Chief Technology Officer

Job description / Role

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavour to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewellery, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750+ experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 14,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work®.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up "The Greenhouse", which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles.

As the WEAR THAT, Chief Technology Officer you will be responsible for providing vision and leadership for developing and implementing technology initiatives. The Chief Technology Officer is a forward-thinking strategic planner who develops the company's technology strategies and improves cost effectiveness, service quality and business development.

The Chief Technology Officer must possess agility in their approach to problem-solving, with the ability to develop effective strategies and see them through to execution. They should also be capable of hands-on coding and have a willingness to get involved in technical implementation wherever possible.

Working closely with the Founder and CEO, your responsibilities will include (but not limited to)

What you'll be doing

- Act as an advocate for the organization's IT vision via regular written and in-person communications with the organization's executives, department heads, and end users.

- Approve, prioritize, and control projects and the project portfolio as they relate to the selection, acquisition, development, and installation of major information systems.

- Assess and communicate risks associated with IT investments.

- Assess and make recommendations on the improvement or re-engineering of the IT organization.

- Coordinate and facilitate consultation with stakeholders to define business and systems requirements for new technology implementations.

- Define and communicate corporate plans, policies, and standards for the organization for acquiring, implementing, and operating IT systems.

- Determine an organization's long-term systems needs and hardware acquisitions to accomplish the organization's business objectives

- Develop and maintain an appropriate IT organizational structure that supports the needs of the business.

- Develop, track, and control the information technology annual operating and capital budgets.

- Direct development and execution of an enterprise-wide disaster recovery and business continuity plan.

- Ensure continuous delivery of IT services through oversight of service level agreements with Business units and monitoring of IT systems performance.

- Ensure IT system operation adheres to applicable laws and regulations.

- Establish IT departmental goals, objectives, and operating procedures.

- Establish lines of control for current and proposed information systems.

- Identify opportunities for the appropriate, cost/benefit analyses for IT spending, initiatives and cost-effective investment of financial resources in IT systems and resources, including staffing, sourcing, purchasing, and in-house development.

- Keep current with trends and issues in the IT industry, including current technologies and prices.

- Advise, counsel, and educate executives and management on their competitive or financial impact.

- Lead IT strategic and operational planning to achieve business goals by fostering innovation, prioritizing IT initiatives, and coordinating the evaluation, deployment, and management of current and future IT systems across the organization.

- Legal and Financial processes

- Participate in strategic and operational governance processes of the business organization as a member of the senior management team.

- Promote and oversee strategic relationships between internal IT resources and external entities, including vendors and partner organizations.

- Review hardware and software acquisition and maintenance contracts and pursue master agreements to capitalize on economies of scale.

- Supervise recruitment, development, retention, and organization of all IT staff in accordance with corporate budgetary objectives and personnel policies.

- Technical communication and Coordination

- Technology solution development

Requirements

What you'll need to succeed


- Proven experience as Chief Technology Officer, or a similar role (retail experience is preferred)

- Previous Experience: Minimum 7 years

- Previous experience working in a startup is mandatory

- MBA or Masters Degree in Computer applications

- Be a forward thinker and able to identify potential risks and opportunities

- Strong communication skills both written and verbal

- Self-motivated and ability to adapt to fast changing environment

- Ability to think outside the box

- Ability to strategize and solve problems

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts. To view all our perks and benefits, click here.

We are a group of bright, kind and goal oriented people. You can be your authentic self here, and are empowered to encourage others to do the same!

We are a successful, fast-growing company at the forefront of tech and fashion.

We are a technologically and data-driven business

We are committed to our clients and connected through our vision of "Being every real girls styling solution"

We love solving problems, thinking creatively and trying new things

We believe in autonomy & taking initiative

We are challenged, developed and have meaningful impact

We have a smart, experienced leadership team that wants to do it right and is open to new ideas

You will be proud to say that you work for Wear That

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.

About the Company

The Chalhoub Group is the leading partner for luxury across the Middle East since 1955. As an expert in retail, distribution and marketing services based in Dubai, the group has become a major player in the fashion, beauty and gift sectors regionally.

By blending its Middle East expertise and intimate knowledge of luxury, Chalhoub Group is building brands in the region, by offering service excellence to all its partners and a unique experience to its customers through its passionate teams.

With a growing workforce of more than 9,000 people, implemented in 14 countries, as well as the operating of over 470 retail outlets, the group's success is attributed to its most valued asset of highly skilled and dedicated teams. Professionalism and passion are what fuel the Chalhoub Group's competitive edge in today's market.

By being committed to implementing sustainable practices into their business, the Chalhoub Group has been awarded in 2013 the CSR Label from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.