Global Director Digital & Business Foundation

Global Director Digital & Business Foundation

As the world around us is becoming more digital, the gas distribution business is no exception. We are aggressively professionalizing our efforts to meet customer expectations, and at the same time achieve our growth ambitions. To support this SHV Energy is accelerating its digital ambition through the implementation of its Digital Strategy by enabling Digital, AI & Continuous Improvement as core capabilities for our Business Units. Robust, scalable, and effectively managed and operated business applications, digital platforms, solutions & services are key, critical enablers for this strategy.

The Director – Digital & Business Foundation is a key, visible leader within the Global Digital & Transformation Leadership team and works both with SHV Energy’s Business Units (BUs) as well as with the broader Global Functions & IT organisation in partnering, planning, architecture, delivery, and operations of Business/Digital solutions powered by Digital Platforms, strong Data Foundation and scalable cloud & workplace infrastructure.

The Director – Digital & Business Foundation reports to the SHV Energy Group CDTO.

The Director – Digital & Business Foundation brings current knowledge & future vision for leading the team including its strategy, solution & service offerings, vendor management, outsourcing and financial acumen. The role holder is a senior stakeholder in all relationships with internal & external partners to understand how to best align Digital, Data & IT capabilities to enable Business Units. The role will provide strong situational leadership & support to the Digital & Transformation team and will leverage the team’s capacity and expertise to ensure SHV Energy BU’s achieve maximum impact & value add towards business ambitions.

As a member of the Global Digital & Transformation leadership team this role contributes to the development and execution of the enterprise-wide business & strategic ambitions and is responsible for ensuring SHV Energy’s global digital platforms, data foundations & business solutions offerings are fully aligned, supporting the Global Digital & IT team in delivering compelling business value.

The challenge at SHVE is particularly attractive because we are transforming from a proud decentralized organization to a network organization. So, the global digital/data foundations & solutions that are being developed and implemented must fit into a local ecosystem in a hybrid architecture (local systems and global systems working in harmony) which is an interesting challenge to navigate and solve together with our strategic partners.

For the right candidate that fulfils all requirements, this position is offered in Hay Grade 20.

The key activities of this role are: 

•      Define and lead the mission, vision, and long-term strategy for the Global Digital & Business Foundation, ensuring strong alignment with enterprise business priorities and technology-enabled growth objectives for Business units.

•      Partner closely with Business Unit senior leadership & IT to shape and enable strategic ambitions, advising on the optimal use of digital platforms, applications, and services to maximize business impact, efficiency, and scalability.

•      Establish and sustain trusted, value-based relationships with senior business and IT stakeholders by deeply understanding business needs and ensuring the cost-effective delivery of high-quality digital and IT solutions that are fit for purpose

•      Develop and maintain a clear Digital & Business Foundation value framework, linking strategic business outcomes to future-state capabilities, platforms, and enabling technologies.

•      Own and govern the Digital & Business Foundation budget, ensuring disciplined financial management, transparency, and alignment with enterprise IT and Business Unit strategic objectives.

•      Design, build, and manage a cohesive and future-ready digital ecosystem, leveraging best-practice processes, architecture, standards, and toolsets across platforms and services.

•      Collaborate closely with Group Information Security and Audit & Risk leadership to ensure that all digital platforms and business solutions are secure, resilient, and aligned with enterprise risk and security strategies.

•      Establish and operate robust governance frameworks to ensure effective oversight, control, and compliance across Digital & Business Foundation activities, supporting audits, risk reviews, and regulatory requirements as needed.

•      Apply strong influencing and negotiation capabilities across IT and Business Units to drive innovative, value-driven, and cost-effective digital solutions that advance enterprise business goals.

•   Provide strategic direction on emerging and evolving technologies (like AI, Analytics, Automation), ensuring their thoughtful adoption into platforms, products, and services to support business transformation and long-term digital strategy.

•   Champion innovation within the Global IT organization, positioning the Digital & Business Foundation as a key contributor to experimentation, continuous improvement, and the exploitation of new business opportunities.

