IS Director
Hybrid (2 days in Cambridgeshire per week)
Our client is a major publishing distributor managing end to end from the Warehouse to putting on the shelves of major retailers. They provide data insights into what titles are performing best including where and when and also responsible for payments to publishers and all suppliers throughout the supply chain and so much more.
The IS Department is responsible for running and enhancing core systems and building new applications that manage their business end to end. Some systems manage the Supply Chain and Logistics and others provide vital data insights on sales performance for each title in each store, predicting trends and when to replenish stocks and so on.
Legacy systems were built in Java and Oracle but migrating to .Net/SQL Server. All new development is done in .Net. The Data teams use SQL and SAS and provide data analysis across their business and build applications that can churn millions of lines of sales data each day. The broader IT team cover Infrastructure, Service Desk and Cyber Security.
The role holder will have 2 main reporting managers in the Group Head of IT and Group Head of Data Analytics for a department size of circa 50. You will need to have experience of overseeing Software Development, Infrastructure, Security and Business Systems (ERP and Dynamics Business Central nice to have), but the growth of this department and the business is on the data analytics side.
They want to continue to get better insights into the performance of the products they distribute now, and also to support offering new products to their customers. The Data team will be the driving force behind this, which will mean recruiting additional headcount and looking at new data platforms, applications and utilising more machine learning and AI. This in fact, will the be the driving force of your role. You will need to oversee all areas of the department but growing the business via enhanced data analytics is a priority.
Skills and Experience:
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A strong leader. Able to spot talent and develop skills, guide and maximise delivery of the team
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Broad IS department background as a Technology Leader covering software development, business systems, infrastructure and Security
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Experience of ERP (Dynamics nice to have) and integrations to other systems and pulling key data in and out is preferred.
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Data and BI has become a key part of your role, and you have enabled businesses to make data driven decisions through the solutions your teams have implemented.
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Experience of SAS or other Analytical tools is essential
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Numerate and able to work with complex logic
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A strategic and problem solving thinker, able to see the opportunity to improve a process or system to grow the business and work with peers on solutions
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Likely to come from a Retail or FMCG background where there are multiple outlets and complex data management