SALES AND MARKETING IT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MANAGER | CAPE TOWN

SUMMARY:
Our client – a leading suppliers of petroleum products in South Africa through its vast network of approximately 850 service stations is looking for a Business Relationship Manager - Sales and marketing Manager.
 
The client has a Level 1 Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment rating against the amended Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes of Good Practice. The client has committed to protecting people and the environment and to driving sustainable economic growth in South Africa through its social investment programmes in health, education and economic development.

POSITION INFO:
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:
The Sales and Marketing BRM is a strategic partner with the Sales leadership teams, as well as the internal and external sales support groups and partners, and drives thought leadership to bring innovation and value to these departments. They manage the end-to-end IT portfolio of applications and ensure spend is aligned to strategy, value office and follows governance and procurement processes. This role partners closely with key business stakeholders to ensure IT demand is captured, prioritised and planned effectively giving visibility to both business and IT on IT demand and supply and provides alignment with the overall IT Strategy and roadmap. This role will also ensure that all commitments to business can be achieved and prioritised effectively but also partner with business to proactively offer and support in any technology efficiency / improvements. This role forms part of the IT leadership team.

• Lead a team of IT professionals to deliver support and value to the BU in order for it to meet its strategic objectives
• Direct and manage the provisioning of IT services to the sales operations of the business
• They will act as a point of escalation for the IT build and run teams within this business tower and also be a key point of contact for business stakeholders for IT demand
• Maintain demand process for new proposals with overall responsibility for steering these proposals through the early phases of approval
• Develop and enhance relationships with key business stakeholders, actively manage their expectations and monitor satisfaction levels
• Address sales and marketing demand by capturing high level technology requirements
• Ensure high level technology impact analysis is provided to business for faster decision making and demand planning
• Develop training, maintenance, implementation, upgrade, enhancements, safety procedures, protocol, and documentation where required
• Work with the senior management team to develop business plans, budgets, IT strategy, and other key targets for the IT department
• Provide leadership, direction, and coordination for IT activities between sales and marketing support business departments
• Develop expense and capital budgets, gain approval, analyse monthly variances, and lost opportunities and operate the IT department within budget parameters
• 24/7 availability in order to resolve critical issues
• Provide overall oversight and management guidance for all vendors to ensure compliance to agreed SLAs
• Assure prompt and effective action is taken to resolve technical problems and minimise repetitive discrepancies through continuous improvement efforts
• Manage and provide oversight for end-to-end service delivery from Sales and Marketing IT team (including ecosystem partners and third parties) to business
• Contract Management - Evaluates a potential service provider’s reputation, resources and expertise
• Carry-out all required contract negotiations for new and existing contracts with third parties
• Regular presentations and updates at leadership forums e.g. Sales LT’s, Franchise Advisory Councils, Exco’s, Partner forums, etc
• Responsible for driving and ensuring IT compliance and security standards are maintained at all times

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or other related field, or equivalent work experience
• SAP certification and/or experience preferred, especially SAP SD and Hybris/Commerce Cloud
• CRM certification or experience preferred
• 10 or more years IT experience, preferably in a Retail environment
• 5+ years management experience, preferably in a business facing / client facing role

• Strong strategic partnering skills with IT and business stakeholders
• Strong leadership skills
• Ability to work under pressure, with tight deadlines and a ‘can-do’ attitude
• Thought leader and change agent to drive innovation and change at a strategic level that delivers maximum business value
• Extensive knowledge of IT systems and application architectures – highly skilled and experienced in development and operational support of IT systems
• Deep understanding of the retail technology stack to include OS, DB, middleware, POS, Loyalty, Card processing, IoT, application layer, virtualisation, and cloud technologies
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• Maintain completely open and transparent communication with the CIO

• Collaborate with the Sales and Marketing BU leadership teams in annual business planning cycle to develop strategic IT plans 3-5 years in advance
• Seek cost saving opportunities
• Responsible for all IT operational spend (opex) for Sales and Marketing IT BU’s
• Responsible for all IT capital spend/projects (capex) for Sales and Marketing IT BU’s

• Single point of contact for all IT escalations
• Support customer base of about 1000
• Deliver support 24x7x365

• Contribute and work within the IT strategic objectives and within the IT Governance framework.
• Comply with all IT standards, policies and procedures as deployed by the IT Function or the majority shareholder
• Operate IT assets in a safe, reliable, compliant and cost-effective manner to deliver the best value to the business

• Set clear vision, strategy and direction for team through effective KPI setting and measurement
• Drive a high-performance culture in the team and promote a passion for technology through continuous improvement and learning about the latest technologies
• Act as mentor to other team members coming up the ranks. Ensure knowledge transfer to develop others