Head Of It - Stevenage

Head of IT - Stevenage - Office based - 25 days holiday + BH rising to 30, Healthcare, Life assurance, Pension, lunches, income protection, EAP, sick pay and more!

As the Head of IT, you will look after a team of 13 (and growing) made up of developers, delivery, service desk staff, QA & BA's - both the technical and delivery team. This is a pivotal role in the business to take overall responsibility for the IT pipeline of BAU backlog, delivery of IT projects in line with business strategy, the technology approach and security and compliance throughout the team. The business are going from strength to strength with over 160,000 active users of their products - now is a key time to drive change with them as they have just completed a large digital transformation. Ideally, you will have experience in both operations and technology delivery to apply for this role.

The Purpose

A key part in this role will be ensuring that the technology department, platforms and integrations are aligned, secure and all work together seamlessly. Having just come to the end of a large transformation, a key upcoming project is the replacement of their ERP solution which is expected to last over the next 2 years. In this role, you will be responsible for security and adoption of the overall system architecture, ensuring all change aligns with the company's roadmap and be responsible for uptime. You will be the escalation point for all members of the business - you will wear the company hat and act as an advocate for the IT department - bridging together operations and technology. With this in mind, having the ability to be a strong character and be able to build effective relationships at all levels is key with the aim to deliver exceptional customer service whilst effectively minimising the impact of any incidents. You will report to the SLT - including the COO and CEO.

Essential experience needed to apply:

• Strong understanding of IT Tech systems and platforms, system architecture, security and delivery
• Demonstratable knowledge of continuous improvement principles
• Strong understanding of cloud technologies such as Azure, VM ware, system integrations and principles
• Budget management experience in the millions
• Telecommunications skills such as LAN and WAN
• Demonstratable leadership, coaching and strong stakeholder management experience
• Experience of managing change in project delivery
• 5+ years working in IT across multiple disciplines and managing a service desk team

Role responsibilities:

• Across the IT department, you will contribute ideas and new ways of doing things whilst improving and maintaining existing ways of working and standards within the IT department.
• You will work with the team to ensure that agreed SLA's are met; maintaining robust and resilient secure Networks to reduce breaches.
• You will have a dedicated budget which you will have an impact on and manage - ensuring that planned projects and transformations are delivered to the highest of standards.
• You will be responsible for around 35 suppliers and the management of SLA's, KPI's and you will meet regularly with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Own the IT strategy and develop and deliver a roadmap aligned with the business objectives.
• Audit to ensure correct levels of security and compliance as well as establish and maintain IT policies and procedures.
• Be responsible for all technological equipment and software - ensuring that it is efficient and cost-effective.
• You will maintain relationships with vendors and create cost-efficient contracts.
• Be a direct line manager for the Technical team of 13 - including performance management and career development as well as ensuring that delivery is to an agreed high standard.
• Be the voice of feedback and constructive challenge to the business leaders and provide level reporting.
• Coordinate the IT leadership team to ensure effective delivery and transition of change into BAU.
• Contribute to the vendor selection processes.
• Maintain a robust project lifecycle for delivery to manage the flow of change change requests and small projects into IT - using appropriate process depending on complexity, cost and risk.

The Company

The business themselves are an ward winning business with over 160,000 live subscriptions. They are an award-winning business and have 5 star google and trust pilot reviews.

They value their team and technology is at the heart of what they do - you will be offered a supportive and collaborative environment with an opportunity to play a pivotal role in the business' success.

This role will be fully onsite with 1 day per week remote in the future.

Apply now!