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About the Company
Our client is a large, very successful B to C service provider. Founded as the merger of several firms, the company has grown to hundreds of locations across Canada, serving thousands of customers. With headquarters in Toronto, the firm continues to pursue an aggressive growth strategy while staying true to its commitment to improving the lives of its customers.
Scope of Position
The Senior Vice President, IT will provide the vision, strategy, direction and leadership in the development and implementation of all information technology infrastructure and systems projects and initiatives, and the security and support thereof. Our client’s infrastructure and systems support a large network of locations as well as thousands of customers and employees. The firm’s infrastructure and systems must be highly reliable, appropriately secured, and perform with sufficient speed and ease so as to enhance productivity and customer experience. Services must be available 24/7/365. Our client’s corporate systems and infrastructure are primarily located, managed, and maintained centrally. Each location has certain local technology and systems resulting in associated complexities.
The Senior Vice President, SVP IT will have overall responsibility for developing and implementing our client’s technology strategy, building the strength of the IT organization and leading day-to-day execution, ensuring alignment of IT activities and initiatives with our client’s business strategy. This position is critical in driving overall process and technology efficiency and standardization across our client’s enterprise.
This is an outstanding opportunity that features:
- Market Leading positioning
- A meaning-driven, values based organization
- Committed, expanding, well-funded company
- Highly entrepreneurial corporate culture
- An opportunity to make a real difference
Functional Tasks
- Evaluate and shape the structure of the IT department to improve service levels, reduce risk, improve efficiency, leverage resources, and ensure appropriate and consistent communication across the organization to support our client’s business strategy.
- Ensure that the existing IT infrastructure is able to securely and reliably support efficient operations across locations while simultaneously assessing and advancing new initiatives and technologies that will directly support the success of our operating teams and functional departments.
- Define department metrics based on strategic objectives; measure and report on relevant key performance indicators to executive leadership to ensure the IT organization is making timely progress.
- Partner with appropriate executive teams to complete the operating and capital IT budgets. The incumbent will balance outcome vs. spend, proactively identifying investments required to maintain service levels, and/or to expand services to address improvement opportunities or potential risks. He/she will also identify efficiency opportunities in the existing spend.
- Motivate, engage and develop a team of talented professionals;
- Align IT risk management with enterprise risk management strategy;
- Develop innovative solutions, approaches, methods and procedures to meet or exceed user needs and organizational objectives.
Key Performance Deliverables
- Specific measures of performance relating to growth, profitability, quality, customer satisfaction, etc. will be discussed and agreed upon with the successful candidate.
Competency Profile
The following competencies listed below define the role of SVP IT:
Strategic Approach
Develops a strategic plan to realize the vision. Revises strategy in light of changing circumstances. Takes a long-term view of organizational success. Works to clarify long term organizational goals. Able to stand back from immediate problems in order to focus on more far reaching ideas.
Results Orientation
Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met. Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure. Aims to improve upon past performance. Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve them. Stays ahead of the noise and sets the tone and agenda daily to drive the management team and employees towards the company’s goals.
Customer/Client Orientation
Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service. Anticipates customers’/clients’ needs. Quickly follows up on customer/client contacts and complaints. Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction.
People Management
Establishes and communicates clear priorities and sense of direction. Clarifies roles and responsibilities. Adapts management style to achieve optimum results.
Impact
Makes an immediate positive impression upon others. Has presence and commands respect. Comes across with force and quickly establishes credibility. Accurately predicts the effects of own words and actions. Makes an immediate positive impression upon others.
Leading Change
Recognizes when change is necessary; Challenges the status quo and champions new initiatives; Acts as a catalyst to change and stimulates others to change; Develops an effective action plan to implement change and monitors results.
Commercial Acumen
Applies appropriate commercial and financial principles; Understands situations in terms of costs, profits, added-value and return on investment; Imagines future possibilities. Thinks broadly and investigates a wide-range of alternatives in developing a vision for the future. Selects the most promising vision from a range of alternatives and communicates this vision to others.
Initiative
Proactive; Seizes opportunities and acts upon them immediately; Takes responsibility for own actions and addresses problems before asked.
Preferred Experience / Education
The following indicates specific industry, academic and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables.
- Bachelor degree in Computer Science or equivalent
- Fifteen years of progressively increasing responsibility in technology. Minimum of ten years of management experience required, including a minimum of five years as a Senior Vice President or equivalent position for a large, bilingual company with multiple locations and more than 5,000 employees.
- Demonstrated success in building reliable and scalable infrastructure in a highly distributed environment.
- Demonstrated ability to conceptualize, launch and deliver multiple technology projects on time and within budget for a large, bilingual company.
- Demonstrated ability to partner with the business to deliver on business goals in a highly customer service oriented organization.
Skills & Abilities
- Ability to think creatively, conceptually and strategically, while maintaining a results-driven approach focused on solving business issues.
- Broad-based business and technical acumen in all aspects of information technology including full technology life cycle, budget management, resource allocations, network, hardware, software development, communications, and vendor/partner management.
- Extensive knowledge of: Information technology infrastructure – networking, hardware, data centres, co-location, cloud; ERP modules and systems; Benchmarking, implementing and measuring best-in-class strategies, processes, and procedures for a large operating business; Project management methodologies and tools
- A high level of personal and professional integrity, intellectual honesty and the ability to handle highly confidential information
- Excellent leadership skills, well-defined interpersonal skills and outstanding communication skills.
- Development and fostering of a fun, high energy, team-oriented and results-driven environment.
- Ability to build relationships and influence people at all levels within and outside the organization.
- Experience in change management, communication and leadership of cross-functional teams.
- The willingness to travel is required
Remuneration & Benefits
- Highly competitive compensation package tailored to the successful candidate.