Head of IT

Portsmouth, Hampshire
DMA Group

The Opportunity

Our client is a well established service business operating across the UK. They deliver a hands on, operational service to their customers every day, and technology is what holds that operation together.

A well run, commercially minded group with a strong position in its market. This is the number one technology role in the business and a seat on the senior leadership team. You will own the strategy, the budget, the systems and the team.

It is a hands on role. The function is lean and you will be doing the work as well as directing it.

Why The Role Exists

The business is investing in a major programme of work across its core business systems, including a full CRM replacement. This is not a refresh. It covers system selection, data migration, integration across the wider estate, cutover and the decommissioning of what is in place today. It will shape how the business sells, serves its customers and grows for the next decade.

They want someone to own that programme, not administer it.

What You’ll Be Doing

Systems, architecture and delivery

• Owning the portfolio of business systems across their full lifecycle, from selection and build through to replacement and decommissioning
• Leading the core systems and CRM programme end to end, including data migration, parallel running, cutover and decommissioning of the legacy platform
• Defining and maintaining the systems architecture, integrations, data flows and interface management
• Making and justifying build versus buy decisions
• Directing third party development partners against agreed technical standards and delivery commitments
• Identifying and prioritising opportunities to automate and simplify how the business works

Strategy and commercial

• Defining an IT strategy that supports the commercial strategy of the business
• Owning the financial planning and reporting for all IT spend, capital and operational, including cloud consumption, licensing and support contracts
• Preparing budgets, seeking approval and delivering projects within them
• Negotiating and managing supplier agreements, and making the case for investment in terms of cost, risk and value
• Keeping the leadership team informed on relevant technical advances and where they could take the business

Infrastructure and security

• Accountable for the IT and telecommunications estate, hardware and software
• Implementing and maintaining an effective information security framework, including threat assessment and periodic external evaluation
• Owning security operations end to end, covering vulnerability management, patching, incident containment and post incident review
• Directing the managed security provider
• Monitoring, reporting and capacity management across key platforms

Team, suppliers and stakeholders

• Line managing the IT team, setting objectives and supporting development
• Balancing in house capability against outsourced delivery
• Managing relationships with external systems providers and service level agreements
• Supporting sales and account management colleagues with key customers and new prospects
• Reporting on system performance to key customers

Risk, data and continuity

• Acting as Data Protection Officer for the business
• Owning data protection, privacy, security and retention policies
• Defining and testing backup, recovery and disaster recovery processes
• Owning the IT aspects of the risk register

About You

• Proven experience running IT inside an operational service business, where technology supports the operation rather than being the product
• Demonstrable delivery of a CRM or equivalent core system replacement at genuine scale, including data migration and legacy decommissioning. You know what goes wrong, because it has gone wrong for you
• Still hands on. Real depth across a hybrid Microsoft estate, identity and endpoint management, public cloud and network security
• Experience building and owning an IT budget covering both capital and recurring spend, and negotiating with suppliers
• Experience leading a small technical team and deciding what is done in house and what is outsourced
• Commercially minded, able to explain technical risk and investment to people who are not technical
• Comfortable in front of customers, prospects and suppliers as well as colleagues
• Certifications such as ITIL 4, CISSP, CISM or BCS membership are welcome, our client is open on route as long as the capability is there
• Creative. Our client was emphatic on this point. They want somebody who will look at the business and say what could be done differently, rather than wait to be asked

What’s On Offer

• Salary of 80,000 to 100,000 depending on experience
• 6,000 car allowance
• Hybrid working, minimum two days per week in the office
• A seat on the senior leadership team with direct access to the Directors
• Genuine ownership of the technology function and of a major systems programme
• An established, profitable business with a long track record

There is occasional out of hours work to support planned change and major incidents. You will need to be within a sensible commute of Hampshire for two days a week.

The Background That Fits

This is an operational business, not a software house. The people who do well in this environment have run IT inside businesses where technology supports the operation rather than being the product. Logistics, distribution, field service, installation, utilities, transport, manufacturing, facilities management and similar. If that is your background, you will recognise this environment straight away.

This is a role for a Head of IT, or an IT Manager ready to step up, who wants to own the whole picture rather than one slice of it. If you want to lead a systems programme that genuinely changes how a business operates, and you would rather be in the detail than above it, this is worth a conversation.

DMA Recruitment specialises in Logistics, Engineering, Manufacturing, Environmental & Recycling, Infrastructure & Construction and Business Services.

To our mind, it isn’t just a job.