About the role:

The aim of the Head of Strategy & Architecture role is to maintain an IT strategy to support the business ambitions and guide the organisation through choosing right technology to solve business challenges. As such this role will have a significant impact on the airlines future with $250m IT investment requiring experienced technology decision making and modern architecture to make a step change while balancing operational reliability.

Key Accountabilities:

Your key accountabilities include:

• Work across the enterprise and with business facing peers to develop and maintain an IT strategy aligned to business ambition and need
• Develop an investment and technology roadmap with the Business Systems Leaders
• Engage with the executive team to present the IT strategy and roadmaps
• Lead the selection of technology to support the strategy, roadmaps, and business needs
• Balance use of modern or emerging technology with operational stability leveraging a set of IT principles for decision making.
• Lead the development of modern architectures to support a technology step change while ensuring a sustainable pathway forward.
• Engage with strategic partners to understand their product roadmaps and who they support Virgin’s IT Strategy
• Understand the commercial and financial impacts of the architectures and solution designs
• Manage and forecast complex operational budgets with a plan to reduce ongoing costs year on year
• Ensure all team members complete mandatory training applicable to their roles (including Safety, Security, Resilience and, Health and Wellbeing)
• Ensure adherence to Virgin Australia Risk Management Framework (RMF) and adopt a proactive approach to the timely identification of operational and corporate risk and work to mitigate, resolve and escalate as required
• Actively participate in relevant forums to improve Safety, Security, Resilience and Health and Wellbeing throughout the Group

Key Requirements:

The successful candidate for this role will require:

• 10 years’ work experience preferably within IT primarily focused in digital and customer focused domains
• Significant experience developing enterprise IT strategies
• Experience developing C-level relationship and resolving conflict and prioritisation challenges.
• Proven history of developing modern architectures to support the IT Strategy
• Forward thinking with a passion for process improvement, software optimization and process standardization
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to explain digital concepts and technologies to business leaders, as well as business concepts to technologists
• Demonstrated leader with strategic influencing skills, strong decision making, negotiating and conflict resolution skills, effective relationship building skills and strong   analytical and problem solving skills
• Ability to provide strategic leadership to identify and create commercially viable technology roadmaps
• Expertise in identifying customer needs and building delivery plans that add value to the business outcomes
• Sound understanding of the evolving digital world on both the demand side (how people/companies are using technology) and the supply side (emerging technologies)

2021 is an exciting time for Virgin Australia as our tourism industry begins to recover from the impact of COVID-19. The Group took flight under new ownership last year, with a renewed sense of identity and focus on its mid-market heartland. We are ramping up our flying schedule as border restrictions ease, refreshing our offering to our core customers, and continuing to deliver the uniquely Virgin customer experience Australians know and love.

We’re a winning team and we attract the best: challengers, innovators, and seriously fun individuals with big hearts. At Virgin Australia Group, we pride ourselves on recruiting the right people to join our team and help us rise to the challenges ahead. No matter our role – we are united by our ambition to be the most loved airline in Australia, and always go one step further for our customers, colleagues and our wider community.

If you have the skills and experience for this role, please get in touch and apply via the link!

Please, no agencies at this time.