SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:
Management Level: Executive Leadership
Reporting to: Managing Director
Role Context
This is a senior executive leadership opportunity for an experienced IT leader who can provide end-to-end leadership of the Information Technology function while also carrying credible Data Protection Officer capability and accountability.
The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping and executing enterprise-wide IT strategy, leading digital transformation, strengthening IT governance, protecting data, managing cybersecurity risk, and ensuring that technology enables business growth, operational excellence and competitive advantage.
This role requires a commercially astute, technically credible and governance-oriented IT executive who can operate confidently across executive leadership, board-level stakeholders, regional/global structures, regulators, auditors, external service providers and multidisciplinary technology teams.
The organisation is open to considering:
- An experienced IT executive who has successfully led a full IT function; or
- A high-performing senior IT leader ready to step into their first executive role, provided they have proven senior management impact, leadership maturity and strategic capability.
This is not a purely technical IT management role. It is a strategic executive role requiring the ability to balance business growth, operational discipline, innovation, cybersecurity resilience, data protection governance, regulatory compliance and people leadership.
Purpose of the Role
The Senior Director: Information Technology will be responsible for leading the full IT function and ensuring that technology directly supports business growth, operational performance, customer experience, regulatory compliance and long-term organisational resilience.
The role includes responsibility for:
- Defining and executing the organisation’s IT strategy in line with business objectives.
- Leading digital transformation and technology-enabled business improvement.
- Ensuring reliable, secure, scalable and high-performing IT services.
- Overseeing IT infrastructure, applications, service delivery, governance, risk and performance.
- Acting as Data Protection Officer and ensuring compliance with POPIA, GDPR and related data protection requirements.
- Leading cybersecurity strategy and executive-level technology risk governance.
- Building and developing a high-performing IT leadership team.
- Advising executive and board-level stakeholders on technology, data protection, cybersecurity and digital enablement.
The successful candidate must be able to connect technology decisions to business outcomes and operate as a trusted executive advisor, not merely as a functional IT specialist.
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is best suited to a current IT executive seeking broader strategic impact, multinational exposure and enterprise-level responsibility.
It may also suit a high-performing senior IT leader who is ready to step into an executive role, provided they have already demonstrated strong senior management impact, strategic capability, leadership maturity and the ability to influence at executive level.
This role is not suited to candidates whose experience is limited to operational IT management without strategic leadership, governance, data protection, cybersecurity, transformation or executive stakeholder exposure.
The successful candidate must be able to operate as a trusted advisor, strong people leader and commercially astute technology executive who can help a complex South African and African logistics business remain resilient, compliant, digitally enabled and future-ready.
Important Application Note
- Candidates should ensure that their CV clearly reflects relevant executive or senior IT leadership experience, including IT strategy, technology transformation, IT governance, cybersecurity, data protection/privacy compliance, senior stakeholder engagement, team leadership, budget responsibility and experience operating in complex or multinational environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic IT Leadership
- Define, lead and execute a forward-looking IT strategy aligned to the organisation’s business objectives, growth priorities and global standards.
- Provide executive leadership across the full IT function, ensuring that technology enables operational excellence, customer experience, business resilience and competitive advantage.
- Lead digital business transformation across a complex environment, ensuring that technology supports revenue growth, efficiency, innovation and improved customer outcomes.
- Identify, evaluate and drive the adoption of relevant emerging technologies that can enhance business performance, operational capability and strategic advantage.
- Oversee IT governance, performance management, risk management and technology decision-making frameworks.
- Ensure that IT priorities, investments, systems and services are aligned with local business requirements and broader regional/global technology direction.
- Act as a senior business partner to the Managing Director, executive leadership team and relevant board-level stakeholders on technology strategy, innovation, risk and enablement.
- Digital Transformation & Business Enablement
- Lead technology-enabled transformation initiatives that improve operational efficiency, customer service delivery, data usage, process performance and business scalability.
- Ensure that digital transformation initiatives are commercially relevant, measurable and aligned to strategic business outcomes.
- Translate business needs into practical, scalable and sustainable technology solutions.
- Drive innovation while maintaining strong governance, risk controls and operational discipline.
- Ensure that technology supports business-critical operations in a complex, high-volume, time-sensitive logistics and express environment.
- Promote the effective use of digital platforms, automation, data, cloud technologies and modern IT practices where relevant to business needs.
- IT Operations, Infrastructure, Applications & Service Delivery
- Ensure the delivery of reliable, secure, scalable and high-performing IT services across the business.
- Oversee IT infrastructure, applications, systems, service delivery and operational support at scale.
- Ensure business-critical systems and technology environments are available, resilient and able to support operational demands.
- Lead enterprise-wide technology projects, ensuring delivery within agreed scope, time, budget, quality and governance requirements.
- Oversee IT performance, service levels, operational risks, issue resolution and continuous improvement.
- Ensure effective management of technology resources, capacity, priorities and operational dependencies.
- Own and manage the IT budget, ensuring disciplined resource allocation, cost control and measurable value from technology investment.
- Manage vendor partnerships and external service providers to ensure performance, accountability, value delivery and alignment with organisational standards.
- Drive value realisation, cost optimisation and measurable ROI from IT systems, platforms, services and transformation initiatives.
- Data Protection, Privacy & Compliance
- Act as the organisation’s Data Protection Officer, ensuring effective oversight of data protection obligations and privacy governance.
- Ensure compliance with POPIA, GDPR and related data protection legislation, standards and regulatory expectations.
- Establish, embed and monitor privacy-by-design principles across systems, processes, technology platforms and business initiatives.
- Lead data governance, privacy controls, breach response processes, regulatory engagement and data protection risk management.
- Advise executive leadership and board-level stakeholders on data protection risks, obligations, controls and compliance priorities.
