Director, Technology Strategy & Transformation

Principal-level technology transformation role — owning the technology and systems agenda across a multi-year change portfolio.

Role Overview

This position sits at the point where business ambition meets technical reality: you take the priorities coming out of transformation programmes and turn them into technology plans that are properly scoped, sized, costed, and sequenced — then stay accountable for seeing them delivered. Day to day that means running roadmap and prioritisation conversations with business functions, product owners, vendors, and IT teams, agreeing budgets and scope with IT functional leads, resolving delivery blockers, and holding a long-range view of how core systems, data platforms, and integrations need to evolve. The role matters because it gives technology investment a single owner who keeps it anchored to strategy, rather than letting it accumulate as a set of disconnected projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the technology and business-system elements of the transformation portfolio, working alongside Transformation Delivery to scope, size, budget, and schedule technology workstreams in line with agreed architecture and technology standards.
• Build and keep current multi-year product roadmaps for core systems and digital technologies, reviewing them regularly so platforms stay fit for purpose and continue to improve.
• Lead annual reviews with business functions and work with Functional Business teams, Product Owners, Members, vendors, and IT teams to surface, assess, and prioritise the initiatives that matter most.
• Produce multi-year IT transformation plans jointly with IT functional owners — identifying what needs to change, defining the scope, and costing and planning it against available BAU capacity.
• Take ownership of delivering the technology components of transformation projects, applying the organisation's project delivery lifecycle so execution stays disciplined and aligned to strategic technology principles.
• Direct the build, upkeep, and delivery of data warehouse, reporting, and integration platforms, making sure they operate effectively and efficiently.
• Assess and progress technology changes through the Change Request pipeline in partnership with business functions and Members, ensuring each change is properly scoped, budgeted, and planned within agreed processes.
• Champion transformation inside the technology function itself — introducing new initiatives, improving service delivery, embedding continuous improvement and new ways of working, and building the capabilities the organisation will need next.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Extensive, practical experience managing and delivering complex global technology projects and business solutions to stakeholders.
• Demonstrated skill in defining and implementing application strategies and technology architectures that follow business strategy, plus a working knowledge of emerging technologies and their likely impact on transformation.
• Strong strategic and analytical capability: able to connect long-term technology plans to organisational goals and to build sound financial and non-financial business cases for major core system investments, including assessment, budgeting, and planning.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with a track record of working effectively with stakeholders at every level up to senior leadership, and of explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences in a way that wins buy-in.
• Proven project management delivery capability on large-scale, technology-driven business change in complex environments, including leading cross-functional project teams and managing vendor relationships.
• Substantial experience collaborating with business teams, product owners, and external partners to identify and prioritise requirements, and a demonstrated ability to foster inclusiveness, integrity, and teamwork.
• Track record of introducing innovative technology solutions that drive continuous improvement and of leading change projects that strengthen service delivery and organisational capability.
• Multi-layered team leadership and coaching ability — setting clear responsibilities and holding people accountable for delivery.
• Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, evidenced in how technology projects are run and how teams are managed, including creating an environment where diverse perspectives are valued and career development is equitable.
• A degree in Technology Management, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a similar field is helpful but not required where equivalent professional experience and competencies can be shown.
• Desirable: experience leading IT transformation in challenging country environments; knowledge of or experience in the non-profit sector; an external accreditation in project management.

What We Offer / Why Join

• A portfolio-level mandate: you shape multi-year technology strategy rather than executing someone else's plan.
• Genuine ownership across roadmaps, investment cases, delivery, and data platforms, with visibility to senior leadership.
• Work in a mission-driven setting where technology change directly supports delivery in complex and challenging operating environments.
• A culture that expects integrity and teamwork, and actively values diverse perspectives in how technology work is led.