Senior Manager: Information Technology at Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA)

Key Performance Areas

• IT Strategy development, execution, and enablement: Develop and execute the strategic roadmap for IT infrastructure, aligned with business objectives and future growth. Identify and assess emerging technologies and trends for potential implementation and improvement of the infrastructure. Collaborate with senior leadership and stakeholders to understand business needs and translate them into infrastructure strategies. Develop and ensure implementation of the IT Operational Plan. Lead the development of and implementation of an Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) and ERP projects to enhance  business processes and decision-making.
• Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management: Oversee formalisation and adherence to IT governance and policy frameworks, including cybersecurity. Manage business continuity and disaster recovery planning processes in accordance with policy. Drive compliance to regulatory and legislative standards. Maintain and manage the Risk Register for IT. Ensure mitigation of risk when delivering business critical applications. Ensure ongoing maintenance, updating and communication of policies in the IT policy library.
• Production and application stability: Oversee technology health of all applications and infrastructure. Ensure there are sufficient skilled people to maintain the IT infrastructure environment. Ensure multi-skilling for business continuity purposes. Ensure IT has sufficient infrastructure resources to meet the business strategy. Identify trends and apply judgement to build capability to anticipate future problems and bottlenecks. Track and report on Key Risk Indicators for systems stability. Develop and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity plans for IT infrastructure systems and services. Regularly test and update the plans to ensure their effectiveness in minimizing downtime and data loss. Lead the design and implementation of the organization’s IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, storage, and data centre
• Management of organisational systems, IT innovation and change management: Oversee the implementation of IT operational plan and the strategic projects to support the organisation. Oversee the implementation of quality systems management models. Drive innovation through technology. Continually be alert to technology and industry-sector innovation. Work with the IT Steering Committee to drive continuous improvement by facilitating ongoing discussion on how IT can best meet business needs going forward. Position potential innovations to business and develop a business case for viable candidate innovations. Collaborate with business to implement new technology. Oversee the implementation, alignment, integration and leveraging of technical implementations of new technologies. Drive delivery and adoption of agreed change and IT projects.
• Asset Management: Oversee the safeguarding and management of company assets. Oversee the management of contracts, statutory & tax obligations, liabilities in the form of contingencies and insurance. Ensure value for money for the insurance of all assets and directors.
• Project Management: Drive successful implementation of projects within budget. Apply judgement in knowing which projects to continue to implementation. Oversee vendor performance in line with SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and take remedial action where necessary. Ensure the successful implementation of key projects, including the IMIS and ERP system, while adhering to budget and time constraints.
• Financial Management: Compile IT budget and manage costs in line with budget and investigate and justify / resolve over-spends. Thoroughly understand budget parameters and constraints and ensure IT adherence thereto. Create a culture that is alert to opportunities to optimise efficiencies across people, processes, and technology.
• Customer Focus: Internal and external stakeholder engagement: Lead by example in positioning IT as a strategic business partner. Build and maintain relationships with all MQA business units for the purposes of expectations management and knowledge sharing. Oversee IT support to Head Office and MQA’s regional offices on all IT requirements. Liaise with Internal Audit around the control environment. Liaise with external audit on the audit process to resolve IT audit findings. Identify and implement IT-related training where required in the wider business. Represent IT at relevant internal and external forums / committees as required.
• People Management: Ensure the development, guidance, and empowerment of the team to deliver on Unit targets. Ensure that the performance contracts are in place prior to the beginning of each financial year in line with the Department’s strategy and Plans. Measure, manage and monitor the performance of the team. Lead by example in driving MQA’s values and vision.

Key requirement: qualifications, experience, and competencies

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree (NQF 7) in the fields of Information Technology, Computer Science or Information Systems.
• An Honours Degree or and equivalent NQF Level 8 qualification in the abovementioned fields will be and added advantage.
• A Professional certification – Microsoft, ISACA, CISCO, Oracle, Java,etc.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years information management and asset management experience, of which 5 years must be at Management level.
• Proven Experience in leading the development and implementation of an IMIS and ERP systems or similar systems.
• Proven Experience in systems development will be an advantage.