Head of Information Technology at Liquid Intelligent Technologies

Role Purpose

To establish and execute enterprise-wide IT strategy and ensures its alignment with the enterprise's business strategy and the delivery of capabilities required to achieve business success. To direct and manage the design, planning, coordination, implementation and maintenance of the existing and new technology to ensure that LTSA leads the Technology Industry in line with the agreed Technology Strategy.

Role Description

INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY

In conjunction with the LTSA Executive Management Team participates in and contributes to the 3 to 5 year Strategic Plan by: Participating in the identification of 3 to 5 year strategic direction for LTSA and developing the long term Information Technology Strategic approach and plan; Cascading the Strategic Plan down to the annual operating plan within Information Technology; Driving innovation, value and performance through technology and operations governance; Developing and managing the capability for digital transformation; Identifying strategic partnerships to support the Information Technology Strategy (such as IT Projects and Operational Support);Analysing and identifying functional risks and security threats and developing mitigating plans to address these; Ensuring that clear Information Technology strategic medium to short term goals and objectives aligns with the Business objectives for LTSA;Develops the consolidated Annual Operating Plan for Information Technology, divides the plan into functional areas and ensures the understanding of, and compliance to the plan; Prepares the CAPEX and OPEX budget for the IT Department and submits to the CFO and CEO for approval;Liaises with the General Managers to establish variances and takes corrective action; Approves IT expenses relative to CAPEX and OPEX expenditure; Monitors the above on a monthly basis and submits a variance report to the CFO and CEO.

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE, DIGITAL STRATEGY AND PLANNING

Drives, develops and manages the IT architecture, products and services detailed below in line with the Customer requirements, experience and relationships; Develops the long term Strategic definition and road map annually, and reviews on a quarterly basis;Plans, with the relevant General Manager, the Enterprise Architecture design framework including the identification of technology trends, innovation, governance, strategy, complexities and required competencies to implement the framework;Ensures the understanding of the above through LTSA relevant Departments and users.Digital TransformationDesigns and develops the IT framework for the digital transformation aligning it to the Business and Customer requirements in conjunction with the relevant General Manager; Ensures the communication and understanding of the framework by the relevant stakeholders and users;Monitors the Digital transformation budget relative to IT and manages variances.Designs in conjunction with the GM Solution Architect, the solutions to align to the architectural framework utilising and comparing existing and new technologies;Identifies the synergies throughout the Liquid Group to support LTSA and ensure that there is no duplication;Ensures the communication and understanding of the Architectural Solutions and design to the relevant stakeholders and users.

IT SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

• Drives, develops and manages the IT architecture, products and services detailed below in conjunction with the Senior Manager, Service Development;Ensures the development of the IT Systems that drive and manage the business processes (such as billing) through LTSA or through external partnerships; Ensures the review and update of the above on a quarterly basis by first line management;Ensures solution quality assurance and checks are conducted prior to signing off IT Systems development and projects;Plans software release and changes to ensure IT System stability and align with the Business roll out (such as the launch of new products).
• Identifies and manages strategic partnerships in the IT project portfolio process as per the approved Project Management Framework and set timelines;Reviews and manages the IT project plans for new applications, upgrades, new products, promotions and services in line with project charter;Holds accountability for the delivery of the Project to the Project owner as per the financial and operational plan.

IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Drives, develops and manages the IT architecture, products and services in line with the Customer experience and relationships; Reviews and manages with the General Manager Operations, the weekly systems availability and performance reports and recommends interventions where necessary; Reviews and manages weekly and monthly service downtime reports from the end users and designs solutions. Oversees the preventive and corrective maintenance of information systems and computing desktop productivity tools such as desktop computers, printers; Reviews and updates Service Documentation Packages (SDP) for all systems; Ensures through line General Managers that critical and major systems have backup systems, geographical redundancy and recovery procedures; Ensures through line managers that minor systems have proper backups and recovery procedures; Provides oversight on system backups and reviews weekly and monthly reports on IS systems and ensures Managers maintain the Backup Register; Reviews service usage/utilization/activity reports (including “exceptions”), access & security management in-line with policies and procedures and takes corrective action;Extracts and analyses weekly system status reports and liaises with General Managers on resolutions where necessary;Ensures availability of stock and spares such as laptops, desktops, printers and peripherals for services prior to business continuity in line with IT Policy and procedures.

Ensures that software and hardware capacity requirements are economically sound and are aligned to the business needs of LTSA.Engages vendors and suppliers for the planning, designing, procurement and implementation of Information services applications; Reviews Vendors Service Level Agreements (SLA) in line with LTSA policies and procedures; Oversees the development and maintenance of Access Rights controls for Vendors on IT infrastructure; Reviews and analyses trend analysis reports and identified systemic issues and takes corrective action where necessary. Reviews service desk incidence reports and takes corrective action Ensures incident/queries queues have been configured correctly in the system in line with business requirements. Ensures Service requests meet agreed performance targets as stipulated in OLA. Ensures incidents/queries are resolved within the agreed OLA Oversees the utilisation of the service desk application in line with IT policies and procedures. Ensures Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report produced for incidents where applicable. Manages relationships and expectations with internal customers, suppliers, outsource partners and the executive team across LTSA functions.

IT Governance, Risk and Compliance

Establish an IT strategy committee to provide high-level policy guidance (e.g., risk, funding, sourcing, partnering) and verify strategy compliance (e.g., achievement of strategic goals and objectives).Establish the processes to define IT enabled investment priorities, assess strategic fit of proposals and perform investment portfolio reviews for continuing strategic relevance. Establish appropriate management structures such as an IT steering committee, technology council, IT architecture review board and IT audit committee. Develop and maintain the IT Risk framework (a single view of the risk profiles and tolerance.)Provides information security management with risk assessments and security.Evaluate risks qualitatively according to their impact and probability or quantitatively, when appropriate probability data exist. Implement procedures and controls to assure compliance with applicable regulatory and legal requirements as well as good business practices. Report on compliance with regulatory and legal requirements as well as good business practices.

INFORMATION SECURITY AND CONTROLS

Designs, develops, reviews and updates Information Security Policies, Processes and Systems which ensure the protection of the Customers’ electronic data;Ensures that the relevant team understand, comply and is able to manage the above;Receives the IT key risk factors from threat intelligence and decides the best approach to mitigate possible risk and security problems; Ensures compliance to the IT risk register, audit findings and takes appropriate action if there is non-adherence;
Security and Controls Designs, develops, implements and manages IT Security Strategy and Solutions for the Business.

MANAGEMENT OF THE IT DEPARTMENT

Reviews, updates and maintains the relevant organisation structures; Develops the necessary plan/s to ensure that the Department meets its agreed goals and objectives, meets staff on a pre-agreed basis, identifies and agrees key performance areas, key objectives/tasks and action plans; Liaises with the Chief Human Capital to appoint suitably skilled personnel in the vacant positions;Carries out evaluation of staff, identifies performance strengths and deficiencies, and arranges for necessary action (for example further on the job training);Ensures, through the Line Managers, the enablement, and implementation of the requisite SHE, Company Risk and Compliance policies and processes and the maintenance of good Corporate Governance;

Requirements

• BSc Degree in Information Systems or similar: Essential
• MBA/Masters in Information Communications Technology or equivalent: Essential
• 10 –12 years Telecommunication or ICT experience with at least 8 years at a senior management level: Essential
• IT Systems Architecture and Solutions: Essential
• Digital Transformation with all the products and services: Essential
• Information Technology services management and operations: Essential
• Project management: Essential
• CRM data and database systems:Desirable
• BCP and DRP:Essential
• Information security and controls: Essential