Head of Technology, Supply Chain & Research & Development

Job Title: Head of Supply Chain and Research & Development

Department: IT / Technology

Reports To: Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Location: London / Leeds 

Role Summary:

The Head of Technology, Supply Chain & R&D Platforms is a strategic and transformative leader responsible for powering Wella’s global operations through innovative, scalable, and business-aligned technology. As a key partner to senior Supply Chain and R&D leaders, this role drives digital transformation across planning, manufacturing, logistics, product innovation, and compliance—unlocking end-to-end efficiency, accelerating speed to market, and shaping the future of Wella’s product and supply ecosystems.

The Head provides both strategic and operational leadership across the full lifecycle of enterprise applications that support these functions, with ownership of ERP and operational platforms that enable planning, manufacturing, logistics, product innovation, and regulatory processes. The role ensures these systems are secure, scalable, and aligned to support global process excellence across critical value streams.

This role holds overarching accountability for platform operations within the SC & R&D domains, including system stability, service continuity, support responsiveness, and integration of the local OT team. It plays a central role in reducing complexity, harmonizing global capabilities, and driving standardization across the application landscape. The Head also champions a "buy over build" strategy and leads the shift from locally customized solutions to globally scalable platforms.

As a senior thought partner, the Head sits on the functional leadership team and acts as a “mini CIO” – translating business strategy into technology delivery. The role leads a team of 40+ professionals, including Functional Experts, Architects, Service Delivery Managers, Data Product Owners, and Local OT, and oversees a global budget of €XXM. A key focus is on building domain-specific IT expertise, partnering with vendors, and creating a forward-leaning, outcome-driven technology organization that supports end-to-end processes like Discover to Launch and Order to Cash.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Application Strategy & Architecture

• Define and govern the enterprise application strategy for Supply Chain and R&D in alignment with business capability models and architectural principles.
• Own and maintain the IT roadmap across key SC & R&D processes (e.g., Plan to Forecast, Source to Pay, Make to Deliver, and Discover to Launch) and systems (e.g., SAP, BY).
• Lead modernization efforts by identifying and eliminating legacy debt, streamlining platforms, and driving adoption of scalable, cloud-first solutions.
• Promote a “buy over build” application strategy to accelerate delivery, reduce complexity, and ensure maintainability.
• Drive the shift from locally customized solutions to standardized, global platforms that support consistent, scalable, and efficient operations.
• Collaborate closely with Enterprise Architecture to ensure adherence to integration and interoperability standards.

2. Solution Delivery, Operations & Lifecycle Management

• Oversee the full software development lifecycle across packaged solutions, SaaS platforms, and custom builds.
• Ensure end-to-end ownership of the application lifecycle—aligning roadmap, development, and operations to deliver sustained business value across Supply Chain and R&D domains.
• Ensure robust quality through disciplined release management, testing, and change control processes.
• Champion user experience excellence and drive business adoption and enablement.
• Ensure stable and reliable platform operations in collaboration with central global IT teams responsible for service management, infrastructure, and support.
• Act as the operational escalation point for SC & R&D platforms, aligning platform performance with business continuity, manufacturing uptime, and planning reliability needs.

3. Business Engagement & Value Delivery

• Act as a trusted advisor to SC and R&D business leaders and global process owners, aligning IT delivery with functional transformation needs.
• Proactively drive strong interfaces with business stakeholders, ensuring that platform capabilities and enhancements are tightly aligned with operational and strategic needs.
• Shape and guide application-enabled transformation portfolios across innovation, product lifecycle, planning, and logistics.
• Drive end-to-end ownership in cross-functional initiatives – especially where data, IT, and OT intersect.
• Support the enablement of sustainability, traceability, and regulatory initiatives through effective platform capabilities.
• Accelerate innovation in areas such as supply chain visibility.
• Represent IT on governance forums including the Business Change Board, ensuring investment alignment with strategic priorities.
• Define, measure, and communicate business value, ROI, and outcomes driven by application platforms.

