Head of Group IT

Head of Group IT Lead group-wide IT modernization across Poland and Romania: unify post-M&A systems, strengthen security, optimize spend, and guide a high-impact team from Warsaw. We usually respond within a day I represent a PE-backed ERP, finance, and HR software group operating across Poland and Romania. The group has grown rapidly through acquisitions and now needs someone to own, modernize, and unify the internal corporate IT estate across all entities. The company has been in the market for 25+ years and serves tens of thousands of SME customers. The group is headquartered in Warsaw and follows a hybrid working model. What you will actually own 1. Group IT strategy and governance - define and enforce IT policies, standards, and procedures across all group entities. No two acquired companies run the same stack; you will build the framework that changes that. 2. Post-M&A IT integration - when a new company joins the group, you run the IT workstream: infrastructure consolidation, identity unification, tooling standardization, network integration, security baselining. You have done this before and know where the hidden costs live. 3. Infrastructure and cloud operations - own the Azure and AWS estates, on-prem infrastructure, networking, and the corporate IT backbone. You manage uptime, capacity, and lifecycle. 4. IT budget, vendor management, and licensing - negotiate software and hardware agreements across the group. Optimize license spend (Microsoft, Oracle, etc.), consolidate vendor relationships, and own the IT P&L. No one gets surprised by an audit. 5. Cybersecurity, compliance, and data governance - own GDPR compliance, security policies, incident response, and access management across the group. Work with the DPO and external auditors. The group operates across EU jurisdictions and the regulatory bar is rising (including the EU AI Act — see disclaimer below). 6. Team leadership - lead a ~10-person internal IT team spanning helpdesk, infrastructure, and security. You stay close to the details but delegate effectively. You hire, develop, and occasionally fire. Must-haves (not nice-to-haves) - Internal IT leadership - you have run corporate IT or IT operations in a mid-sized or multi-entity organization. Your background is not software engineering, product, or CTO track. - IT budget and vendor ownership - you have personally managed an IT budget, negotiated enterprise licensing agreements, and delivered measurable cost optimization. - IT governance from scratch - you have built IT policy, standards, and governance frameworks across multiple entities, not just maintained an existing setup. - Post-M&A IT integration - you have consolidated fragmented IT estates after acquisitions: identity, infrastructure, tooling, security. You know the difference between theory and execution here. - Cross-border or multi-entity CEE experience - you have operated in Poland and at least one other CEE market. Experience spanning Poland and Romania is a strong signal. 5 criteria I will screen your CV against If your CV does not clearly demonstrate all five, I will not submit you to the client. I am transparent about this because I value your time. 1. You have held a Head of IT, IT Director, or equivalent internal IT leadership title — not engineering manager, not CTO, not product lead. The role is corporate IT operations, not software delivery. 2. You can point to a specific IT budget you owned and optimized — dollar amount, what you cut, what you renegotiated. Generic "managed vendor relationships" does not count. 3. You have concrete post-M&A IT integration experience — which companies, which systems, what you consolidated, how long it took, what broke. If you have not done this, this role will be a painful first attempt. 4. Your CV shows IT governance and policy creation, not just compliance with existing policies — ISO 27001 lead implementation, writing IT standards for a group, defining procurement policies, etc. 5. You are fluent in Polish (C2) and English (C1+) and based in or willing to relocate to Warsaw — the role is hybrid in Warsaw and requires working across Polish-speaking teams and English-speaking stakeholders and vendors. EU AI Act disclaimer This role involves oversight of AI-adopted tools, vendor AI compliance assessments, and data governance across EU jurisdictions. As of 2026, the EU AI Act imposes obligations on deployers of high-risk AI systems, including transparency, risk management, and human oversight requirements. You will be expected to ensure the group's IT estate remains compliant as the regulatory framework evolves. Familiarity with the EU AI Act or equivalent regulatory frameworks is therefore relevant to this position. --- Interested? If the above describes you, send me your CV. I will review it against the screening criteria above and, if there is a fit, share the client details and set up a conversation. Note: The client prefers to remain anonymous at this stage. I will disclose the company name upon CV review and mutual interest. Locations Warsaw Remote status Hybrid Yearly salary PLN250,000 - PLN300,000 Employment type Full-time Employment level Executive/Senior Level Recruitment Speed 21 days