Role Profile                              Date: July 25

Post Title: Head of IT

The purpose of the role:

Reporting to the Director of Finance, you are responsible for advising our Executive Management Team on the strategic direction and impact of technology in our business. You are also responsible for leading the IT team to implement and embed approved solutions (through our transformation journey and beyond) that will support, enable and catalyse delivery of our strategic objectives.

You will

• maintain an environment which operates best practice cyber security.
• influence and guide effective organisational decision-making around technology and data, ensuring that systems and applications are streamlined, agile, secure and enable the delivery of effective and efficient services to our tenants.
• ensure that the data we manage is visible, accurate and held securely to drive continuous improvement, enabling data-driven decision-making.
• You will enhance digital literacy across the organisation, empowering colleagues to maximise the potential of technological innovations to enhance operational efficiency and decision effectiveness.

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership:
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to the executive team and Board on emerging technologies, trends and opportunities.
  • Develop and implement the IT strategy (including the business applications transformation programme) ensuring continued alignment with Tai Tarian’s Corporate Plan.
  • Champion the use of service design principles to develop a culture of customer service excellence for both internal and external customers.
  • Champion improvements in reporting, analytics, and data governance to support better decision-making.
  • Translate complex technical concepts into clear business-focused insights.
  • Continually evaluate new technologies and champion innovation where it could enhance business performance.
  • Develop KPI’s that demonstrates performance and value for money in the IT service.
• IT Operations Management:
  • Ensure high availability, performance, and security of the organisation’s IT infrastructure (on-premises and cloud-based).
  • Ensure that the organisations information assets and associated systems are adequately protected, and compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements is achieved (e.g., GDPR, ISO standards, Housing Regulator guidance).
  • Lead on the design, development and implementation of the organisations associated ICT Disaster Recovery plan, ensuring that an adequate backup strategy is in place to protect the organisation in the event of a disaster.
  • Develop and enforce IT policies, procedures and risk management policies to ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
  • Manage IT budgets, ensuring cost-effective solutions and value for money.
• Project Management:
  • Collaborate with other departments to identify and implement technology solutions that meet their needs.
  • Lead and manage IT projects from inception to completion, ensuring they are delivered on time, within scope, and within budget.
  • Manage change effectively, addressing resistance and ensuring effective knowledge transfer and smooth transitions to new systems and processes.
• Team Leadership:
  • Recruit, lead, mentor, and inspire IT colleagues, championing a restlessness for continuous improvement, innovation and professional development, empowering colleagues to be self-sufficient, make decisions and be accountable to the team and business colleagues.
  • Develop and implement a strategy to ensure that the team has the required capabilities to meet business and tenant needs, are building towards future capability requirements and that single points of failure are identified and mitigated.
  • Foster a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, promoting equal opportunities for all team members, where employees are at the heart of decision making.
• Stakeholder Engagement:
  • Act as the primary point of contact for IT-related matters, providing expert advice to senior management and the board.
  • Understand different colleague and tenant needs to ensure that digital services are fit for purpose and do not exaggerate existing tenant vulnerabilities.
  • Build and maintain effective working relationships with external vendors and partners to ensure the delivery of high-quality IT services, managing outsourced services and contracts and ensuring that SLA’s are met.
• Leading IT Transformation:
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive IT transformation roadmap to deliver the Target Operating Model outcomes identified by the business.
  • Lead the design, implementation and optimisation of digital products, platforms and infrastructure whilst supporting and maintaining legacy systems, ensuring alignment with the organisation's strategic goals.
  • Develop and implement an organisational strategy for safely exploiting Artificial Intelligence.
  • Develop and embed a Product Management model within the IT team.
• Developing IT Literacy in the Business:
  • Ensure knowledge transfer from third party vendors to business colleagues is effectively completed during systems implementation.
  • Collaborate with department heads to identify specific IT training needs and design and implement training programs to enhance digital literacy across the organisation.
  • Promote a culture of continuous learning and development in IT skills among staff.
  • Provide resources and support to help employees effectively use new and existing technology in their roles.
  • Measure and report on the effectiveness of IT literacy initiatives.
• Other
  • Promote and adhere to our organisational values and behaviours in all aspects of your work.
  • To carry out all duties with due regard to the provisions of Health and Safety Legislation.
  • To work flexibly outside normal office hours if required.
  • To undertake any other tasks and duties within the scope and grade of the post.

Key Skills and Competencies:

• Technical Expertise:
  • Proven experience in a senior IT leadership role, ideally within the housing, public sector, or not-for-profit environment.
  • Proven track record of aligning IT with business strategy and delivering enterprise-scale initiatives.
  • Excellent understanding of cybersecurity, risk, and data protection.
  • Understanding of IT enterprise architecture and infrastructure and customer service desk provision.
  • Experience with digital transformation and cloud computing solutions.
  • Familiarity with frameworks like ITIL, ISO 27001, PRINCE2, Agile methodologies.
  • Experience working with Microsoft 365, Azure, or similar platforms.
• Leadership and Management:

• • Proven experience in leading and managing IT teams, providing clear direction and guidance to ensure required outcomes are delivered.
  • Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Experience of managing outsourced services.

• Strategic Thinking:

• • Ability to develop and implement strategic plans.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make data-driven decisions.
  • Strong business acumen with a customer-centric mindset.

• Personal Skills:

• • Good judgment with knowledge and experience to make the right decision.
  • Ability to build meaningful relationships and partnerships, based on mutual trust and accountability.
  • Resilient in an environment of conflicting and complex demands.
  • Ability to influence to deliver on strategic outcomes.
  • Strong communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.

Experience and Qualifications

• Essential:

• • 6+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, preferably within the housing or public sector, with responsibilities aligned to those in the skills and competencies section above.
  • Demonstrable experience of at least one new system implementation (not upgrade).
  • Evidence of recent continual professional development.

• Desirable:

• • Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field.
  • Leadership Qualification such as ILM (level 6/7).
  • Professional certifications such as ITIL, Project Management Professional, or Certified Information Systems Security Professional are desirable.