Head of Enterprise Strategic Technology

The organisation

Kuwait Steel, the largest steel producer in Kuwait with over 900 employees, is been undergoing a Digital Transformation for the last 4 years. The primary purpose of this position is to lead the link between Digital Technology and Strategic Organizational Development in order to support the targeted growth of tripling the business in the next 3-5 years.

Kuwait Steel (United Steel Industrial Company) is a private Kuwaiti Closed Shareholding Industrial and Commercial Company that was established in the year 1996 through Kuwaiti investors.

In the four years that followed Kwtsteel in collaboration with Voest Alpine of Austria erected the first fully-automated Rolling Mill in Kuwait. This Rolling Mill, which is built on a 40,000 square meter land has an annual capacity of 750,000 tons of reinforcing steel bars with sizes ranging from 8mm to 40 mm in diameter. Since 2003, Kuwait Steel was able to cater major portions of local market demands for this vital product, since the manufacturing process is entirely capable of meeting recognized stringent international standards such as ASTM, DIN, BS, SASO and other standards required by the market.

The company’s production usually exceeds its yearly target, thus exporting its products to neighboring countries which has constantly been part of its business. The Steel Plant is designed according to the latest technology in the field of steel plant machinery equipment specifically. The technological solution is characterized by the choice of high quality and productivity facilities, by which it is possible to achieve extremely efficient operating results with low man-power and specific energy consumption thereby making the plant highly competitive. Upon commissioning in 2010 and after finishing the Guarantee Performance Test during the first quarter of 2011, the Steel Plant is in operation and producing to its full capacity.

During the same year 2010, Kuwait Steel achieved yet another milestone by acquiring another Rolling Mill Plant in Kuwait that used to have an annual production capacity of 250,000 tons/year which has been completely revamped and upgraded by M/s. Siderimpes (S.R.L) of Italy, to increase its annual capacity to produce 650,000 tons of rebar that is fully operational and running at full capacity and utilization rates. Both rolling mill plants have a combined annual production capacity of 1.4 million metric tons.

Kuwait Steel is fully committed to minimize, if not eliminate the effects of its overall operations in the production of steel reinforcing bars and steel billets to the environment. It is the company’s goal to enhance and continually improve its environmental protection performance through effective implements of Environmental management Systems (EMS).

Thus, it is worthwhile to mention that United Steel Industrial Company is the sole producer of steel rebar in the state of Kuwait. Last but not least, all of Kuwait Steel’s products are Kuwaiti, ISO and UK CARES certified.

The position

You will lead a team of application and development specialists in Change Management and will be the custodian of overall applications systems architecture and standards to ensure full SAP implementation resulting in Business and Performance Improvement. You will also provide on the ground leadership and promote connectedness for all IT in the manufacturing facility. Speed and quality of delivering innovative solutions is of the essence. You will directly lead 2 Direct Reports; an ERP Manager( + 4 Direct Reports) and an IT Head (+ 4 Direct Reports).

You will work closely with senior management and the business stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of major projects via S/4HANA on a private cloud as well as SAC ( SAP Analytics Cloud). You will support the businesses in automation and bringing about operational efficiencies through IT applications.

You develop and enhance the SAP Analytics Applications (Business Objects) and manage any system changes and enhancements, as well as upgrades of IT applications. You will ensure that standard systems features are explored fully, and realistic options are explored and offered prior to any development and modification work. Hereto you develop and promote adherence to systems architecture. Disaster recovery and business continuity plans are planned and implemented and you provide oversight in aspects of applications requirements, deployment and maintenance. Further more, you will be responsible for;

• Analyzing the master list of all Business Processes running in ERP (BPML-Business Process Master List) currently in place and under implementation and ensuring the optimization of the Training Plan across departments in order to build a higher level of trust.
• Ensuring all system documentation is in place and regularly updated.
• Developing / Identifying a list of ‘power’ system users by location to reduce system support costs long term.
• Developing and driving the constant keeping up to date all system training materials, linked to the BPML, in order to reduce support costs long term.
• Enforcing SLA’s for system support partners (both internal and external).
• Working with departments to agree the process of creation and updating of Master Data.
• Ensuring all mandated Technology / Business Intelligence security measures are in place and monitored regularly.
• Leading and developing individuals in a diverse multi-national set of teams in the IT Organization.
• Managerial responsibilities will include interviewing, hiring, and planning and directing employee talent; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining of direct and indirect report employees; and addressing HR issues and resolving problems.
• Managing IT Budgets, including Sourcing, negotiating & managing 3rd Party suppliers & partners and forging partnerships with them for long term quality and cost-effective results.
• Providing a structured approach for Resource Planning & Monitoring management dashboards.
• Collaborating and consulting with business functions to understand their current and future IT needs.

Tasks & responsibilities

Your accountabilitities include:

• Owning all Technology Applications and Applications Architecture within the manufacturing facility.
• Ensuring compliance with Enterprise IT change control policies and procedures.
• Departmental budget and resource planning.
• Productivity of the development team, stability and continuous improvement of systems reliability and performance.
• Introducing innovative solutions to improve user’s journey and overall experience.
• Ability to represent the IT department with senior management of all functions (Sales/ Marketing / Logistics / Purchasing ) within the company.
• Engage and lead the IT team by defining criteria for excellence and driving core competencies.
• Improve existing employee skill sets and hire talent based on future organizational needs in order to build a strong succession pipeline. Actively mentor and coach the IT team to help support and further their professional growth and development.
• Keep abreast and update senior management regarding the latest technologies in Cloud Computing, AI, Machine Learning, Predictive Analysis, etc.

Candidate profile

You combine significant (12+ years) business leadership experience in a multinational manufacturing organization with a (technical) masters degree. Your focus on continuous improvement is backed by professional designations such as Six Sigma Black Belt / PMP / ITSM / Operations Excellence. You have leadership experience in implementation of SAP in the most up-to-date Modules, as well as a sound understanding of Data Modelling & Application Architecture.

You have strong and demonstrable Change Management Program / Project delivery background with a hands on experience of developing technical and solution designs resulting in Performance Improvement. You are always up to date on the latest technology news and solutions via Tech Magazines, Blogs, Conferences and have a demonstrated experience of SAP planning and operations in large scale companies as well as E-commerce.

You have managed multi-million-dollar expense cost centers and IT capital investment budgets and display strong leadership qualities (negotiation, collaboration and facilitation, teambuilding/mentoring, written and verbal communications). You communicate clear & concise.

The offer

A very attractive (tax-free) compensation package is on offer. The posting is a two years full time contract at Kuwait with regular 30 days annual leave plus of course public holidays. The contract will include allowances for accommodation, transport and phone, as well as one business class ticket per annum for the candidate plus each dependent younger than 18 years accompanying the expat.

Kuwait offers a “liberally conservative”, modern, inexpensive, and extremely safe lifestyle. Women are allowed to drive and are active in business and Parliament.

Interested?

You can apply to this position by using the form below. For more information please contact Harmen Stakenburg, Phone: +31 (0)6 19 91 25 82.