Lead, IT Change & Interventions at Save the Children

Role purpose

• The Lead, IT Change and Interventions is a key role within the TDIT function and the scope of the role can be broken broadly into 5 key areas 1) transformation initiatives 2) Change requests 3) IT projects that sit outside the formal transformation portfolio 4) IT Planning & Delivery Oversight 5) continuous improvement. The allocation will vary over time based on the nature of the portfolio and the needs of the organisaiton.
• At SCI all TDIT led projects and CRs follow standard methodologies processes and governance . As such these roles are part of a wider community of Project Managers, Change Managers and Transformation Development and Intervention Managers. This community is key in driving consistency and sharing lessons learned on our delivery of change. 
• There are 4 Lead of IT Change and Interventions, the framework for the role is standard but the areas of specialism vary. This role needs a focus on Testing.
• The Lead, IT Change and Interventions will lead on work across the IT specific elements of the portfolio based on demand and priority. This includes:

Transformation Portfolio initiatives:

• Define, shape or lead certain parts of transformation initiatives e.g. Test, cut over, data migration
• Specifically relating to Testing this role can be expected to partner with project leadership to fully understand transformation initiatives and help the project manager define test approaches, scope and scenarios.The role may need to take an active delivery role in projects in the test space
• Resolve IT related roadblocks or issues unexpectedly identified on transformation initiatives that cannot be managed within existing capacity (these may result in creation of sub projects or CRs that the Lead will manage)

IT Projects:

• Lead on initiatives that sit outside the Transformation portfolio that are run within IT (e.g. migration away from Citrix or implementation of microsoft shared tennancy)
• Identify and address business risks, dependencies and delivery issues 
• Ensure adherence to same governance and standards as transformation portfolio initiatives working closely with PMO
• This role would focus on ensuring testing approaches, methods and scope are appropriate to the nature of the project

Change Requests:

• Triage, impact assess & estimate CRs
• End to end responsibility of the delivery and resourcing of complex CRs where required; including financial management (oversight of estimates and actuals), resource management, stakeholder management and governance 
• Input into CR prioritisation and resource allocation that is coordinated by PMO
• Intervene where CRs are poorly scoped or not in alignment with strategic objectives
• If TDI Managers are leading triage, impact assessment, and estimation of CRs, they should engage the Lead for IT Change Interventions where additional technical input is required. 
• If the Lead for IT Change Interventions is leading, they should liaise with TDI Managers where business input or support is needed.

IT Planning & Delivery Oversight:

• Contribute to the development, maintenance and monitoring of product roadmaps supporting the Senior Lead, Technology Solution Delivery focussing on Roadmaps 
• Ensure IT change and IT projects and initiatives are assessed in the context of delivery timelines and roadmaps and coordinating with relevent teams when required 

Continuous improvement:

The role holder understands the breadth of the transformation lifecycle and is uniquely positioned to drive continuous improvement across IT, dedicating up to 20% of their time to these initiatives. This may include designing and operating certain processes on an interim basis to establish and stabilise them before transitioning to long-term owners. Where relevant, they will work closely with TD leadership (in particular with Director of PMO & Reporting and Director of Project and Change Delivery) to ensure alignment with project delivery. Examples of such initiatives include, but are not limited to:

Use of tooling:

• Drive improvement in use of Atlassian tools by product teams to deliver change e.g. release notes in confluence, jira use for epics, stories and dev tasks
• Use of technologies to support code control, packaged deployment partnering with PDMs to share best practise, instill devsecops practises

Partner with TDIT colleagues to improve methodologies:

• Provide lessons learned to agile methodology
• Work with PMO to ensure CR process is iteratively improved and actively championed
• Improve onboarding documents 

Testing:

• Establish testing community of practise to improve approach to testing across all forms of change
• Capacity build in existing PMs 
• Knowledge base generations and peer reviews to ensure high quality test plans, approaches, methods on transformation initiatives

Principal Accountabilities

The Lead, IT Change and Interventions share the following principal accountabilities which may vary depending on the intervention activity; 

• Enable effective IT change working proactively with TDIT and business stakeholders of varying seniority to enable change that delivers clear value 
• Ensure alignment with the IT capabilities (architecture, development, test, release, support etc.) and relevant IT leadership to maintain a cohesive approach to managing interventions sharing necessary support or engagement. Align with TD counterparts to share ways of working when applicable. 
• Ensure high quality testing across all transformaiton initiatives by maturing our testing community of practise and taking active roles in the test space of projects
• Execute intervention plans within transformation initiatives, aligning with established project leadership and governance and Partner with TDI mngrs on feasibility studies where more technical input required
• Work cross-functionally with Product Owners, Technical teams and PMO to manage dependencies and resolve conflicts and support joined-up delivery 
• Focal point for assessment of complex IT Change requests (conducting and/or supporting assesment and estimation activities and leading on delivery of complex CRs) 
•  Promote a culture of continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to build capacities and improve processes across IT delivery as well as assessing delivery performance against roadmaps to identify efficiency opporutnities 
• Apply strong project management practices to lead the assesment, plan and delivery of change, operating comfortably across hybrid delivery models. Act as an escalation point for change-related issues and dependencies
• Support the Senior Lead, Technology Solution Delivery in defining consistent Product Roadmap processes and tooling across Save the Children applications aligned to Product and Organisation objectives 
• Support in improving prioritisation, estimation and transparency of Product Roadmaps and IT delivery timelines 

Experience and Skills

Essential

• Considerable experience working with large, complex IT environments, managing operational change. Demonstrates direct accountability for issue resolution and dependency management and capacity building to empower others in problem-solving
• Proven experience working in testing creating test approaches, methodologies, strategies and scopes with clear understanding of the functional scope of the project and risk based approach to testing
• Proven experience in one or more of the following areas: IT Change Requests, Release Management or Product/Technology roadmap delivery. Able to apply structured approaches and adapting to operational constraints and competing priorities. 
• Ability to assess IT change including impact analysis as well as providing hands on support to functional areas in business case creation, prioritisation and sequencing 
• Familiarity of industry standards and frameworks (e.g. ITIL, Agile, DevOps, or equivalent), supported by formal training or applied experience, with the ability to apply appropriate levels of governance and hold teams accountable to agreed standards.
• Demonstrated experience in engaging and collaborating with global stakeholders across various levels of the organisation including Senior Leaders, from diverse contexts
• Proven ability to operate successfully within a matrix organisation structure, overseeing resource without direct line management accountability and being experienced working across multiple different functional areas
• Demonstrated ability to provide hands-on guidance, mentoring, and coaching to strengthen capability in IT teams, even where formal line management responsibility does not exist.
• Experience working in a dynamic environment characterised by high levels of change and quick turnaround times while maintaining high standards of delivery
• Project Management experience with proven experience operating across hybrid delivery models

Desirable

• Non-profit sector knowledge/experience (especially international development projects)
• Second language – French, Spanish or Arabic

Education and Qualifications 

Essential

• Relevant certifications in Project Management (e.g., PMP, Prince2), Agile methodologies (e.g., 
• ScrumMaster, Agile Certified Practitioner), or specific technologies related to the role.

Desirable

• Continuous professional development in technology management and leadership through courses or workshops.
• ITIL certification or other IT service management qualifications are advantageous.