IT Solutions Leader

The role of an Enterprise Solutions Architect is to lead the development and implementation of enterprise-wide solutions. This includes defining solution architectures, identifying and mitigating risks, and ensuring alignment with business goals.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement regional architectural and technical standards.
• Establish a regional enterprise architecture framework and practice.
• Communicate architecture and IT standards to all stakeholders and ensure standards are published, updated, and adhered to.
• Lead the definition, development, and validation of architecture principles and standards and usage guidelines for delivering solutions based on industry trends, innovation, business risk appetite, and business drivers.
• Liaise with key IT regional partners to quantify and communicate the impacts, trade-offs, risks, costs, benefits, and opportunities of IT solutions from an architecture perspective.
• Ensure that systems are architected to be secure and resilient through the effective application of security and Business Continuity principles.
• Define and maintain a rolling 3-year strategy and 3-year technical architectural roadmap to ensure capacity and scalability, as demand and usage evolve across the SBU.
• Work with key technology partners across all Group Companies in BSAPIC to ensure the strategy and roadmap are understood and implemented.
• Identify, assess, and communicate risks related to the strategy and roadmap.
• Collaborate and drive alignment within Bridgestone's organisation and the broader business by focusing on Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Information Security and Risk Management, Corporate Strategy, and others.
• Lead and direct group companies to align their technical strategies with regional and global directions.
• Keep up-to-date with architecture, IT strategy, and technology innovation best practices and industry trends.
• Understand current and future business objectives, to interpret these requirements into relevant IT technical specifications.
• Prepare job descriptions for subordinate staff and delegate responsibility and authority in accordance with those job descriptions.
• Build and empower a high-performing Architecture team. Set the vision and motivate and guide the team to deliver on that vision.
• Undertake yearly appraisals, recruit, train, and develop direct reports in conjunction with the HR department to meet the changing needs of the company.
• Responsible for budget planning and control over IT strategy and architecture.
• Identify and shape current and future needs for staff skills, and enterprise architecture, and make recommendations for improvements and changes to departmental structure where these are seen to be needed.
• Establish priorities in line with the company's strategic priorities, developing and maintaining high standards of delivery, ensuring team's access to the tools and resources needed to perform their roles, and managing schedules and team workload.
• Exercise quality control and progress control over the work of direct reports, motivating them and ensuring that good standards of discipline and conduct are maintained, and preparing periodic performance appraisal.
• Provide regular progress reports to the Regional Head of IT.
• Provide people, industry, and technology leadership and direction within IT and to the overall organisation by fostering internal and external stakeholder communications.
• Work with Global working groups to further Global initiatives within the region and represent BSAPIC's unique requirements globally within the architecture practice and other domain-specific areas.
• Work across all IT and Business transformation teams at Bridgestone to determine the landscape of new capabilities and then prioritise which ones should be acted upon.
• Lead Technology Design Authority groups and Architectural Review Boards, to ensure proposed solutions and projects align with regional technical strategies and standards.
• Work with Engineers, Tech Leads, and Architects to drive advancements in maturity. Establish and monitor KPIs, leverage, and/or integrate with other shared capabilities, ensure consistency & excellence in architecture/design artefacts, conduct security reviews, operational reviews, vendor reviews, enforce alignment with architecture principles etc.
• Support Bridgestone vision for 'Perfect Safety'. Comply with HSE instructions, policies, and procedures.

Requirements:

• Expert knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks, principles, and standards.
• Strong understanding of IT service management and software development life cycles.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Experience with architecture design and implementation.
• Understanding of IT strategy and technology innovation best practices.
• Knowledge of business operations and processes.

What We Offer:

• Opportunity to work with a leading global company.
• Challenging and rewarding career path.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Professional development and training opportunities.