Head Of Technology (Nairobi) at Safal Group

Job Purpose

• Lead the organisation’s technology and digital agenda to improve manufacturing performance, business efficiency, resilience, and growth. The role owns enterprise technology strategy, digital transformation, cybersecurity, data and analytics, enterprise applications, infrastructure, and the integration of IT and operational technology across manufacturing sites. The role carries clear bottom-line accountability: it owns the economic return on the Group’s technology investment and is measured on a verified, sustained contribution to EBITDA, cost competitiveness, working capital and return on capital.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Economic value and bottom-line accountability: Own the technology P&L, Opex and capex budgets in full. Commit to, and deliver, a defined annual EBITDA contribution from technology through cost reduction, productivity, margin improvement and revenue enablement. Jointly own benefit delivery with business leaders, with benefits validated by Finance and tracked through to the P&L, not reported as activity or project completion.
• Technology strategy and governance: Develop and execute the technology roadmap; establish architecture, standards, policies, investment priorities and governance across the organisation, with every investment anchored to a quantified business case.
• Digital and manufacturing transformation: Lead automation, smart factory and Industry 4.0 initiatives; connect factory-floor and enterprise systems to deliver measurable gains in OEE, yield, uptime, energy efficiency and conversion cost per unit.
• Enterprise applications and integration: Own and optimise ERP, MES, CRM, HRIS, supply chain, finance and related platforms; simplify the application landscape and strengthen integration and user adoption.
• Data, analytics and AI:  Establish sound data governance and a single source of truth; deliver dashboards, advanced analytics and practical AI use cases that improve margin, pricing, inventory and working capital decisions.
• Cybersecurity and resilience: Protect information and operational technology assets; oversee cyber risk, privacy, business continuity, disaster recovery and security awareness; express cyber and technology risk in financial terms to inform risk appetite and investment.
• Infrastructure and service delivery: Ensure secure, reliable and cost-effective networks, cloud, workplace technology and support services across all locations, while driving down unit cost of service and total cost of ownership.
• Portfolio, vendors and value realisation: Allocate capital to the highest-return programmes using stage-gate investment governance (NPV, IRR, payback); conduct post-investment reviews and stop or redirect initiatives that are not delivering; rationalise applications and renegotiate contracts to release cost; control technology costs and ensure investments deliver measurable financial outcomes.
• Leadership and change: Build a capable technology team, strengthen digital capability across the business and create strong collaboration between Technology, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Commercial and Corporate Functions.

SUCCESS MEASURES:
ECONOMIC VALUE AND BOTTOM-LINE IMPACT

• EBITDA contribution: Finance-validated EBITDA contribution from technology and digital initiatives, measured against the annual committed target
• Return on investment: Benefits realised versus approved business cases (NPV, IRR, payback), confirmed through post-investment review
• Budget discipline: Technology opex and capex delivered within approved budget; technology cost as a percentage of revenue held at or below agreed benchmark
• Operating cost and working capital: Technology-enabled reduction in conversion cost, downtime, scrap and inventory days
• Cost of ownership: Savings from application rationalisation, vendor consolidation and contract renegotiation

OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC DELIVERY

• Roadmap: Delivery of the approved technology and digital roadmap on time and to scope
• Manufacturing performance: Improvement in OEE, yield, reliability and plant visibility enabled by technology
• Service: System availability, service performance and user experience
• Cyber resilience: Cybersecurity maturity, risk reduction and recovery readiness

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in information technology, Computer Science, Engineering or a related field. Relevant postgraduate qualifications are advantageous.
• Experience: Progressive technology experience, including senior leadership responsibility in a manufacturing or similarly asset-intensive, multi-site environment. Experience of running a business, or a large department within a business unit, with direct P&L accountability, is strongly preferred.
• Track record: Proven delivery of enterprise systems, digital transformation, cybersecurity and technology modernisation programmes with quantified financial outcomes, such as cost savings, margin improvement and documented return on investment.
• Leadership scope: Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, major vendors, significant opex and capex budgets and organisational change across multiple sites or countries.
• Financial acumen: Strong commercial and financial literacy, including business case development, NPV/IRR and total cost of ownership analysis, capex governance and benefits tracking. Comfortable being held to account for financial outcomes alongside the CFO and business leaders.