Head of Information Technology

About us : We are developing a new convenience grocery retail chain in Saudi Arabia as a joint venture with a leading regional retailer. With 10 pilot stores planned in 2025 & over 1,250 stores targeted by 2030, the model blends neighborhood retail with a digital layer — fresh-led, tech-enabled & built for scale.

Scope of role : As Head of IT, you will be fully accountable for defining & delivering the end-to-end technology strategy of the venture. This includes stabilizing the first wave of stores running on the partner’s pilot IT stack, owning the full transition to a fit-for-purpose, scalable IT architecture & leading all infrastructure, systems & data workstreams going forward. You’ll serve as the central point of coordination between business stakeholders, technology vendors & integration partners. This role blends high-level strategic architecture with hands-on program leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Own IT across all dimensions — pilot stability to long-term architecture
• Take over the live pilot IT environment, stabilizing operations & documenting learnings
• Lead the full transition away from partner systems toward standalone, scalable platforms
• Set IT direction across infrastructure, applications, data & integration layers
• Design & implement the target IT architecture
• Lead the definition of architecture across POS, ERP, WMS, OMS, loyalty, finance, analytics, middleware
• Develop current vs. future state system landscapes, integration models & rollout plans
• Define enterprise architecture principles aligned to business ambition & regulatory requirements
• Lead vendor engagement & tech stack selection
• Drive selection of best-fit solutions across domains considering local relevance, cost & scalability
• Manage implementation partners, contract terms & roadmap alignment
• Build IT team & delivery capability
• Lead transition from initial team (including managing handover from the junior IT manager currently supporting pilot rollout) to in-house IT function
• Establish foundational SOPs, documentation & training across tech touchpoints
• Coordinate cross-functional business enablement
• Ensure systems are designed around scalable business processes, not short-term workarounds
• Translate business process requirements into tech system design
• Partner with Ops, Commercial, Finance, Supply Chain & Marketing to ensure end-user readiness
• Lead internal onboarding to new tools, workflows & capabilities

Qualifications & Experience

Core Competencies

Personal Attributes

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