VP IT Digital amp Customer Delivery

Overview

The VP, IT DIGITAL & CUSTOMER DELIVERY is a key member of our flagship retail brand, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse. As a member of the DSW Executive Council (EC), this leader will anchor technology solution delivery that advances DSW's mission and profitable growth. This role oversees digital applications development, order management systems, and store technology focused on digital applications and technology that support our customers.

This leader facilitates the shaping of the department roadmap to enable DSW's strategies. This leader will collaborate with business partners on needs and priorities and lead execution with architectural and procedural prowess, assuring quality solutions, reliable delivery, and uptime, availability and performance of applications that meet or exceed service level requirements.

REPORTS TO: SVP, CIO

• Anchor technology strategic planning and solution delivery for DSW in collaboration with functional executives and stakeholders.
• Leads an enterprise release roadmap framework that:
  • Enables prioritization of initiatives that involve technology solution delivery in a clear, quantitative, flexible, and collaborative fashion across business units, implementing effective business-case/data-driven demand management.
  • Activates enabling technology strategies (e.g. migration Cloud infrastructure, evolution to micro-services architecture) through management and maintenance of clear, documented vehicles, such as an enterprise release calendar/roadmap and a resource capacity management apparatus.
  • Facilitates creation of confident estimates and delivery release cycles for solutions, anchored on determining critical paths based on understanding of technical solution architecture designs with the enterprise architecture in sight and optimization for resource utilization.
  • Provides comfort to the company at large, for example in form of steering committees, as delivery and governance evolves to a product development/enterprise release management models.
• Provides vision and leadership to the IT organization, shaping it as a service-oriented unit that provides value centric, customer driven solutions.
• Effectively engages, influences, and collaborates across the company to achieve a consistent, business-aligned IT strategy.
• Formulates strategic planning for investments in technology to automate manual activities, perform system upgrades, manage ongoing vendor relationships, and use strategic in sourcing or outsourcing to complement internal technology or gaps in knowledge and expertise.
• Drives appropriate prioritization of business transition and technology needs across the enterprise while simultaneously determining needs vs. wants, budget considerations, and timetable requirements. Identifies inefficiencies, cost reductions or system improvements.
• Serves as the technology thought leader to positively influence key internal stakeholders, technology shared services vision, architecture, and strategies.
• Leads the research and evaluation of innovative solutions and technologies to enhance operational effectiveness while reducing costs.
• Ensures appropriate resources (technology, personnel, and vendors) are in place to support business objectives based on operational requirements and service level agreements.
• Identifies, communicates timely, with proposed mitigations, all significant and material system risks, to key technology senior stakeholders and the enterprise CIO.
• Builds, develops, and improves operations, processes, and procedures in technology shared services to support strategic direction. Ensures proper documentation of processes related to shared services/operations systems and technology.
• Oversees management of all relevant agency and vendor relationships including vendor selection, renewals, etc.
• Applies a proactive ‘product development' mindset to the applications in custody with an outward time-horizon conscious of solutions'/assets' viability per their lifecycle, market trends, and changing needs of supported business units and their functional teams.
• Leads through sound architectural and functional expertise, including thorough and comprehensive knowledge of software development/package implementation life cycle processes, and thorough experience in the applications support arena, including job scheduling and management, change management, data management, applications and database troubleshooting and maintenance.
• Foster innovation in systems and business processes by listening to and partnering with functional teammates and users and by keeping current in market solutions and trends.
• Ensure a financial value model is prepared for all projects/releases, system changes, and maintenance activities.
• Inspire direct team to consistently meet and exceed business objectives through a culture of positivity where hard work and accomplishments are celebrated and appreciated.
• Ensure that staff is developed and can meet the changing needs of users, customers, and new…