Head of Group IT Solutions & Data Platforms

About the Role

Reports to: Group IT Director

Location: Hybrid

Role Purpose

The Head of Group IT Solutions & Data Platforms is a senior leadership role responsible for shaping, delivering, and supporting the Group’s application and data landscape. Operating within a highly operational waste management environment, the role ensures that the organisation’s packaged, SaaS, and bespoke applications—as well as its data platforms and integration technologies—are robust, scalable, secure, and aligned with business strategy. This role leads a small internal team, augmented by strategic third-party partners to provide broader capability within a flexible resourcing model. The postholder will define and govern the strategic architectural roadmap, ensuring standards, policies, and best practices are embedded across the software and data ecosystem. They will work closely with stakeholders across the business and peers within the IT senior leadership team to drive operational excellence, digital transformation, and data-driven decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Architecture
  • Develop and own the Group’s IT applications and data platform strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and the wider IT strategy.
  • Define and maintain the enterprise architecture roadmap covering applications, data, integrations, and supporting technologies.
  • Establish, govern, and continually improve architecture standards, design principles, and compliance processes.
  • Work with IT senior leadership peers to ensure alignment with internal cyber security, ITIL processes, and general IT policies and procedures.
• Software Supplier & Product Lifecycle Management
  • Own and manage strategic software supplier relationships across packaged, SaaS, and bespoke solutions.
  • Maintain a deep understanding of supplier product roadmaps, release cycles, and strategic direction.
  • Influence and contribute to supplier product lifecycle processes to ensure the organisation’s functional and operational requirements are incorporated into future product releases.
  • Drive supplier performance management, ensuring alignment on service expectations, SLAs, innovation opportunities, and continuous improvement.
• Solutions Delivery & Development
  • Oversee design, development, configuration, and integration of all business applications.
  • Ensure solutions meet functional and non-functional requirements, including performance, security, scalability, resilience, and usability.
  • Promote continuous optimisation and rationalisation of the application and data landscape.
• Data Platforms & Integration
  • Own the strategy, implementation, and ongoing operation of the Group’s data platforms, including data warehouses, data lakes, analytics environments, and reporting tools.
  • Lead the design and management of integration architectures, APIs, and data flows across the application estate.
  • Champion data quality, data governance, and lifecycle management practices.
• Operational Support & Service Delivery
  • Ensure availability, reliability, and performance of business-critical applications and data services.
  • Partner with IT Operations to ensure effective incident, problem, and change management within agreed ITIL standards.
  • Maintain robust monitoring, disaster recovery, and security controls aligned to business and cyber requirements.
• Financial Ownership & Budget Management
  • Own the budgeting and forecasting for software licences, maintenance, and SaaS subscriptions.
  • Ensure cost-effective procurement, renewal, and optimisation of software assets and vendor contracts.
  • Monitor consumption-based licensing models to avoid overspend, ensure compliance, and optimise value.
• Team Leadership & Partner Management
  • Lead, coach, and develop a small, high-performing team of application and data specialists.
  • Manage strategic third-party partners, ensuring they provide the required depth and breadth of expertise within a flexible resource model.
  • Ensure suppliers meet contractual obligations while delivering value, innovation, and quality.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Business Partnership
  • Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders regarding applications, data, and integration needs.
  • Gain a deep understanding of operational processes and business challenges to translate them into actionable roadmaps and solution designs.
  • Communicate progress, risks, and priorities effectively to business leaders and executive stakeholders.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• Proven experience leading application, data, or integration functions in a complex, operational business.
• Strong understanding of enterprise applications (packaged, SaaS, bespoke), integration technologies, and modern data platforms.
• Demonstrable experience managing software suppliers, product lifecycles, and vendor roadmaps.
• Experience owning budgets for software licensing, maintenance, and SaaS services.
• Deep understanding of architectural frameworks, security principles, and ITIL-aligned service processes.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, communication, and leadership skills.

Desirable

• Experience within waste management, logistics, utilities, or other asset-intensive operational industries.
• Knowledge of cloud architectures (Azure/AWS), API management platforms, and modern integration patterns.
• Familiarity with data governance models and analytics tools.

Key Attributes

• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline.
• Collaborative and influential, with the ability to engage effectively across business and IT leadership teams.
• Service-oriented mindset with a strong focus on delivering business value.
• Pragmatic, proactive, and able to operate effectively in a fast-paced operational environment.

About Us

Join us on the journey… Over the past 30 years, Panda has continued to grow and acquire businesses that all share a very similar vision and set of values. We’re now a group of almost 3000 people, all contributing to that growth and success. Whilst Panda is the parent company to numerous brands, we all share an ambitious vision for the future. Our primary goal is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our people and connected partners is front and centre. As a team, we’re safer together. We deliver our customers with a partnership approach to managing their resources responsibly. We constantly push the boundaries of innovation. What’s good today can be better tomorrow. Panda is not just a company, it’s a resource recovery business. Over the past three decades we’ve grown and diversified significantly, we believe that great leadership is rooted in strong values. As leaders within this industry, we’re committed to shaping a better future for our friends, families and communities. Our philosophy remains unchanged, balancing customer satisfaction with environmentally sustainable practices. Exceptional customer service, and unwavering dedication to sustainability are the cornerstones of our business. Our journey is dependent upon talented, passionate, and dedicated people that constantly strive and challenge each other for better outcomes. Take the first step today and join us on the journey…. Beauparc aims to attract and retain a skilled and diverse workforce that best represents the talent available in the communities in which our assets are located and our employees reside.