managing IT vendors, contracts, software licences, service-level agreements, procurement, and budgets.

- Experience with backup, disaster recovery, business continuity, and technology risk management.

- Working knowledge of data protection and privacy requirements, including exposure to GDPR, CCPA, or comparable regulatory frameworks.

- Demonstrated ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution in a broad and evolving role.

- Demonstrated ability to lead organisational technology change and successfully deliver technology projects in a growing business.

- Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to assess technology investments, consolidate platforms, and optimise cost and performance.

- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to explain technical and cybersecurity risks to non-technical audiences.

- Relevant tertiary qualifications and certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CompTIA Security+, ITIL, or equivalent cloud certifications are highly regarded.

- Demonstrated leadership experience in international/tertiary education, professional services, or a related industry is an advantage.

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Grok Global is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

For more information about Grok, please visit our website: grokglobal.com .