Enterprise Applications | SFA / DMS / SAP / TMS / WMS

Role Summary:

The Head of Application Operations and Governance is a senior leadership role accountable for end-to-end ownership of enterprise application platforms including SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS across service delivery, implementation, adoption, and governance.

This role is not limited to support operations. It requires a transformation leader who can modernize operating models, institutionalize governance, drive measurable business outcomes, and build high-performing teams. The successful candidate must thrive in complexity, influence senior stakeholders, and bring structure, discipline, and scalability to application management.

Experience:

- 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise application delivery and governance

- Proven leadership experience managing large, multi-layered teams across diverse application portfolios

- Strong hands-on experience with SFA, DMS, SAP (ERP), TMS, WMS, or equivalent sales, distribution, and supply chain platforms

- Demonstrated success in driving operational transformation initiatives

- Experience working with senior business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders

- Strong working knowledge of ITIL frameworks, SLA governance, escalation management, and IT service management best practices

- Demonstrated experience in capacity planning, resource optimization, and productivity improvement programs

Key Responsibilities:

1. Application Ownership and Service Delivery:

- Own the full lifecycle of enterprise application platforms including SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS covering implementation, rollout, stabilization, and steady-state operations

- Ensure reliable, secure, and high-performance application services aligned to business KPIs

- Establish SLAs, OLAs, performance dashboards, and proactive monitoring frameworks

- Define and enforce escalation matrices to ensure issues are triaged, prioritized, and resolved within agreed thresholds across all application tiers

- Move from reactive support to predictive and data-driven operations leveraging ITIL best practices

- Conduct regular capacity planning reviews to ensure application infrastructure and team resources meet current and projected demand

2. ITIL, SLA, and Service Management:

- Institutionalize ITIL-aligned processes across Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Service Request, and Configuration Management for all platforms

- Define and manage multi-tier SLA frameworks with clear metrics, breach thresholds, and escalation paths for SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS

- Establish formal escalation matrices defining L1/L2/L3 support boundaries, escalation triggers, and resolution accountability

- Conduct regular service review meetings and SLA performance reporting with business and IT leadership

- Drive continuous improvement through structured analysis of incident trends, root cause patterns, and SLA adherence data

- Maintain and update a formal CMDB and service catalogue for all supported platforms

3. Productivity and Capacity Planning:

- Define productivity benchmarks and track team performance against delivery commitments and resolution targets

- Conduct structured capacity planning aligned to application portfolio growth, seasonal demand, and business expansion plans

- Identify and address resource gaps, skill bottlenecks, and workload imbalances proactively

- Drive automation and tooling adoption to improve team productivity without increasing headcount proportionally

- Report on team capacity, utilization, and throughput metrics to senior leadership on a regular cadence

4. Implementation, UAT, Training, and Adoption:

- Lead large-scale implementations, upgrades, and enhancements across SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, WMS, and other enterprise applications

- Institutionalize structured UAT processes with business accountability and formal sign-off protocols

- Design and execute comprehensive training and adoption programs tailored to platform-specific user groups

- Track adoption metrics and continuously improve user engagement across all application platforms

- Ensure solutions deliver measurable commercial impact

5. Application Governance and Controls:

Design and implement best-in-class governance frameworks covering:

- Demand intake and prioritization

- Release and change management

- Risk management and compliance controls

- Documentation and knowledge management

- Vendor governance and contract performance management

- Establish governance councils and review forums with senior leadership

- Ensure transparency, accountability, and audit readiness across all platforms

- Maintain a formal governance calendar covering release gates, CAB reviews, and compliance checkpoints

6. Transformation and Productivity Improvement:

- Re-architect ways of working to improve productivity and delivery speed across all application teams

- Drive automation, simplification, and process standardization across SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS operations

- Improve cost efficiency without compromising service quality

- Embed a continuous improvement culture across teams

- Align application strategy with business growth priorities

7. Leadership, Coaching, and Capability Building:

- Lead, develop, groom, and coach managers and teams across all application towers with a strong and deliberate emphasis on mentorship and professional growth

- Invest consistently in coaching conversations, structured feedback, and individual development plans to build leadership capability at every level of the team

- Build a strong leadership bench and succession pipeline to ensure organizational resilience

- Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, performance excellence, and continuous learning

- Set clear expectations and performance metrics and hold teams accountable with fairness and consistency

- Drive capability uplift programs to ensure teams stay current with evolving platform technologies, ITIL practices, and industry standards

8. Stakeholder Management:

- Act as a trusted partner to senior business leaders across Sales, Distribution, Supply Chain, Finance, and Technology functions

- Communicate effectively in high-pressure and ambiguous situations with clarity and executive presence

- Manage competing priorities across multiple platforms with strong temperament and resilience

- Influence decisions with data, clarity, and credibility

Required Competencies:

- Strong transformation mindset with a proven track record of driving change across complex, multi-platform environments

- Deep understanding of enterprise application governance and ITIL service management frameworks

- Expertise in SLA design, escalation framework development, and service performance management

- Demonstrated competency in capacity planning, team productivity optimization, and resource forecasting

- Functional understanding of SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS platforms and their interdependencies

- Executive communication and stakeholder management capability

- Ability to operate effectively in complexity, chaos, and ambiguity

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills grounded in data

- High ownership and outcome orientation

- Proven people leadership and coaching ability with demonstrated impact on team capability, engagement, and succession readiness

Success Indicators:

- High application reliability and service performance across all platforms including SFA, DMS, SAP, TMS, and WMS

- SLA compliance consistently above defined thresholds with clear escalation governance and zero blind spots

- Institutionalized ITIL processes with measurable improvements in incident resolution time, change success rate, and problem recurrence

- Strong user adoption and measurable business impact across all platforms

- Institutionalized governance with disciplined change processes and audit-ready documentation

- Improved productivity metrics and faster delivery velocity

- Capacity plans aligned to business growth with proactive resource readiness

- High-performing, engaged teams with a visible and active leadership pipeline

- Strong business trust and partnership across all supported functions