About the role

The Technology Strategy team plays a pivotal role in setting the strategic technical direction of both our technology and IT strategy. We guide and challenge decision makers to make the best strategic technology choices, removing the hype, and helping them to find a safe path to the most important technology innovations to transform our business and achieve our strategic goals.

• Supports the refresh, review, communication, and use of CIO strategies. Ensures strategies align across CXOs and make the most effective use of technology assets to deliver our planned business goals
• Supports long term strategic planning and alignment across corporate, business unit, CDO, CTO and IT strategies. Ensures considered outcomes are defined for tracking by PMO teams
• Knowledge and experience at a senior level of contributing to the development and implementation of strategy which drives business objectives
• Develops and proves high value challenger technology strategies to support, accelerate or challenge business direction and ambitions

The minimum criteria

The Technology Strategy team plays a pivotal role in setting the strategic technical direction of both our technology and IT strategy. We guide and challenge decision makers to make the best strategic technology choices, removing the hype, and helping them to find a safe path to the most important technology innovations to transform our business and achieve our strategic goals.

• Supports the refresh, review, communication, and use of CIO strategies. Ensures strategies align across CXOs and make the most effective use of technology assets to deliver our strategic business goals
• Supports long term planning and alignment across corporate, business unit, CDO, CTO and IT strategies. Ensures strategic outcomes are defined for tracking by PMO teams
• Develops and proves high value challenger technology strategies to support, accelerate or challenge business direction and goals

Key Accountabilities:

• Support, influence and challenge the business direction by defining how we should use technology for maximum and sustainable value to meet our business goals
• Research, analyses and qualify technology strategies to assess their suitability and viability to deliver innovation, driven advantage, operational efficiencies, and business goals
• Use new and evolving technologies, engaging with external partners to gain leading insight, and turning this into technology strategies that are aligned with our Group direction and UK Business strategy
• Engage with key collaborators up to C-suite to drive consensus and secure financial support. To guide decision makers in making the best technology choices
• Support strategic programmes to understand and identify new technology, ways of working and innovation opportunities
• Develop, educate, and raise awareness of the Technology Strategy and how it supports the overall business strategy
• Challenge and inspire the CIO and our CXO teams about the value and risk of new technologies
• Develop mutually beneficial partnerships across the business, CTO, vendors, industry, and with research partners
• Support our long term and strategic planning for our corporate, CXO and IT strategies
• Support a common strategic agenda and light touch strategy governance across our teams
• Engage with partners, industry forums and Group functions to build collaboration, consensus, market lessons and insight to evolve and implement strategy
• Maintain a current view of competitor analysis and future trends around technologies, and new market opportunities
• Assess pioneering forces impacting the organization to identify technology-enabled and non-technology innovation opportunities that enables the business
• Drive innovation ideas for evaluation and trials, securing partner support and funding

The must haves:

Essential

• Excellent critical thinking, analysis, planning, and execution
• Able to balance the long-term (“big picture”) and short-term implications of decisions and organizational goals
• Experience in at least 2 IT disciplines (Digital, Data or Telco network engineering disciplines may also be offered if potentially transferrable to an IT context)
• Able to quickly adjust, understand and communicate novel technology and techniques and their potential strategic implications for Virgin Media O2
• Excellent researcher capable of original insight based on research, analysis and business knowledge, even when faced with incomplete information
• Trusted and respected as an inspiring leader who can influence and persuade senior business and IT leaders
• Good at organizational politics - understanding the political climate of the enterprise and how to work within it. Comfortable, expert and accomplished at working with business executives, and able to push back in a professional and diplomatic way
• Able to quickly build positive relationships and collaborate across technology teams, with the wider business and partners and develop a good understanding of their strategy and key business drivers
• Excellent communicator and storyteller with the ability to articulate new insights and concepts to technical and non-technical audiences
• Vendor and technology neutral - more interested in achieving targeted business outcomes
• Evidence of strong leadership and virtual/multi-functional team management delivering successful outcomes

Desirable

• Good commercial awareness. Knowledge of industry trends, research, and developments
• Understanding of the various types of agile principles, methodologies, and frameworks, especially those crafted to be scaled at the enterprise level
• Broad understanding of fixed, mobile, IT and digital technologies
• Understanding of various types of innovation, and agile business development such as ‘lean startup’ approach
• Data analysis skills