Head of Information Technology in London

The Opportunity

Our client is a well-established, privately owned organisation operating across the gaming, leisure and hospitality sectors.

With a diverse portfolio of customer-facing venues, the business operates within a fast-paced, highly regulated and operationally critical environment.

Technology plays a central role in supporting venue operations, customer experience, security, resilience and continued business growth.

The organisation has a collaborative and people-focused culture where personality, commercial awareness and the ability to build strong relationships are highly valued.

• Main Responsibilities
• Technology Leadership and Strategy
• Define and deliver the IT strategy in alignment with wider business objectives.
• Translate business priorities into clear technology plans, roadmaps and investment decisions.
• Provide senior leadership across IT operations, infrastructure, applications, service delivery, cybersecurity and technology change.
• Act as a trusted technology adviser to the executive leadership team.
• Position technology as a business enabler rather than solely a support function.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational performance, customer experience, resilience and commercial efficiency through technology.
• Maintain oversight of emerging technology risks, trends and opportunities.
• Team Leadership and Development
• Lead, support and develop an established team of senior managers and functional leads.
• Create clarity around responsibilities, priorities, accountability and performance expectations.
• Empower team members to take ownership while providing appropriate direction, challenge and support.
• Maintain and strengthen a positive, collaborative and delivery-focused culture.
• Support succession planning, capability development and retention across the technology function.
• Promote effective collaboration between technology teams and the wider business.
• Build credibility with a technically capable team and create an environment in which high performers can succeed.
• Executive and Stakeholder Management
• Build trusted relationships with executive leaders, operational leadership teams and senior business stakeholders.
• Communicate technology priorities, risks and investment requirements in clear commercial language.
• Challenge constructively where expectations, priorities or proposed solutions are not aligned with the best interests of the organisation.
• Manage competing priorities across a fast-paced and operationally critical environment.
• Provide clear reporting on service performance, delivery progress, risks and dependencies.
• Represent the technology function confidently in senior leadership, governance and investment discussions.
• IT Operations and Service Performance
• Maintain executive oversight of technology services across multiple sites and business functions.
• Ensure services meet agreed standards for availability, performance, resilience and customer support.
• Oversee major incidents, service risks and business-critical technology issues.
• Ensure appropriate business continuity, disaster recovery and operational resilience plans are in place and regularly tested.
• Drive continuous improvement across service delivery, processes and technology operations.
• Establish clear ownership and escalation routes for critical technology services.
• Implement meaningful service-performance measures and ensure recurring issues are addressed at source.
• MSP and Supplier Management
• Provide senior ownership of relationships with managed service providers, technology suppliers and strategic partners.
• Hold external providers accountable for service quality, delivery performance, contractual obligations and value for money.
• Ensure supplier services remain aligned with operational and strategic requirements.
• Oversee service reviews, escalations, commercial discussions and improvement plans.
• Challenge supplier proposals, costs and delivery commitments where appropriate.
• Support contract renewals, procurement exercises, negotiations and supplier transitions.
• Ensure the organisation retains sufficient internal knowledge, control and decision-making capability within an outsourced operating model.
• Technology Governance, Risk and Security
• Establish and maintain effective technology governance, policies, standards and decision-making processes.
• Ensure technology risks are identified, understood and managed appropriately.
• Work closely with cybersecurity, risk, compliance and assurance stakeholders.
• Ensure systems and services meet relevant legal, regulatory and security requirements.
• Maintain oversight of cyber resilience, vulnerability management, access controls and technology-related audit actions.
• Ensure appropriate controls are in place across suppliers, infrastructure, applications and data.
• Provide clear and proportionate reporting on technology risk to senior leadership.
• Change, Programmes and Investment
• Provide leadership and governance for technology programmes, transformation initiatives and major projects.
• Ensure technology change is prioritised effectively and delivers measurable business value.
• Oversee business cases, budgets, benefits, risks, dependencies and delivery performance.
• Ensure project teams and suppliers operate within appropriate governance and architectural standards.
• Balance short-term operational requirements with longer-term modernisation priorities.
• Support site openings, refurbishments, integrations and wider business change where technology is a critical dependency.
• Ensure programmes remain commercially controlled and focused on business outcomes.
• Financial and Commercial Management
• Own or oversee the IT budget, forecasting and financial-planning process.
• Ensure technology investment is aligned with business priorities and delivers appropriate value.
• Identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency without compromising resilience, security or service quality.
• Manage major technology contracts, supplier spend, licensing and procurement decisions.
• Provide clear commercial justification for technology investment.
• Operate effectively within a commercially disciplined and performance-focused environment.
• Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be an experienced technology leader who can operate confidently at executive level while remaining close enough to the function to understand operational performance and risk.

You will be comfortable leading capable senior people without needing to control every detail.

You will provide direction, remove obstacles, hold people accountable and create an environment in which teams can perform.

You will combine strong interpersonal skills with commercial judgement and the confidence to challenge appropriately.

You will be calm, credible and collaborative, while also possessing the resilience and authority to make difficult decisions and drive action.

You will ideally bring

• Significant experience in a senior IT or technology leadership role.
• Proven experience leading managers, functional heads or senior technical teams.
• Strong executive and senior stakeholder-management capability.
• Experience defining and delivering technology strategy.
• Broad oversight of IT operations, infrastructure, service delivery, applications and cybersecurity.
• Experience working within an outsourced or co-managed service environment.
• Proven ability to manage MSPs, suppliers and complex third-party relationships.
• Strong commercial, budgeting and investment-management experience.
• Experience leading technology change, transformation or modernisation programmes.
• The ability to communicate complex technology matters in clear business language.
• Strong judgement, decision-making and problem-solving capability.
• A track record of building trusted and high-performing technology functions.
• The ability to balance operational stability with strategic improvement.
• Preferred Experience

Experience within one or more of the following environments would be particularly relevant:

• Gaming
• Hospitality
• Leisure and entertainment
• Retail
• Restaurants
• Multi-site consumer businesses
• Regulated organisations
• Private-equity-backed businesses
• High-availability and operationally critical environments

Direct sector experience is not essential where candidates can demonstrate strong transferable experience from a similarly complex, customer-facing and regulated organisation.

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