IT Applications Director at Tiger Brands

JOB DESCRIPTION

• The Application Delivery Director is accountable for the mission critical applications used by Tiger Brands and includes ERP (Financials, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, HCM and CRM pillars), Business Intelligence / Analytics / Data Warehouse, B2B EDI system and other applications.
• This Director is responsible for the long term strategy of these applications (including upgrades as needed), execution of the committed portfolio of IT projects through functional and technical design, configuration, development, testing and implementation.
• The Director is responsible for deploying new applications and solutions that have been prioritised by the business.
• The Director is also responsible for daily application support activities ensuring that the organisation can effectively use the pool of applications to deliver on strategic and operational targets.
• Lead, plan, direct and control all activities related to functional analysts and developers competencies; resource management; change and release management, quality and test management.
• Ensures a formal set of application development methodologies, principles, standards and processes are in place and adhered to with a focus on more agile ways of working.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support CIO by delivering the committed portfolio of IT projects on time, to scope and  within budget and within agreed constraints
• Support the organisation by ensuring that all relevant applications are available per SLA
• Accountable for the long term roadmap of each application including staying abreast of technology changes in the applications landscape (cloud, IOT, digitalisation, AI) including owning all application updates year on year
• Ensure a long term strategy of the ERP applications is maintained and agreed to by the CIO and IT Directors
• Lead a team of functional analysts, developers and reporting specialists to support Tiger Brands’ ERP, HCM, BI, CRM and other application needs
• Ensure application development methodologies, principles, standards and processes are defined and ensure compliance across IT portfolio with a future focus on agile methods of work
• Create a culture of high performance, continuous optimisation and cost effectiveness and manage team performance
• Serve as the Centre of Excellence for applications under the control of the Applications team providing expertise on application functionality, roadmaps (understanding vendor future plans)
• Support CIO and Enterprise Architecture Director in critical review of Application Roadmaps (created by Enterprise Architecture Director)
• Quorum member of Architecture Review Board that approves / rejects solution designs
• Serve as point of escalation for Program Manager, assist in mitigating delays and removing obstacles that are delaying projects
• Establish, communicate, manage and enforce appropriate change and release management, test and quality mechanisms
• In conjunction with Portfolio Management Director pro-actively plan future IT resource requirements with third-party suppliers for both projects and application support
• Review business cases (business and IT) to assess all application impacts
• Own all business cases and RFI/RFP/RFQ related to any applications related work
• Work closely with the Project Delivery Director to deliver projects on time, scope and budget
• Work closely with the Service Delivery Director to support applications to meet business objectives
• Work closely with the IT Business Engagement & Architecture Director and architecture team
• Manage large scale application configurations and development, as well as large scale projects
• Manage development teams by providing guidance and leadership where necessary
• Manage and grow talent
• Business stakeholder management
• Plan and estimate new projects based on approved prioritised projects and new solutions

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years in leading large teams (with proven results)
• 8+ years of application development and management experience
• 8+ years in managing suppliers and large contracts
• Experience in Architecture and testing and test management an advantage
• Experience in Project Management an advantage
• Experience in working in a Delivery Centre environment  an advantage