About this role This role sits within the dnata Catering and Retail Ireland business unit, a mid-sized operation forming part of the global dnata organisation.
The business operates across three sites in Ireland, encompassing commercial kitchens and bonded warehouses, and serves multiple airline customers with end-to-end inflight catering and retail solutions.
Core activities include the production of inflight meals, packing of flight containers and bonded barsets, management of a driver workforce and vehicle fleet for last-mile delivery to aircraft, procurement and supply chain management, and full operation of a significant inflight retail programme on behalf of a major airline customer including direct accountability for the technology platform underpinning point of sale and back office retail operations.
While the business benefits from group-level services in areas such as Microsoft 365, cyber security and IT governance, the Head of IT carries full accountability for all locally managed systems, technology vendors, infrastructure and end-user services.
Whats the purpose of role: The Head of IT is the senior technology leader for the business unit, responsible for ensuring that all local IT systems, infrastructure and digital capabilities reliably support operational delivery across catering production, retail, supply chain, finance, HR and logistics.
The role bridges operational technology management running and improving the systems that keep kitchens, warehouses, vehicles and retail operations functioning with strategic accountability for technology investment, vendor relationships, and alignment with group IT standards and roadmap.
It requires an individual who is equally comfortable engaging at senior level on technology risk and investment, and rolling up their sleeves to resolve a production system issue or manage a vendor through a critical release.
Key Responsibilities
1. ERP and Core Business Systems Own the management, stability and continuous improvement of the ERP platform and associated business systems across the organisation: Accountable for the ERP and finance systems covering supply chain, finance, warehouse management (WMS) and inventory, including system health, releases, integrations and user access.
Oversight of the catering production management system, ensuring accurate production scheduling, recipe management and kitchen workflow support.
Management of HR, time and attendance, and payroll systems, including integration with group HR where applicable and compliance with Irish payroll and employment legislation requirements.
Management of the vehicle and fleet tracking platform, ensuring accurate operational data for logistics planning, driver management and compliance reporting.
Identification and delivery of system improvements and automation opportunities that drive operational efficiency across production, logistics and back office functions.
2. Retail Programme Technology Serve as the accountable IT owner for the end-to-end technology platform supporting the inflight retail programme operated on behalf of the airline customer, including: Ownership of the relationship with the POS and back office technology provider, including contract and SLA management, service performance oversight, escalation, and strategic roadmap alignment.
Management of all aspects of the technology service lifecycle: change management, testing and release management, incident and problem management, and service reporting.
Governance of system changes including business requirements sign-off, UAT coordination, go/no-go approvals and post-implementation review.
Ensuring retail data outputs sales, payments, inventory and reconciliation are accurate, timely and integrated with the ERP and finance systems.
Accountability for crew commission system configuration, data integrity and calculation accuracy in line with defined business rules.
3. Infrastructure and End-User Services Manage all local IT infrastructure across the three sites including networks, servers, storage, telecommunications, and operational technology (OT) endpoints such as production terminals and warehouse scanners.
Oversee end-user device management including procurement, provisioning, lifecycle management and support for office, kitchen, warehouse and logistics staff.
Ensure infrastructure resilience, availability and disaster recovery capability in line with operational requirements and group IT standards.
Manage infrastructure support vendors and managed service providers, holding them to agreed SLAs and performance standards.
4. Group IT Liaison and Governance Act as the primary interface between the business unit and Group IT for all centrally provided services, including Microsoft 365, identity and access management, cyber security operations, IT governance frameworks and group-wide technology policies.
Ensure local systems, processes and configurations comply with group security standards, data protection requirements (GDPR) and relevant regulatory obligations.
Represent the business unit in group IT governance forums, contributing to group technology planning and ensuring local needs and constraints are understood at group level.
Manage the translation of group IT mandates and roadmap changes into local implementation plans with minimal disruption to operations.
5. Vendor and Partner Management Manage all technology vendor relationships across applications, infrastructure and managed services, including contract negotiation (with procurement support), SLA governance, performance management and renewal.
Lead the selection and onboarding of new technology vendors where required, including requirements definition, evaluation, due diligence and commercial negotiation.
Maintain a vendor risk register and ensure appropriate contingency and exit planning is in place for critical technology dependencies.
6. Leadership, Planning and Budget Lead, develop and motivate the local IT team, fostering a culture of service excellence, continuous improvement and pragmatic problem-solving.
Own the IT budget for the business unit, including capital and operational expenditure, vendor costs and headcount, providing clear financial reporting and managing spend against plan.
Develop and maintain a technology roadmap aligned to business strategy, ensuring planned investment in system improvement, resilience and capability development.
Provide clear, concise technology risk and investment advice to the Managing Director and senior leadership team, translating technical complexity into business impact.
Ensure robust IT change, incident and problem management processes are in place and understood across the business.
Who youll deal with: Internal: Senior Management; HR; Finance; Commercial; Billing; Procurement; Operations; Production; Purchasing; Fleet; Supply Chain; Inflight Retail; Bond; Customer Services; Airline Stores; Maintenance External: Customers, Suppliers This list is not exhaustive, accountabilities may vary dependant on locality or role complexity and may include any other duties considered reasonable by the line manager.
What youll have: Excellent leadership skills Existing knowledge in ERP, HR, Finance, Supply Chain Existing knowledge of infrastructure services (LAN, WAN, Datacentre, Public Cloud) Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.
Excellent organisational skills.
Understanding of complex information and requirements.
Good evaluation skills.
Confidence in decision-making.
Good communication skills Good prioritisation skills and be flexible enough to adapt plans.
A good team-playing mentality.
Multiple sites experience.
International experience an advantage, in particular working within a larger group Knowledge of Microsoft Office especially Excel.
Self-developing to reach target goals set.
Able to travel to locations at short notice.
Key Performance Indicators: Promote Company Values.
Team performance Adhere to Company Policies and procedures.
Cost control for IT change request, priorities with the best saving/process functions.
Promote IT standards for systematic control and flow of information.
Able to work under pressure and use their initiative to overcome problems faced.
Overcome any problems highlighted through the work flow of Information.
Self-discipline, awareness and Development Skills: It Management Vendor Management Financial Benefits: VHI, Pension, Car Parking, Free Meals