Director - Information Technology

Majid Al Futtaim invites you to join us in our quest to create great moments for everyone, everyday! We are the leading shopping mall, residential communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, serving over 560 million visitors a year. For the past two decades, we have shaped the consumer landscape across the region, transforming the way people shop, live and play, while maintaining a strong sustainability track record and the largest mall in the world to attain LEED Gold EBOM Certification. We have over 45,000 team members in 17 international markets representing over 100 nationalities – all keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do. If you enjoy being BOLD, PASSIONATE and TOGETHER, then Majid Al Futtaim is the destination for you.

Role Purpose:

The Director - Info. Technology is responsible for leading the IT integration, implementation, and establishing standards and solutions for information systems to support all business functions. The role holder is also responsible for ensuring that return on MAF Retail’s IT investments are maximized and aligned with business goals and strategy through appropriate technology planning, application development, organization building, and operations management.

Role Details – Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Strategic Planning

• Lead the IT strategic and operational planning to achieve MAF Retail’s goals by fostering innovation, prioritizing IT initiatives, and coordinating the evaluation, deployment, and management of current and future IT systems across the organization

• Establish IT departmental goals, objectives, and operating procedures

• Assess and communicates risks associated with IT investments

• Develop, track, and control the information technology annual operating and capital budgets

• Direct development and execution of an enterprise-wide disaster recovery and business continuity plan

Acquisition and Deployment

• Approve and control projects and the project portfolio as they relate to the selection, acquisition, development, and installation of major information systems, infrastructure, and applied technologies

• Review hardware and software acquisition and maintenance contracts

• Define and communicates corporate plans, policies, and standards for the organization for acquiring, implementing, and operating IT systems

• Develop policies and procedures for the evaluation, selection, implementation, and maintenance of IT systems, ensuring a balanced investment in strategic and operational systems

• Develop and maintain the enterprise system architecture, defining standards, and protocols for data exchange, communications, software, and interconnectivity

Operational Management

•  Ensure continuous delivery of IT services through oversight of service level agreements with end users and monitoring of IT systems performance

•  Stay abreast of current trends and issues in the IT industry, including current technologies and prices

Coordination and Communication

•  Coordinate and facilitate consultation with stakeholders to define business and systems requirements for new technology implementations

•  Advise and educate executives and management on their competitive or financial impact

•  Promote and oversee strategic relationships between internal IT resources and external entities

•  Develop synergies across the organization to improve operations of the IT function

Human Capital Responsibilities

•  Ensure the implementation of the performance management process

• Provide mentorship for the purpose of developing a continuous talent pipeline for key roles

• Identify training needs and coordinate with the HC department to ensure facilitation of training requirements

• Oversee the development and implementation of on the job-training

•  Ensure constant availability of the required competent staff to support the organization in meeting all its responsibilities, plans, and objectives

• Provide inputs while developing MAF Retail’s corporate policies and relevant procedures, and monitor the implementation

Disclaimer: This role description reflects the general details considered necessary to describe the principal responsibilities of the role identified and shall not be construed as an exhaustive description of all the work requirements inherent to success in the role.

Personal Characteristics and Required Background:

Minimum Qualifications/education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

• Master’s Degree in Computer Science or Master of Business Administration with technology as a core component preferred

Minimum experience  

• 10+ years of experience in IT Department

• 5+ years in retail

Skills

• Strong people management skills

• Strong business communication and presentation skills

• Good knowledge of supplier or third party management software

• Aptitude in decision-making and working with numbers

• Experience in collecting and analysing data

• Strong leadership capabilities