Head Of Technology

Job Purpose Lead the organisation’s technology and digital agenda to improve manufacturing performance, business efficiency, resilience and growth. The role owns enterprise technology strategy, digital transformation, cybersecurity, data and analytics, enterprise applications, infrastructure, and the integration of IT and operational technology across manufacturing sites. The role is accountable for the cost, performance and return of the Group’s technology investment. Technology operates as a cost centre, and the financial benefits of technology initiatives are realised in the operating businesses. The role is measured on how well it manages the technology cost base and on the benefits it delivers jointly with business leaders. Finance validates those benefits against approved business cases. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Technology cost and value accountability: Own the Group’s technology opex and capex budgets and its total cost of technology. Co-sign the business case for every material technology investment with the sponsoring business leader, who owns the resulting P&L benefit. Be accountable for delivering technology solutions on time, on budget and to scope, and for enabling the committed benefits. Business leaders are accountable for adoption and for realising those benefits in their P&L. Finance validates benefits and tracks them to the business P&L, rather than reporting them as activity or project completion. Benefit attribution: Each technology investment names a benefit owner (the business leader) and a delivery owner (the Head of Technology). The baseline and measurement method are agreed with Finance before approval. Benefits are recorded once, in the operating business P&L, and are not double-counted in Technology. Technology strategy and governance: Develop and execute the technology roadmap; establish architecture, standards, policies, investment priorities and governance across the organisation, with every investment anchored to a quantified business case. Digital and manufacturing transformation: Lead automation, smart factory and Industry 4.0 initiatives; connect factory-floor and enterprise systems to deliver measurable gains in OEE, yield, uptime, energy efficiency and conversion cost per unit. Enterprise applications and integration: Own and optimise ERP, MES, CRM, HRIS, supply chain, finance and related platforms; simplify the application landscape and strengthen integration and user adoption. Data, analytics and AI: Establish sound data governance and a single source of truth; deliver dashboards, advanced analytics and practical AI use cases that improve margin, pricing, inventory and working capital decisions. Cybersecurity and resilience: Protect information and operational technology assets; oversee cyber risk, privacy, business continuity, disaster recovery and security awareness; express cyber and technology risk in financial terms to inform risk appetite and investment. Infrastructure and service delivery: Ensure secure, reliable and cost-effective networks, cloud, workplace technology and support services across all locations, while driving down unit cost of service and total cost of ownership. Portfolio, vendors and value realisation: Allocate capital to the highest-return programmes using stage-gate investment governance (NPV, IRR, payback); conduct post-investment reviews and stop or redirect initiatives that are not delivering; rationalise applications and renegotiate contracts to release cost; control technology costs and ensure investments deliver measurable financial outcomes. Leadership and change: Build a capable technology team, strengthen digital capability across the business and create strong collaboration between technology, Manufacturing, supply chain, commercial and corporate functions. SUCCESS MEASURES: COST DISCIPLINE AND VALUE DELIVERY Directly accountable Budget discipline: Technology opex and capex delivered within the approved budget. Technology cost as a percentage of revenue held at or below the agreed benchmark. Cost of ownership: Savings from application rationalisation, vendor consolidation and contract renegotiation. Delivery: Approved technology programmes delivered on time, on budget and to scope. Jointly accountable with sponsoring business leaders Benefits realisation: Finance-validated benefits from technology initiatives, measured against approved business cases and recorded in the operating businesses’ P&L. Return on investment: Benefits realised compared with approved business cases (NPV, IRR, payback), confirmed through post-investment review. Operating cost and working capital: Reductions in conversion cost, downtime, scrap and inventory days that technology enabled. OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC DELIVERY Roadmap: Delivery of the approved technology and digital roadmap on time and to scope. Manufacturing performance: Improvement in OEE, yield, reliability and plant visibility enabled by technology. Service: System availability, service performance and user experience. Cyber resilience: Cybersecurity maturity, risk reduction and recovery readiness.