Information Technology Program Director in London

The IT Programme Office Director is a senior IT executive, reporting directly to the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer (CTIO) and serving as one of their most trusted strategic partners. The role functions as an extension of the CTIO’s cross-functional leadership capacity, helping to drive clarity, consistency and coherence across the CTIO’s agenda. It translates the CTIO’s intent into action and ensures business alignment, operational discipline and strategic follow-through.

The IT Programme Office Director may deputise for the CTIO when needed and represents the IT division at corporate meetings. The role supports the three departments within IT, each with its own lead director: Service Delivery, Technical Solutions, and Business Transformation.

In addition to supporting the three director-level reports, the role also has responsibility for the financial management and delivery of the division’s budget, supported by a Finance Business Partner for IT, as well as oversight of company-wide external certifications (e.g. ISO, IAS, etc.).

This role oversees a broad portfolio of cross-functional capabilities, including recurring responsibilities such as IT strategy and planning, vendor management and negotiation, governance, performance management, IT operating model design, and communications.

The IT Programme Office Director will work alongside the IT Senior Leadership Team to understand and improve the performance of strategic programmes and projects across JCDecaux UK, ensuring that all departments continually improve and deliver high service levels to all internal and external stakeholders, while supporting the wider business to realise its vision for growth and efficiency.

JCDecaux UK is a challenging and ever-evolving company where improvements to processes, systems, and working practices are continually pursued; this role is crucial to both the departments and the wider company’s success.

• Planning, tracking and reporting on progress of deliverables from the three reporting departments to the CTIO, UK Board and Corporate stakeholders.
• Provide transparency into the total portfolio of investment in IT, and enable key decision makers to prioritise demand based on strategic objectives, risks, dependencies and potential constraints in the supply of IT.
• Strong focus on resource management across multiple delivery teams.
• Stakeholder management at all levels across the business, as required by the demands of deliverables.
• Supporting and enabling the Technology & Innovation Division to drive individual projects through to completion, providing subject matter expert support and escalation as required.
• Seek to improve our change management capabilities (between all IT departments) through an understanding of the change management weaknesses and embedding of industry best practices.
• Provide an overview of change activity to senior stakeholders within the business, translating the change management data and bringing to life the performance, delivery and health of transformation programmes and projects.

• Lead the preparation, monitoring, and control of the IT division budget, ensuring accurate allocation of resources and strict adherence to cost targets.
• Supervise and validate all IT purchase orders (POs), ensuring compliance with budget limits, approval workflows, and procurement policies.
• Coordinate with the France office to produce and submit complete, accurate budget and expenditure reports in the required format and within agreed deadlines.
• Continuously analyse IT spending to identify cost-optimization opportunities and improve resource allocation, including vendor, licence, and infrastructure costs.
• Maintain an up-to-date view of the IT budget, proactively flag deviations to the CTIO, and implement corrective actions to prevent overspend.

• Design and orchestrate IT governance frameworks and forums (e.g. steering committees, architecture boards) to ensure timely, informed decisions that effectively implement business and IT strategy, using recognised models such as COBIT and ITIL.
• Establish and maintain clear prioritisation of IT initiatives across the enterprise, aligned to strategic objectives, risk appetite and measurable business value documented in a clear business case with ROI and regulatory impact.
• Define and monitor governance policies, standards and KPIs, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture and service management best practice (e.g. TOGAF, ITIL 4).

• Lead and support regular IT audits and assurance activities (internal and external), ensuring effective preparation, evidence management and timely remediation of findings, in line with standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 20000 and ISO 9001.
• Coordinate IT compliance training, awareness and communications to embed a strong risk and control culture across the division, including topics such as information security, data protection (e.g. GDPR) and acceptable use.
• Oversee IT risk management processes (identification, assessment, treatment and reporting), leveraging recognised frameworks (e.g. ISO 31000, NIST) to steer the organisation towards effective compliance and robust business outcomes.
• Forge and maintain strong, effective relationships with suppliers, particularly independent software vendors, IT service providers, telecom operators, contractors, and consulting firms engaged on IT activities.
• Lead commercial and contractual negotiations with vendors, ensuring JCDecaux’s interests are fully protected and that all agreements deliver the best possible value and terms aligned to the company’s strategic and operational needs.

• Responsible for ensuring a consistent quality of service is delivered to the other business divisions by the Technology & Innovation division with projects being managed correctly, requirements identified, budgets maintained, and on-time delivery.
• Actively liaise with Corporate IT function to ensure the division is delivering projects that align with global policies.
• Plan and organise the activities of the division’s departments; work towards the continual improvement of the team efficiency and help employees with professional development and identification of training needs.
• Balance the workload according to the volume of activity across the team, reporting on progress and identifying any issues that need resolving.
• Identify and negotiate the objectives and resources (human, financial, etc.) needed for each project, and analyse and put forward solutions for continually improving team productivity.

• Position the value of IT within the enterprise and promote awareness of its role. Ensure clear communication of strategy and priorities to stakeholders and across the IT organisation to drive alignment and desired behaviours.
• Understand the strategic and tactical challenges faced by the different business areas.
• Anticipate the changes required to reflect the company's strategy and oversee the long-term division development plans.

• Act as the escalation point and manage all serious incidents reported by the three divisional departments.
• Identify issues early and provide solutions or escalate as appropriate, acting as the division’s representative in business continuity plan implementation when required.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery plan to ensure data integrity and system availability in the event of unforeseen incidents.
• Ensure standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed and auditable across the department, and that where audits find non-adherence, corrective actions are completed in a timely manner.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant laws, regulations and industry standards related to IT and data management.

• Manages regular meetings with the business stakeholders to review programme progress.
• Communicates with project stakeholders at all levels.
• Communication of issues and risks at both project and business unit level.
• Organise and coordinate effective relationships with directors and managers of the business units using the Information System; define the level of service (performance, availability, etc.) required.
• Suggest any functional, technical, and organisational upgrades to improve business process performance.

• Ability to lead, motivate, inspire and manage a team of diverse technical professionals to continuously exceed customer expectations.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

• Previous experience in IT and business/industry.
• Experience in business/industry (beyond IT), managing cross-functional teams or projects, and influencing senior-level management and key stakeholders.
• Demonstrated senior leadership capability with a strong track record of building, developing, and directing high‑performing teams, and of influencing effectively at all organisational levels.
• Deep expertise in budget planning, financial control, and workforce management for large IT functions, including oversight of divisional budgets and headcount.
• Proven experience leading complex programme and project portfolios, supported by recognised qualifications (e.g. PRINCE2, APM) or equivalent demonstrable experience; ITIL, TOGAF or similar enterprise standards are a strong advantage.
• Excellent, evidenced negotiation skills, combined with broad knowledge of current and emerging technologies, information security and regulatory requirements, and the ability to distinguish meaningful trends from hype and articulate technology decisions in clear business terms.