Director Platforms

About the role

• Barry Callebaut Digital (BCD) is on a mission to lead the digital revolution in the chocolate industry, and we're looking for a Director of Platforms to support this transformative journey. Reporting directly to the VP Technology Services, you will have the unique opportunity to shape our Datacenter and Cloud Management capabilities to enhance our digital way of working and operational excellence. You will lead the Platforms team, responsible for managing our Cloud environment and the operations of our physical data centers, ensuring platform scalability, reliability, and performance while monitoring and optimizing our cloud spend. You will take on a crucial role in the digital transformation of our organization by providing strategic oversight and team leadership. This position is not just about leading; it's about inspiring a digital, user-centric culture and setting new industry standards. Join us to make a significant impact and help steer BC Digital towards an exciting future.

Key responsibilities include

• Lead the development and management of our global Platforms team including responsibility for our local data center operations and global Azure cloud infrastructure management and integration, incl. storage & backup, management of physical and virtual servers, database management, SAP basis, and data platforms operations cloud governance, capacity management and monitoring, and cloud spend management and optimization
• Develop and execute a strategic roadmap for our global, state-of-the-art IT platforms focused on resilience and automation
• Foster seamless collaboration across our teams, locations, and with our partners (especially with Microsoft Azure)
• Drive and shape the next step of our cloud journey (e.g. edge migration, multi-vendor strategy)
• Directly report to the VP Technology Services, ensuring alignment of the platforms roadmap with the overall digital strategy and contributing to the digital transformation roadmap
• Manage and develop global vendor relationships for the provisioning of cloud services
• Actively support business stakeholders to ensure that IT services meet agreed service levels and that incidents are effectively resolved within defined SLAs
• Drive standardization of IT services, select and steer managed service providers for lean operational excellence
• Monitor and manage continuous improvement of our IT platforms using KPIs related to service level agreements, incident management, change management and service recovery, focusing on secure and reliable performance as well as user satisfaction/experience
• Manage Platforms related IT budget, and resource allocation and ensure overall cost-efficiency
• Initiate and lead change management initiatives related to technical changes
• Lead and inspire several teams including local data center operations, cloud management operations, FinOps and platforms security
• Closely collaborate with our Information Security department to ensure the highest security standards
• This is a global leadership role with key stakeholders located in Brussels, Zurich, Poland, India, and other locations of our global footprint, and thus requires up to 20% travel.

About you

• Graduate degree in IT/technology, computer science, network technology, or a comparable field
• Significant experience and deep understanding of IT infrastructure, platforms, data center operations, cloud management and automation, FinOps, platform security
• Demonstrable success in understanding and delivering towards customer needs in large, global, complex organizations
• Hands-on attitude and previous experience in leading IT teams
• Strong technical knowledge of relevant technologies (e.g. Azure, Terraform, CloudFormation, Docker, Kubernetes, VMware, CloudHealth), cloud best practices and industry trends
• The ability to bring people together and mobilize individuals to pursue a joint agenda
• Demonstrated success in leading and managing diverse teams to achieve digital transformation objectives
• Ability to drive change collaboratively on a global scale
• Skills to create internal and external partnerships/networks across the organization
• Independent and self-driven personality
• Proficient in English
• Brings the ability to conceptualize and articulate a clear vision for the transformation of Platforms solutions demonstrating foresight and planning in a rapidly evolving digital landscape
• Exhibits a passion for user-centric technology and innovation, constantly seeking to improve service quality and efficiency
• Embraces agile methodologies and flexible thinking to adapt to changing digital trends and business needs, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and learning
• Puts a strong emphasis on teamwork and cross-functional collaboration, with the ability to build and maintain relationships across different levels of the organization and with external partners
• Prioritizes service excellence in all digital initiatives, ensuring that digital solutions meet customer needs and enhance satisfaction
• Possesses excellent communication skills, capable of conveying complex digital strategies clearly and persuasively to stakeholders at all levels, including non-technical audiences
• Inspires and motivates teams, encouraging innovation and ownership, while providing guidance and support to achieve high performance and meet digital transformation goals
• Maintains focus and composure in the face of setbacks, showing resilience and the ability to pivot strategies as necessary in response to new challenges and opportunities
• Champions diversity and inclusion, creating an environment where all team members feel valued and can contribute to their full potential while adhering to high ethical standards in all decisions and actions