Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced IT Director – Retail Applications to lead the strategy, operations, delivery, and modernization of a large-scale retail application portfolio in the Philippines.

This is a senior technology leadership role responsible for driving application delivery, service operations, financial management, talent development, and organizational transformation. The role will work closely with business and technology leaders to translate retail priorities into secure, scalable, reliable, and customer-focused technology solutions.

The successful candidate will lead a team of senior managers, managers, team leaders, and technical professionals within a matrixed and geographically distributed environment.

Key Responsibilities

Application Portfolio & Technology Strategy

• Own the overall strategy, delivery, and operational performance of the retail application portfolio, ensuring alignment with business priorities, customer experience objectives, and technology standards.
• Develop and execute multi-year application strategies and roadmaps.
• Lead application delivery, production support, modernization, technical debt reduction, and continuous service improvement across assigned retail capabilities.
• Establish portfolio priorities and ensure technology investments deliver measurable business value.
• Drive application rationalization and platform simplification where appropriate.

Operations & Service Management

• Provide leadership for application operations and ensure reliable, resilient, and high-quality technology services.
• Establish and monitor portfolio, delivery, and service performance metrics.
• Use operational and business data to improve service availability, resilience, quality, productivity, predictability, and speed of delivery.
• Ensure service levels are achieved and business disruption is minimized.
• Oversee major incident management, including executive communication, root-cause analysis, and sustainable corrective actions.
• Ensure appropriate operational readiness and service transition for new and modernized applications.

Technology Modernization

• Drive modernization initiatives across the retail application landscape.
• Promote cloud adoption, automation, observability, integration modernization, data enablement, and platform simplification.
• Evaluate opportunities to responsibly leverage AI where it can improve business and operational outcomes.
• Champion secure, scalable, resilient, and supportable technology solutions.
• Address technical debt and continuously improve application architecture and engineering practices.

Financial & Vendor Management

• Manage operating and capital budgets in accordance with business plans.
• Optimize total cost of ownership through effective financial governance, sourcing strategies, application rationalization, and vendor management.
• Manage relationships with software providers, systems integrators, and managed-service partners.
• Hold external technology partners accountable for delivery quality, innovation, commercial commitments, and service performance.
• Oversee capacity planning, sourcing decisions, and technology investment prioritization.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Establish governance across application delivery, quality, release readiness, service transition, risk management, and portfolio performance.
• Ensure applications comply with relevant architecture, cybersecurity, privacy, audit, change management, accessibility, and operational requirements.
• Partner with enterprise architecture, infrastructure and cloud, cybersecurity, data, integration, digital, supply chain, service management, and program delivery teams.
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex application and operational matters.
• Represent the application organization in discussions with executives, business stakeholders, auditors, and external partners.

People & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, coach, and mentor senior technology leaders and their teams.
• Set clear performance objectives and build leadership succession plans.
• Develop critical technical and leadership capabilities across the organization.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, inclusion, and customer service.
• Lead organizational change and support the adoption of new operating models, engineering practices, and ways of working.
• Work effectively across onshore and offshore teams and geographically distributed technology organizations.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
• 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise IT, including significant leadership responsibility for large-scale retail or consumer-facing application portfolios.
• Proven experience leading senior managers, people leaders, product/application teams, and highly skilled technical professionals in a matrixed and distributed environment.
• Demonstrated experience developing multi-year technology/application strategies and roadmaps and managing complex portfolios.
• Strong experience delivering technology programs and/or managing large-scale application operations with measurable business outcomes.
• Experience managing operational and project budgets, vendors, contracts, capacity planning, sourcing, and technology investments.
• Strong understanding of:
  • Application architecture
  • Cloud technologies and integration patterns
  • APIs and data platforms
  • Cybersecurity
  • Technology resilience
  • Observability
  • Automation
  • Modern software engineering practices
• Working knowledge of Agile, product operating models, DevSecOps, software development lifecycle practices, and ITIL disciplines including Incident, Problem, Change, Configuration, and Service Level Management.
• Excellent executive-level communication, stakeholder management, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex issues strategically and work effectively across business and technology functions.
• Strong leadership qualities, sound judgment, integrity, confidentiality, and commitment to inclusive leadership.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline.
• Strong retail domain knowledge, particularly across Point of Sale (POS), payments, and store operations.
• Experience leading large-scale retail technology transformation and modernization initiatives.

Leadership Expectations

• Drive measurable business and technology outcomes by setting clear goals, removing barriers, and holding leaders accountable.
• Demonstrate strategic thinking by translating broader business objectives into actionable technology portfolio strategies.
• Lead change effectively and make timely, informed decisions on complex issues.
• Build strong relationships across business and technology organizations and proactively resolve conflicts.
• Encourage diverse perspectives and collaboration to strengthen decision-making and innovation.
• Promote transparency, accountability, and open communication across leadership and delivery teams.
• Maintain a forward-looking perspective on technology, business priorities, and organizational capabilities.