Head of IT

Role overview

Location

• The role is located in Manchester at the BOND site.

IT leadership and strategy

• Lead, develop and inspire the IT function, including organisational structure, capability, resourcing and succession planning.
• Develop and deliver a three- to five-year technology strategy aligned with business objectives and growth plans.
• Partner with senior stakeholders to identify technology-enabled improvements to operations, customer experience and business performance.
• Represent IT in business development, customer engagements and RFP/RFI processes.

Operations and service delivery

• Ensure availability, security, performance and operational integrity of business-critical applications and infrastructure.
• Lead service management processes and maintain clear service level agreements.
• Establish change management and change control practices that balance stability with business agility.
• Oversee incident and problem management, major outage responses and supplier escalation.
• Drive continuous improvement across IT operations, processes and service delivery.

Financial and supplier management

• Develop and control the annual IT budget and monitor operational and project-related technology costs.
• Evaluate technology investments and develop business cases for strategic decisions.
• Manage technology vendors, service providers and external partners, including contracts, service reviews and SLAs.
• Lead RFI/RFP processes and collaborate with Procurement and Legal on sourcing and contract negotiations.

Risk, security and projects

• Own the IT risk framework and risk register and maintain IT policies, standards and governance frameworks.
• Ensure information security, user access management, audit and compliance controls protect systems, data and technology assets.
• Sponsor technology projects and transformation initiatives through agreed methodologies, standards and governance.
• Drive change management, training, adoption and benefits realisation for technology programmes.

Skills and experience

• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing IT teams in a complex business environment.
• Broad knowledge of enterprise applications, infrastructure, networks, cloud technologies and end-user computing.
• Strong understanding of IT service management, including incident, problem, change and release management.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity, identity and access management, data protection and IT governance.
• Experience developing technology strategies, managing IT budgets and evaluating technology investments.
• Strong commercial awareness and experience managing suppliers, contracts and service agreements.
• Significant senior-level IT leadership experience, ideally in a multi-site operational or logistics environment.
• A degree-level qualification in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Systems or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Desirable certifications

• Professional certifications such as ITIL, Prince2, PMP, Agile, Microsoft, AWS or CISSP are desirable.

About dnata Catering UK

Benefits

• Benefits include free meals and refreshments on site, a Simplyhealth plan and a Refer a Friend scheme.
• The package includes discounted gym membership, a Cycle to Work Scheme and access to an in-house apprenticeship programme.