Chief Information Officer

Date: 10-Jul-2020

Location: KW

Company: Alghanim Industries

Job Summary:

Alghanim Industries is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the Persian Gulf region, predominantly in Kuwait. A multinational company in outlook with operations in 40 countries, Alghanim Industries is a multibillion-dollar conglomerate with more than 30 businesses.

The Group is segmented in 3 major Divisions:

Automotive
Retail and Customer Engagement
Consumer & Manufacturing

As a Chief Information Officer (CIO), you will be primarily responsible for managing the information technology services across all businesses for Alghanim Industries. The CIO should lead the organizational changes and the digital transformation for IT with the support of the CFO and the C-suite, moving the organization to drive impact and digital monetization along with long-term product strategy, innovation and building a culture and vision.

The dynamics of the role are both:

Direct responsibility to identify and execute the areas of common technology across the Group through a central team. Examples of this include system architecture, network infrastructure, information security, helpdesk and support and governance of policy, budgets and procurement.
Functional responsibility for IT. The incumbent IT management Team across the various Business Units will look to you as a functional leader, able to recruit, develop and coach the team as well as provide a competent source of strategic direction and sparring as well as the provision of standards of best practice.

You will be the IT integrator at a Group level where integration and harmonization is needed.

Job Responsibilities:

Create and maintain a IT and digital strategy and the associated roadmap across all BU’s in the organization including investment and return on investment
Work in partnership with corporate functions leaders and business IT directors and community to:
- Fully understand the key business drivers, processes and needs, current challenges as well as future strategic initiatives and objectives
- Propose and/or coach business IT directors to identify and deliver solutions that helps the business to achieve its objectives
- Manage and/or coach team to manage IT initiatives from “ideas” to “execution”
Responsible for the Technology Delivery
- Lead execution of modern IT engagement and delivery model (eg Agile, DevOps)
- Delivery of standardization and best practices
- Continuous improvement of applications
- Managing the resourcing pool for delivery models
- Managing the common systems – Communicative networks, policies
Data: Will be responsible for supporting data strategy, ambition and priorities as well as methodologies, frameworks, tools and processes
Risk: Will ensure an on-going risk monitoring and establishment of high quality security
Infrastructure: Maintaining day-to-day run and continuous improvement to infrastructure platform and ensuring we are striving for standardization and best practices
Integration: ensuring an effective and sustainable Group approach to Loyalty programs, Customer Engagement and Analytics from a technology perspective
Architecture: Ensuring organization-wide standards in place as appropriate
Alignment: Ensuring that IT strategy is aligned with current business needs, best practices and long-term strategies
Prioritization and monitoring of all digital projects across the organization, tracking their benefits and serving as a center of excellence for digital abilities
Customer Service approach across all BU’s, managing the consumption of services and the identification and implementation of automation, driving use of technology to the end users
Manage the relationships with external partners and vendors, ensuring contracts and service levels are negotiated based on formalized KPI’s and SLA’s and ongoing service is in-line with agreed contracts
Manage the spend and return of technology capital and operational expense budgets
Review, audit and prioritization of all information management systems
People & Culture: Engage, lead and develop direct reports and the IT Community to build an organization with a strong succession pipeline. Provide strong leadership to the IT team, drive clarity of responsibility and process and supporting an IT team culture which puts the user at the heart of what it does

Candidate Requirements:

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in an IT or Technology subject area
Master’s Degree and/or significant targeted professional qualification is preferred but not mandatory
Demonstrable experience and evidence of success in an IT senior management role in a multi-business environment, proven track record in formulating strategy and executing the strategy, also in an e-commerce environment
Proven experience in working in a matrix organization
Experience in managing multi-million dollar expense cost centers and IT capital investment budgets
Ability to work with external consultants, partners and IT Experts in formulating solutions for our business needs
Clearly demonstrable experience in defining and leading organizational Transformation from traditional to modern dynamics (ie Agile, DevOps, outsourcing models, etc) with grounded exposure to e-commerce dynamics
Demonstrated experience in building and mentoring/developing a strong IT Team
Solid understanding of data security standards and needs, and other compliance responsibilities
Demonstrable experience and ability to build productive relationships with senior business leaders and key stakeholders
Executive presence and ability to present technical concepts in a understandable manner
Experience with a multi-business group in the Middle East region is preferred