Head of Enterprise Applications

Head of Enterprise Applications

Remote – occasional travel to UK offices (2 days per month)

Competitive Salary + Bonus + Car Allowance

We are working with major UK engineering and technical services organisation who are undergoing a significant business and technology transformation.

Having grown through acquisition, the organisation operates across multiple business units with diverse systems, suppliers, processes and ways of working. The business is investing heavily in creating a more joined up, scalable and efficient technology function that can support future growth and operational excellence.

This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of enterprise technology from day one, build a team, influence enterprise-wide technology strategy, and play a pivotal role in delivering a modern, scalable application backbone for a global organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Business & Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner with Finance, HR, Procurement, Legal and HSEQ leaders to align technology roadmaps with business objectives
• Work closely with Divisional Heads of IT to balance local requirements with group-wide standards and governance
• Ensure all platform initiatives comply with architecture, security, delivery and governance frameworks

Enterprise Platform Strategy & Transformation

• Own platform lifecycle planning, including upgrades, technical debt management, supportability and retirement strategies
• Lead the consolidation and rationalisation of duplicated systems across the Group
• Drive the evolution towards a reusable enterprise application backbone that supports end-to-end business processes
• Translate enterprise architecture principles into practical platform roadmaps and delivery plans

Platform Leadership & Operations

• Lead the day-to-day operation, availability and performance of enterprise platforms across SaaS, COTS and configured environments
• Establish and develop the Enterprise platform capabilities, create a scalable team structure and define the skills, processes and governance needed for long-term success
• Act as the senior escalation point for critical platform incidents and service issues
• Define and maintain platform standards, ensuring consistency across divisions and preventing application fragmentation
• Establish operational metrics and continuously improve platform performance and service quality

Vendor, Budget & Capability Management

• Manage strategic platform vendors, implementation partners and software suppliers
• Optimise licensing, support contracts and platform operating costs
• Develop KPI frameworks covering performance, adoption, reliability and upgrade currency
• Build, lead and develop the Enterprise Foundation Platforms capability, defining the future organisational structure and sourcing strategy

What You'll Bring

• Strong IT leadership experience within complex enterprise environments
• Proven experience managing and transforming enterprise platforms such as ERP, Finance, HR and Procurement systems
• Expertise in platform operations, lifecycle management, integration and governance
• Knowledge of leading enterprise platforms including IFS, SAP, D365, Dayforce, Salesforce, Workday, or similar
• Experience establishing and growing Enterprise platform functions, defining team structure, roles, responsibilities and capability requirements as the domains mature
• Experience working across federated or multi-business organisations and leading teams through change
• Commercially minded, with a track record of managing technology vendors, partners and platform investments
• A pragmatic, stakeholder focused approach with the ability to balance business needs, technical standards and operational excellence

This role is based remote with occasional travel to UK sites, just 2 days per month.

The offer a very competitive salary plus excellent benefits including Bonus, Car Allowance, Private Medical and Life Assurance.

This is a unique opportunity to help define and build a newly established enterprise capability, leading the evolution of core business platforms while shaping technology strategy across a global organisation.