•   Co-create and govern enterprise roadmaps and initiatives with key stakeholders across Business Units, ensuring a committed and prioritized portfolio of initiatives delivered within agreed scope, timelines, and investment parameters.

•   Provide end-to-end strategic leadership and oversight across the full lifecycle of business systems and digital/data platforms, from architecture and design through development, operations, and ongoing support.

•   Work collaboratively with business leadership to assess priorities and manage capacity, ensuring resources are effectively allocated and high levels of end-user satisfaction are consistently achieved.

•   Ensure enterprise business applications (including ERP, customer platforms, corporate systems, Operations and data platforms) deliver measurable value, enabling efficiency, insight, and strategic business outcomes.

•   Drive the adoption and maturity of cloud, integration, automation, and data platforms, enabling Business Units to become more agile, scalable, and future-ready in support of transformation objectives.

•   Ensure successful delivery of complex initiatives and programs through effective stakeholder engagement, leadership alignment, issue resolution, and proactive opportunity optimization.

•   Lead and inspire global teams, including internal staff and outsourced partners, ensuring programs and services are delivered on time, within budget, and to defined quality standards, while maintaining reliable application support and operations.

• Own and manage strategic partnerships with outsourcing, implementation, and operations providers, ensuring performance, value realization, contractual compliance, and long-term partnership effectiveness.

What we are looking for:

• Ten or more years of progressive leadership experience in leading cross functional Digital & IT teams and enterprise-wide programs, operating and influencing effectively across the organization and within complex contexts.

• Prior experience in interacting with C-Suite level executives and working in a complex-matrixed environment.

• Effective leadership skills. These skills include team building, consensus building, the ability to balance team and individual responsibilities and achieving goals through others not directly under the lead’s supervision, by working ethically and with integrity.

• Strong interpersonal skills. Ability to work across business lines at senior levels to influence and effect change to achieve common goals.

• Expertise in strategic thinking and strong business acumen.

• Experience with operational finance and cost management, forecasting, and cost optimization

• Experience leading, developing and coaching high-performance teams.

• Proven track record of delivering technical/digital solutions with complex business needs.

• Excellent working knowledge of enterprise-class ERP, CRM and other Corporate Applications (HR/Finance/Procurement).

• Excellent working knowledge of Enterprise Platforms like Integration, Automation, Data & Analytics

• Excellent working knowledge of Service Management & Digital Workplace

• Excellent working knowledge of Cloud-based architectures (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS) and key products based on Microservices enabled via APIs.

• Awareness of Kanban, Scrum, Azure DevOps, Lean and Prince 2 concepts and their application.

• Experience in strategic technology planning and execution, as well as policy development and maintenance

• Experience with outsourced delivery, preferably including offshoring teams in India.

• Willing to travel internationally approximately 10-20 %

• Speaks and writes fluently in English.

• Consulting experience desirable.

This position is best performed with the following competencies:

• Leading and supervising.

• People management (including remote teams).

• Vendor management.

• Program leadership

• Change leadership

• Financial Acumen

• Critical thinking

• Continuous Improvement

• Subject matter expertise

• Communication and collaboration.

• Designing strategic metrics and scorecards.

• Analytical and problem-solving abilities.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

What we offer:

• An opportunity to work in a broad range and make an impact on the projects you will be involved in.

• The opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable world.

• Working for a company that cares for its employees and has focus on diversity & inclusion.

• An attractive salary to the position with good primary and secondary benefits.

• Flexible working arrangements to work hybrid from home and the office.

• A modern high tech office located right next to the Hoofddorp station with great facilities and an open work plan.

• It’s a full-time position but we are open to discuss part-time.

For more information please contact Paulo Rodrigues, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, via paulo.rodrigues@shvenergy.com or if this sounds like you, apply directly by clicking the apply button.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Pre-screening questions before applying and an online assessment will be part of the recruitment procedure. A pre-employment screening will be applicable before you join us as an employee.

SHV Energy adhere to ethical recruiting methods ensuring that we do not discriminate against any candidate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

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Recruitment agency? Thank you for your interest, but we are sourcing candidates for this position directly or via our preferred suppliers.