Description
Position Overview:
Reporting to the Executive Vice President of IT, the Vice President of Business Architecture and Applications leads and manages the business architecture and applications areas of The Wilbert Group IT organization, supporting a $300 million company with four industry-leading brands, 1,200 employee partners, 100 licensee partners, and 300+ points of distribution. This role is a member of the Wilbert IT leadership team which collectively owns responsibility for the global IT organization, strategy & implementation. This team is tasked with meeting both external and internal customer expectations and requirements in an efficient and effective manner.
The Vice President of Business Architecture and Applications is responsible for defining and managing the delivery of business architecture and application services. These services are crucial for aligning IT solutions with business objectives, optimizing business processes, and ensuring effective management and support of all applications. Within this domain, the Vice President of Business Architecture and Applications must work to establish policies, processes, and procedures which promote 1) business capability roadmaps that align to corporate strategy 2) an applications strategy that aligns to business capability roadmaps, 3) robust applications management, and 4) an applications staffing/services model that scales effectively as needed and mitigates subject matter expert risk. They must strive to develop, maintain, and operate within a budget in collaboration with other IT leadership that supports the company's financial goals while still meeting/exceeding Wilbert's service level expectations. They are also responsible for leading, managing, and maintaining accountability of the internal Business Architecture and Applications teams, including the professional development of all direct reports.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities
- Ensure that IT solutions are aligned with business processes and strategic goals to drive efficiency and value.
- Oversee the management and support of all key applications to ensure they meet business needs and operate effectively.
- Participate in the creation, maintenance, and execution of the Wilbert IT strategy and corresponding roadmaps in collaboration with the EVP of IT and other IT leadership.
- Investigate and assess all business architecture and application solutions for suitability, cost-effectiveness, and long-term viability.
- Direct internal Business Architecture and Applications personnel and external service providers to implement and maintain application solutions.
- Monitor application performance, availability, and capacity to ensure service delivery meets business needs.
- Manage change management processes for business process and application-related changes minimizing disruptions to business operations.
- Ensure effective tier 2 and 3 applications support either directly with managed staffing or in collaboration with external software/service providers.
- Implement and monitor feedback mechanisms to ensure a high level of user satisfaction across all business processes and application-related services.
- Manage relationships with application service providers ensuring adherence to SLAs and contractual obligations.
- Create, maintain, and enforce the IT budget related to business architecture and applications in collaboration with the rest of the IT leadership team.
- Update employees on new procedures and upcoming events as appropriate.
- Supervise and direct Business Architecture and Applications staff regarding their responsibilities and requirements.
- Oversee, coach, and develop direct reports.
- Complete performance reviews of direct reports.
- Complete all necessary paperwork and documentation.
- Communicate effectively via written and spoken language.
- Maintain a regular and reliable schedule in as set collaboration with supervisor.
Position Requirements
Education
- Bachelor of Science degree and 10 years related experience in a progression of positions required, including five of these years in a senior leadership role. Master’s Degree or MBA preferred.
Experience
- Experience selecting, implementing, and maintaining an integrated ERP and managing a stand-alone, centralized IT operation is required. Manufacturing, wholesale, distribution and supply chain experience is necessary.
Skills - Experience in the design, implementation, and ownership of sub-functions within an IT department, preferably in relation to business architecture and applications management competencies.
- An entrepreneurial approach with ability to lead, innovate and understand organizational needs and create a technology strategy with digital transformation initiatives that address the customer and management productivity needs within a decentralized environment.
- Ability to learn the business, its stakeholders, and 80/20 lean thinking process quickly.
- Strong understanding of business process mapping techniques and ability to simplify complex processes. Must be able to lead such simplification activities across the organization.
- Critical thinking abilities to anticipate potential problems and devise proactive solutions.
- Comprehensive expertise and experience managing the following:
- Enterprise architecture
- ERP and other OOTB/SaaS solution implementation and maintenance experience including the following subject areas:
- Record to Report
- Order to Cash
- Supply Chain
- Demand Planning
- Procure to Pay
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
- Warehouse Management (WM)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Sales force automation
- eCommerce and other customer-facing sites
- HRIS (Human Resources Information System)
- Field/Fleet management (outside of ERP)
- Workflow Automation (outside of ERP)
- Business and Financial Reporting/Analytics
- Master Data Management
- Third-party integrations including customer portals (e.g., EDI)
- Cloud services and IT outsourcing providers
- Application development experience with agile methodologies while utilizing both internal and contract resources
- Ability to evaluate the ROI of IT investments and make data-driven decisions and manage the total IT budget and drive for year-over-year savings.
- Ability to travel to effectively serve the global organization and lead the global IT team.
- Experience proactively identifying and achieving organizational cost savings, implementing, and ensuring strong systems controls and addressing business process deficiencies.
- Strong strategic leadership, project management and organizational skills with the ability to inspire and establish credibility with cross-functional business stakeholders by understanding their needs and delivering technology projects on time and within budget that meet customer needs.
- Ability to effectively introduce and manage organizational change.
- Ability to communicate effectively, accurately, and professionally with suppliers, vendors, and all levels of the Wilbert and Marmon workforce.
- Contract negotiation skills and the ability to develop functional and technical job specifications while holding external vendors accountable to contractual services and fees and effectively manage the vendor relationships.
- Troubleshooting expertise to facilitate the assessment of resolution of technical issues efficiently and minimize downtime.
- Ability to analyze, manipulate, and derive meaningful information from large data sets.
- Understanding of basic corporate finance, profit & loss statements, and financial reporting requirements.
- Collaboration skills to foster partnerships with other departments and stakeholders.
- Customer-centric approach to understand and meet the needs of internal and external users.
- Ability to build strong relationships with vendors, industry peers, and professional networks.
- Ability to maintain strategic focus and successfully drive continuous improvement throughout their organization.
Physical/Other Requirements
- Standard office environment with potential remote work flexibility.
- May require occasional overtime during peak periods or audits.
- Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance consistent with the ADA, FMLA and other federal, state, and local standards.
- Must be able to lift and carry up to 30 lbs.
About the Organization Wilbert Funeral Services Inc. is a concrete manufacturer and service provider to the funeral service, building trades and agricultural market places. Manufactured products include burial vaults, monuments, septic tanks, retaining walls, storm shelters and miscellaneous agricultural precast products. Our operations include manufacturing plants and warehouses in 20 states.
EOE Statement We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.