IS Leader - Netherlands

Reporting directly into the Area IS Leader, Western & Central Europe, the IS Leader operates as a strategic IS business partner to the Grolsch executive team.

The IS Leader is the voice of the business into IS and the voice of IS into the business.  As such, the IS leader is responsible for aligning IS and business strategies on one hand, local and regional / global strategies on the other hand, by ensuring that:

-       the Grolsch business needs and requirements are understood and prioritised appropriately

-       the Grolsch business is aware of and prepared for an effective adoption of regional and global change programmes

Accountabilities

The IS Leader will focus on these key areas:

1. Creating strong senior stakeholder relationships
2. Contributing to definition and the delivery of the business strategy of Grolsch, Europe, and SABMiller
3. Maximising the value of IS investments into the business
4. IS Operational Management
5. Leadership, People & Talent Management
6. Commercial & Vendor Management
7. Communication / Collaboration / Governance and Reporting

Creating strong senior stakeholder relationships

• Act as a strategic business partner to the Grolsch executive team and stakeholders
• Secure a “seat at the table” where strategies are being defined and key decisions being made
• Align IS and business strategies
• Develop an IS roadmap enabling the business to achieve its short, mid and long term objectives
• Share effectively business insights and priorities with Global IS colleagues
• Communicate relevant and timely information about in-flight and planned initiatives

Contributing to the definition and delivery of the business strategy of Grolsch, Europe, and SABMiller

• Develop and lead the strategic direction of IS in Grolsch, aligning with local business needs together with Regional and Global IS teams
• Drive the integration of  IS strategic planning into business planning cycles, guiding our business on how to make best use of IS
• Understand, advocate and execute Global IS strategies promoting global standardisation wherever possible
• Stay fully current on competitors’ business models, strategies and activities, and use this knowledge to identify best practices and gain business advantage
• Scan the market for new services, technology, methods and strategy assessing, evaluating and demonstrating to stakeholders how these opportunities  add value

Delivering value from our IS investments

• Ensure investments are defined, prioritised and aligned with the required strategic outcomes
• Coordinate the investment justification for IS investments to agreed common routines
• Accountable for the delivery of all solutions and services to your business stakeholders, in collaboration with regional and global IS teams
• Make sure ownership for benefit realisation is clear, and tracking and reporting of those benefits are implemented

IS Operational Management

• Direct and drive business change across multiple functional and business areas
• Proactively identify and address service improvement with the level of urgency required for the situation
• Manage IS budget and spend, maximising Capex and Opex costs in line with IS strategy, initiatives and budget baselines
• Manage and assure a secure IS environment compliant with Group IS Security Standards and regulatory requirements (Sarbanes Oxley if required)
• Work with the Regional and Global Programmes and Projects and Solutions Delivery teams to ensure adequate availability of resources to meet business requirements
• Identify, assess and manage risks within the IS function, developing and documenting plans, mitigations and escalations

Leadership, People & Talent Management

• Provide leadership to the Country IS Organisation, ensuring appropriate resourcing, management and IS expertise is available
• Drive consistent and improving standards across IS teams aligning to Regional and Global methodologies and processes
• Drive and develop the talent agenda within the IS teams and ensure effective succession planning

Commercial & Vendor Management

• Accountable for delivering competitive IS Total Cost of Ownership
• Proactively work with Regional Vendor Management teams ensuring that strategic global and regional vendors deliver to business expectations and agreed SLA’s
• Lead the drive for complete understanding of all commercial aspects of the IS business (financial, operational and strategic)
• Advise and make recommendations to the ExCom for all strategic and business critical contracts

Communication / Collaboration / Governance and Reporting

• Actively seek to collaboratively share good practice within country and across Regional teams, leading and contributing ideas 
• Lead business unit Business/IS Committee (BISCom) routines
• Ensure regular and timely updates on IS strategy and IS enabling initiatives
• Ensure adequate representation of key stakeholders IS governance and decision making meetings
• Shape the level of concern and appetite for risk at a senior level, clearly articulating potential impacts on SABMiller and external markets

Desired Skills and Experience

Core Knowledge and Experience:

• Business partnering  – excellent at building and sustaining senior business relationships across multiple business areas (Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Distribution, Finance, etc.,)
• Leadership skills – excellent understanding of leadership techniques and processes (e.g. cost-benefit analysis, decision analysis, negotiation, and financial analysis)
• Requirements gathering – excellent ability to proactively draw out requirements from stakeholders using a variety of techniques (interviewing, modelling, and surveying)
• Programme management – ability to create and manage programmes/operational activities delivering technology or business change
• Business strategy – collaborate with the business to understand and enable strategy, challenging the business to do things better

Role Specific Knowledge and Experience:

• Experience of managing and building strong  business relationships at all levels in multinational companies across countries in a global matrix/team environment , including Chief  Executive Officers, Business MD’s, FD’s, and others senior leaders
• Extensive knowledge of key business applications and technology trends, and how they are used in a commercial environment [digital, mobility, CRM, customer and consumer insights, ERP (preferably SAP)]
• Comprehensive technical organisational knowledge gained in similar organisations –  knowledge of IS strategies, standards and policies, organisational structures and processes
• Business & Functional knowledge –  marketplace awareness including an understanding of the competitive landscape driving business strategies
• FMCG experience would be a plus

Core Roles, Skills and Attributes:

• Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, facilitation, communication and influencing at all levels
• Excellent planning and organising skills with ability to deliver to plan and deadlines in a matrix’ed environment
• Ability to identify, analyse and resolve problems and follow through to completion
• Demonstrates the corporate values: Integrity, Teamwork, Respect, Professionalism and effectively role models these for the team
• Demonstrate ability to deliver exceptional customer service and high performance
• Pro-active with high levels of energy, tenacity and enthusiasm to deliver results
• Focus on quality and attention to detail and able to relate this to the holistic view
• Excellent command of written/verbal business English (& additional location language requirements)

This is a key appointment for our succession planning agenda, with a clear ambition to grow the successful candidate into an IS leadership position anywhere with the Global IS organisation.

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