Senior Director, Business Relationship - Americas

We are RS Group

Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, we’re the digital destination for product and service solutions to help our customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses.

We provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day our team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. We consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of our customers and challenge ourselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.

We are one team. We deliver brilliantly. We do the right thing. We make every day better.

These are our values. They unite our c.9,000 global colleagues and differentiate us from our competition. They are a mix of how we work today and how we must step up for the future. Most importantly, it is one set of values shaped by our people, for our people.

Information Services & Technology is a critical commercial enabler for the RS Group, across customers, suppliers, commercial and supply chain / distribution our technology services and data are an essential platform for our £3Bn business. Our mission is to scale globally at pace to support double revenues modernizing and consolidating our platforms, releasing our data and empowering our teams.

The Information Services and Technology function is Global with functionally aligned teams represented in all 3 trading regions EMEA, US&C and APAC. The successful delivery of the IS&T strategy and the continued focus on process automation and operational excellence along with the data agenda will propel RSGroup supporting our ambitious agenda and are key to long term market differentiation and customer retention.

Together, we can make great things happen. Aim for amazing and beyond. 

About the role

Role Purpose

An IT Business Relationship Director (BRD) is a senior executive who reports to Information Services and Technology with a strong dotted line to the business unit or business function they support, Some BRDs may support one or more cross-enterprise business areas. BRDs understand both business and IT so that they can drive innovation and shape demand for technology that increases business value. They will also coordinate IT resources and work with cross-functional teams to ensure those opportunities deliver the business value that was expected from them, acting as a point of escalation when needed. BRDs represent IT and work closely with specific business unit in RS Group Regions, Accelerators or Enabler functions (Finance, HR). 

Their objective is to converge business and IT as true strategic partners and ensure business value results. The BRD role will work closely with architects, change teams, program and project managers, business analysts, infrastructure teams and others to communicate project requirements and objectives. Their ultimate goal is to evolve culture, build strategic partnerships and drive business value through the use of information and technology. 

Our business leaders must view IS&T as a strategic differentiator. To be elevated to the role of strategic business leader, IT must move beyond solely providing services and become a truly converged strategic partner that shares ownership of both business strategy and business results. 

The Business Relationship Director capability is a key driver in allowing IT to move into this strategic role, to stimulate, surface, and shape business demand and ensure that companies recognize, capture, and optimize the potential business value from that demand. A strong BRD capability converges cross-functional teams and eliminates value-depleting organizational silos. It drives a culture of creativity, innovation, collaboration and shared ownership across the enterprise, and produces strategies that deliver their intended business value results. BRDs are “blended executives” who possess a diverse set of skills and experiences.

Responsibilities

• Reporting to the Senior Vice President Global Portfolio Delivery and Operations, this role will have IT strategy and delivery responsibility for A Region, An Accelerator or Enabler function. The Business Relationship Director will partner with Business leaders to stimulate, surface, and shape demand for IT solutions and assets. The BRD will also ensure delivery of information technology solutions that generate business value and confirm that the results are measured and communicated. 
• Work with senior leaders to evolve culture and organizational behavior, elevating IT into a strategic partner.
• Develop deep knowledge of [Region, Accelerator, Enabler] and build both horizontal and vertical relationships with business and IT leaders that deliver business impact. 
• Coach business partners and enable them to articulate the technology needs and requirements in their function that will advance business performance.
• Act as the principal technology advisor to [Region, Accelerator, Enabler] and a champion for identifying, leading and driving information technology transformation. 
• Ensure that [Region, Accelerator, Enabler] strategy and key performance indicators are identified and leveraged for effective IT demand shaping. Partner with business unit or function leaders on pre-project ideation. 
• Partner with enterprise architects to develop technology enablement business capability roadmaps. 
• Partner with business and IT leaders to evaluate proposals, build business cases, and plan new joint initiatives, and determine how they fit into business capability roadmaps and priorities. 
• Partner with business analysts to ensure that essential business requirements are understood, captured, and reflected in solution documentation. 
• Partner with business transformation or change management teams to ensure that the business unit or function has the capacity and capabilities to implement changes required by new technology solutions. 
• Ensure that project/program managers and IT staff assigned to projects are knowledgeable about the business unit or function, business partner(s), and their objectives. 
• Ensure delivery of new technology solutions and capabilities in accordance with the roadmap and ensure that they meet established objectives and expectations of business partners. 
• Share ownership of the business value results of technology related projects; measure and communicate business value results on a regular basis. 
• Bring outside-in or fresh perspectives into the organization by routinely meeting with end customers/consumers, industry peers, and other external sources. 
• Ensure continuous improvement in value optimization, IT performance, and business processes where applicable. 
• Proactively identify business capability and IT service gaps and contribute to improvement efforts and advocate for and advance business partners’ knowledge of IT processes, frameworks, roles, and capabilities. 
• Develop value-adding BRM professional maturity, individually and for the entire function

Org Structure
Reports into Office of Chief Information Officer with a dotted line to Regional President

Essential Skills & Experience

• A minimum of 10 years' experience in information technology. 
• A minimum of 5 years' experience facilitating the development and implementation of business initiatives and projects based on organizational objectives. 
• Demonstrated track record of creating technology solutions to solve business problems (globally, or across multiple divisions or regions within a single company). 
• Strong collaboration, teamwork and relationship building skills across multiple levels and functions in the organization. 
• Ability to listen, build rapport, and credibility as a strategic partner vertically within the business unit or function, as well as with leadership and functional teams. 
• A strategic thinker focused on business value results that utilize technical solutions. 
• Ability to set expectations with business partners and effectively leverage governance for a positive business partner experience. 
• Demonstrated ability to interact with and influence C-level executives to drive business value. 
• Exceptional ability to lead change using positive and collaborative methods. 
• Skilled at conflict resolution and problem-solving to achieve win-win outcomes. 
• Diplomacy: able to influence and motivate others using personal rather than positional power. 
• Strong communication skills in writing, speaking, and presenting. 
• An exceptional listener, able to comprehend what is said and probe for important details. 
• Able to communicate technical or complex subject matter in business terms. 
• An outside-in focus: outstanding end-customer relationship skills. Highly skilled at creating business requirements documents, use cases, user acceptance test plans, process flow and data flow diagrams. 
• Demonstrated acumen and passion for business and technology. 
• Understands the IT industry, e.g. emerging technologies and trends, industry standards, solution architecture, and the vendor landscape. o Highly self-motivated. 
• Accepts ownership and welcomes responsibility. 
• Ability to attract, develop and retain talent, and build strong teams

Leadership Framework

The selected criteria are the elements of the leadership framework that are most critical for this role.  

Leadership Framework

• Accelerates change - Pace of change and time to market is a differentiator
• Builds trust Collaborates across borders - Highly collaborative role, influencing is essential skill
• Communicates to engage - Must be to communicate and evangelize technology to business stakeholders and business drivers and needs to technology teams.
• Connects with the context - Must connect with the driving factors for Business unit they engage with.
• Creates purpose - Develops high performing teams
• Drives business growth - Looking for growth opportunities restlessly.

Equal Employment Opportunity

RS Americas is an equal opportunity employer and maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent and prohibit unlawful discrimination against any qualified employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military/veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other unlawful classification to the extent protected by law. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all employment practices, including hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, training and termination. Employees who engage in unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.