- Ensure that data protection practices are embedded into technology design, system implementation, vendor management, business processes and operational decision-making.
- Maintain appropriate oversight of data privacy risks, regulatory requirements and compliance readiness in a complex, multinational operating environment.
- Cybersecurity, Risk & Governance
- Lead cybersecurity strategy and ensure the organisation remains resilient against evolving cyber threats.
- Ensure effective executive-level governance of cybersecurity, information security and technology risk.
- Oversee risk management frameworks relating to IT operations, systems, information security, data protection and business continuity.
- Ensure IT governance frameworks are implemented, monitored and continuously improved.
- Support audit readiness and ensure effective engagement with auditors, regulators and governance stakeholders.
- Ensure technology risk is clearly identified, assessed, prioritised, reported and mitigated.
- Promote strong control environments across infrastructure, applications, service management, data security and vendor-managed technology services.
- Ensure that cybersecurity, data protection and IT governance are treated as business-critical priorities and not as administrative compliance exercises.
- Executive Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and maintain strong relationships with executive leadership, board-level stakeholders, regional/global technology teams, regulators, auditors and external service providers.
- Influence senior stakeholders and secure alignment on IT priorities, investment decisions, governance standards and transformation initiatives.
- Communicate complex technology, cybersecurity and data protection matters in a clear, business-focused manner.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to executives on technology enablement, data protection obligations, cybersecurity risk and digital transformation.
- Balance local business needs with global technology standards, compliance requirements and multinational operating expectations.
- Represent the IT function credibly at executive level, with the ability to influence decisions, challenge constructively and drive accountability.
- Leadership & Talent Management
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing IT leadership team.
- Lead senior managers, technical specialists and multidisciplinary technology teams with clear accountability, direction and performance expectations.
- Develop succession pipelines and future-fit IT capabilities aligned to business and technology strategy.
- Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, governance, continuous improvement and customer-focused service delivery.
- Ensure the IT function has the leadership capability, technical expertise and organisational maturity required to support a complex and future-focused business.
- Coach, mentor and develop technology leaders to strengthen capability, performance and long-term succession.
- Promote collaboration between IT and business functions to ensure technology is understood as a strategic business enabler.
Minimum Requirements
- Education & Qualifications
- Relevant degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Technology or a related field.
- Postgraduate qualification is required.
- MBA or equivalent executive qualification will be advantageous.
- Professional certifications such as ITIL, COBIT, TOGAF, cloud-related certifications or cybersecurity certifications will be advantageous.
- Formal training in data protection and privacy law, including POPIA and GDPR, is required.
- Certifications such as CIPP/E, ISO 27001, data governance or related privacy/security certifications will be advantageous.
- Experience
- Minimum 15 years’ experience in Information Technology.
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in senior leadership roles.
- Proven experience leading an IT function, a large technology portfolio or a major transformation programme in a complex business environment.
- Experience operating within complex, matrixed or multinational environments.
- Strong track record in data protection, privacy, information security or related governance oversight.
- Demonstrated experience supporting business-critical operations where technology reliability, resilience and performance are essential.
- Proven experience engaging with executive leadership, board-level stakeholders, regional or global stakeholders, regulators, auditors and external service providers.
- Experience leading enterprise-wide projects, digital transformation initiatives, IT governance frameworks and technology risk management.
- Experience managing IT budgets, resource allocation, vendor partnerships and value delivery from technology investments.
- Experience leading senior managers, technical specialists and multidisciplinary IT teams.
Technical & Regulatory Expertise
The successful candidate must bring strong working knowledge and leadership capability across the following areas:
- IT strategy and enterprise technology leadership.
- IT infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity and service management.
- IT governance, risk management and performance frameworks.
- Data protection and privacy governance.
- POPIA, GDPR and global data privacy standards.
- Cybersecurity strategy and executive-level cyber risk oversight.
- Data governance, breach response and regulatory engagement.
- Technology transformation, innovation and business enablement.
- Vendor management, technology investment governance and cost optimisation.
- Compliance audits, risk controls and governance frameworks.
- Business-critical technology operations within a complex, high-performance environment.
Leadership Profile & Attributes
The ideal candidate will be:
- A strategic, commercially minded IT leader who can connect technology decisions directly to business outcomes.
- A credible executive with the presence and confidence to influence senior management, executives and board-level stakeholders.
- A strong people leader with experience managing senior IT leaders, technical specialists and multidisciplinary teams.
- Highly accountable, ethical and governance-oriented.
- Strong in communication, stakeholder engagement and executive-level reporting.
- A collaborative business partner who can work across functions, countries, regions and global structures.
- Future-focused, innovative and able to drive change without compromising governance, security or operational discipline.
- Comfortable operating in a high-pressure, service-driven and business-critical environment.
- Able to balance strategic vision with operational execution.
- Able to balance innovation with risk management.
- Able to balance local business needs with global standards.
- Mature, resilient and decisive, with the ability to lead through complexity.
Key Competencies
- Executive IT Leadership
- IT Strategy & Business Alignment
- Digital Transformation & Innovation
- Data Protection & Privacy Governance
- POPIA, GDPR & Regulatory Compliance
- Cybersecurity Strategy & Risk Governance
- IT Governance & Performance Management
- Enterprise Technology Operations
- Infrastructure, Applications & Service Management
- Executive Stakeholder Engagement
- Board-Level Advisory Capability
- Vendor & Budget Management
- Commercial & Strategic Thinking
- Change Leadership
- People Leadership & Succession Development
- Ethical Leadership & Accountability
- Operational Resilience & Business Continuity
- Communication, Influence & Collaboration
Employment Equity
- All suitably qualified candidates will be given fair consideration.
Remuneration
- A competitive total target compensation package is offered, aligned with the executive seniority, strategic responsibility and scale of the role.
