We are Telefónica Deutschland – we connect the most people with mobile communications in Germany. As the leading telecommunications provider, we have a clear task: we make our customers’ lives easier and better and provide them with mobile freedom in the digital world. This means that people can use the achievements of digitalisation anytime and anywhere. As such, we are driving the digital transformation of society.

In Germany, we are best known for our premium brand O2. We also offer mobile and fixed services for private and business customers with various secondary and partner brands. This is supplemented by innovative digital products and services in the fields of the Internet of Things and data analytics.

We have been counted among the best employers for several years. Telefónica Deutschland is majority owned by the Spanish telecommunications group Telefónica S.A., headquartered in Madrid. With a total of 130,000 motivated employees in 21 countries around the globe, we aim to transform the world of tomorrow.

Join us and together let’s drive the digital revolution. We look forward to receiving your application!

Job Title: Technology Strategy Manager

Grade â€“ PCGT/L6

Role dimensions

Direct Reports: 0

Indirect Reports: 0

Budget/financial accountability:

•            Supporting and developing strategic business cases

•            Assessing strategic value delivered by annual budget / strategic plan

•            Potentially required to manage budget/spend for technology trials or PoC

Job Purpose:

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 strategic planning and alignment across corporate, business unit, CDO, CTO and IT strategies. Ensures strategic outcomes are defined for tracking by PMO teams
• Supports a common strategy development agenda and light touch strategy governance across our 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, analyse and qualify technology strategies to assess their suitability and viability to deliver innovation, competitive advantage, operational efficiencies and business goals
• Leverage 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 stakeholders up to C-Level to drive buy-in 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 learnings and insight to evolve and execute strategy
• Maintain a current view of competitor analysis and future trends around technologies, and new market opportunities
• Assess disruptive forces impacting the organisation to identify technology-enabled and non-technology innovation opportunities that enables the business
• Drive innovation ideas for evaluation and trials, securing stakeholder support and funding

The must haves:

Essential

• Excellent strategic thinking, analysis, planning and execution. Able to balance the long-term (“big picture”) and short-term implications of decisions and organisational goals. Experience with business case development and review
• 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 rapidly assimilate, 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 a thought leader who can influence and persuade senior business and IT leaders
• Good at organisational politics - understanding the political climate of the enterprise and how to work within it. Comfortable, experienced and accomplished at working with business executives, and able to push back in a professional and diplomatic way.
• Able to quickly build trusted 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 ideas 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/cross-functional team management delivering successful outcomes

Desirable

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