4. Vendor & Partner Ecosystem Management

• Manage vendor ecosystem across SAP and Non-SAP (e.g., BY, Sievo, AEB), ensuring delivery, compliance, and value realization.
• Ensure vendor performance, contractual compliance, and value realization.
• Collaborate with Procurement on sourcing strategies, licensing agreements, and service-level alignment.
• Maintain compliance with InfoSec, data privacy, and regulatory standards across all third-party integrations.
• Oversee budget and resource allocation, aligning investments with transformation priorities and operational needs.

5. Data, Analytics & AI Integration

• Collaborate with MDM, Data, AI & Analytics teams to ensure application data is structured, integrated, and insight ready.
• Oversee application data models and their contribution to enterprise data lakehouse or mesh strategies.
• Enable embedded AI/ML capabilities across operational platforms.

6. Leadership & Organizational Development

• Build, lead, and develop a unified team of 11+ FTEs, including Local OT, by integrating previously siloed SC and R&D support into a unified platform team composed of Functional Experts, Architects, Service Delivery Managers, Project Managers, Data Product Owners, and Local OT representatives.
• Cultivate a mindset of responsiveness, continuous improvement, and user-first thinking.
• Foster strong business partnering and drive a culture of accountability and service excellence.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, and leadership growth across digital and enterprise system teams.
• Foster strong engagement with business stakeholders to prioritize application needs and maximize adoption.

Key Skills & Competencies:

1. Strategic Platform Leadership – Demonstrated success in leading complex ERP, PLM, supply chain, and R&D systems at scale, across multiple geographies and business units.
2. Enterprise Architecture Acumen – Strong understanding of structured, scalable enterprise systems architecture, including cloud-readiness and integration with manufacturing and R&D platforms.
3. Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management – Proven ability to act as an interface and thought leader to the business; effectively translating platform capabilities into actionable outcomes for supply chain, operations, and R&D stakeholders.
4. Project Delivery Discipline – Experience in structured delivery methodologies (e.g., Waterfall), especially for operational and manufacturing systems with high uptime and compliance requirements.
5. Vendor & Contract Management – Skilled in managing complex vendor landscapes across ERP, planning, R&D, and OT platforms.
6. Data-Driven Thinking – Strong alignment of applications with enterprise data strategies and emerging AI capabilities.
7. Change Enablement – Experienced in leading transformation during structural change (e.g., ITOM transformation), including talent shifts, system migrations, and process consolidation across functional boundaries.

Qualifications & Experience:

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical/business discipline.
• MBA or executive leadership training is a plus.
• Preferred certifications: PMP, TOGAF, SAFe.

Experience:

• 15+ years in enterprise applications, including 5+ years in a global leadership role.
• Strong experience acting as a functional interface with business leaders, driving stakeholder alignment, and translating business strategy into technology outcomes.
• Proven experience driving transformation across ERP, planning, logistics, and R&D systems (e.g., PLM, MES, APS).
• Demonstrated experience leading ERP, R&D, and Supply Chain Management (SCM) platforms, including systems such as SAP (SD/MM, PP, PLM), BY, Sievo, AEB.
• Industry experience in supply chain-intensive industries such as beauty, consumer products, manufacturing, life sciences, or industrial sectors is strongly preferred.
• Exposure to R&D and product innovation environments is a significant asset.
• Familiarity with OT platforms and digital manufacturing (e.g., MES, automation systems) is a plus.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Application Uptime: >99.9% across business-critical systems.
• Project Delivery: % of initiatives delivered on time, scope, and budget – with measured business impact (e.g., cycle time reduction, compliance improvement).
• Technology Debt Reduction: Annual % of applications modernized or rationalized.
• Business Satisfaction: Function-specific NPS and enablement scores from SC and R&D stakeholders on IT delivery and responsiveness.
• Deployment Velocity: Cycle time for system updates and new capabilities.
• Cost Efficiency: Optimization of licensing, maintenance, and vendor spend.
• Operational Stability: MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) and incident resolution rates for supply chain and R&D platforms.