Executive Search Chief Information Officer

Chief Information Officer*

Background Information

  • This position has responsibility for the entire Information Technology (IT) portfolio across Germany bank through geographic oversight of the following IT functions; IT Application, IT Infrastructure Delivery, Cyber Security, Risk and Control Environment, Financial Crime Compliance, IT COO function, Architecture, Operations IT, Business and Function IT in the country (Wealth and Personal Banking IT, Wholesale Banking IT, Markets and Securities IT, Enterprise Technologies IT).
  • All the country CIOs/Head of IT by Business and Functions supporting Germany entity are fully responsible and accountable to this position to be able to execute on the country strategy and drive the desired customer outcome. All Business and Function CIO roles in country will be aligned to this position and with the Regional Business or Function CIOs from technology strategy, standards, policies and practices prospective. These functions have a broad impact across all the daily operations of Germany and significantly influence the overall financial performance of the country and transforming the organization in alignment with the technology strategy as an enabler.
  • More broadly, as CIO of Germany, the position is responsible for leading the transformation of the Technology portfolio, including the full cost base of the country and is responsible for driving the Technology Strategy in the country, Regulatory environments in conjunction with the respective Heads and CIOs, Financial Crime Compliance, Data Strategy in alignment with the Chief Data Officer, Innovation, Digital penetration in the Country in alignment with the Business priorities and in overseeing and responding to the Cyber Security landscape in alignment with the Chief Information and Security Officer. The CIO role is also fully accountable for the oversight, monitoring and facilitating remediation of the technology control environment, cost management, and in driving the effective agile culture.
  • Engendering teamwork and collaboration across the Country aligned with the regional organization is vital, particularly in the era of solid alignment with regional businesses and functions CIOs, and the position requires membership (Chairmanship) of a wide number of governance and/or steering committees including (amongst others): Strategic Cost, IT Transformation, High Priority Program Steering Groups, Germany RMMs, EXCOs, Regulatory, Financial Crime Risk Advisory and Board representation as deemed necessary.

Impact on the Business

  • Lead the IT organisation in Germany including defining and delivering local IT strategy in alignment with regional and global IT strategy and stakeholders
  • Deliver a state-of-the-art, customer-focused IT to enable business growth
  • Deliver the IT transformation program and manage remediation activities resulting from the regulatory BAFIN audit, in close coordination with senior leaders across the region and globally, across all business lines and functional units
  • Identify and proactively manage the range of risks associated with a programme of this scale/complexity
  • Drive delivery of the project portfolio, esp. the business strategic projects, e.g. Marco, Sirius, Athene, Crown etc.
  • Establish and lead an appropriate programme management structure
  • Ensure stable, performant and scalable RTB-operations as well as CTB-project delivery according to agreed SLAs and targets
  • Drive down costs and minimize local footprint to deliver global location strategy while keeping proactively IT risks under control
  • Keep IT services within agreed SLAs and risk appetite
  • Deliver committed financial targets
  • Formulate and execute with relevant management stakeholder engagement plans including governments, regulators, employee representatives
  • Drive quality initiatives and techniques that can identify improvements and efficiencies which will streamline IT organanization and reduce expense. Key areas are:
    • IT Sustainability, Stability and Quality
    • Identification of customer complaints, root causes analysis and process improvement
    • Improve the Cyber Security Maturity
    • Leverage Innovation, automation through robotics to drive enhances customer experience and drive business growth
    • Drive the Data Strategy in the Country consistent and in alignment with the global data strategy
    • Drive automation and operational efficiency of legacy.
    • Ensure progress in Cloud, API, AI/ML, Blockchain and instrumental in removing blockers.

Leadership & Teamwork

  • Management of a direct team and wider transformation teams (across various GBs/GFs) with the ability to build cohesive, collaborative culture across large GB/GF units that must work together to deliver the required dimensions of change in a coherent way
  • Manage the complexity of a programme likely to result in lots of disruptive change for individuals, including those working on the programme
  • Collaborate with a third-party side (involved operational and business units)
  • Ensure that there is a strong focus on teamwork/collaboration, employee engagement and providing excellent customer experience in Germany technology team

Leadership

  • Deploy experienced senior leadership capacity/calibre to mobilise and build engagement, belief and commitment in the future state
  • Clearly develop and articulate a delivery path which commands buy-in and commitment to execute
  • Mobilise cross-functional and cross-entity teams to achieve common goals under tight deadlines
  • Employee talent development and succession planning.
  • Innovation agenda and mind set in the Country to enable business growth

Operational Effectiveness & Control

  • Responsible for ensuring the effective operations of the bank’s IT and compliance with all local regulatory & legal requirements, esp. by managing remediation activities resulting from BAFIN’s regulatory audit 2020/2021
  • Assure resilience, oversight and control based on defined KPIs, risk acceptance, regular assessments and mitigating activities as per the Risk Framework
  • Develop and manage a risk framework for the transformation programme in particular, so that risks are proactively identified and mitigated
  • Recommending, developing and implementing policies to assure that the Country is compliant with local and international regulations;
  • Development and negotiation of plans/budgets and priorities, aligning the strategies and procedures with the Group Standards. Follow up the local market changes and economic measures, their impact in business and act proactively according to the changes;
  • Monitor, measure and report all operational risks, identifying opportunities and developing plans to eliminate or reduce possible losses; – including but not limited to service sustainability portfolio, 3 lines of defence, and cyber security etc.
  • Analyse the viability of important activities (cost benefit). Personal involvement in important negotiations.
  • Relationship with business/functional executives as well as understanding all necessary aspects and needs for operational improvement

Personal, social and intellectual requirements

  • A charismatic and international “senior” leader with considerable maturity, intellect, integrity and energy.
  • Typically > 10 years of experience in IT and operational leadership positions, including specific competencies in financial services, ideally/optional in international wholesale and transaction banking
  • Very broad and proven knowledge in various IT subject areas, from enterprise IT architecture design, software development to server, storage, network and datacentre operations including a technology range from legacy mainframe infrastructure to cloud-based micro services systems
  • Proven track record of successfully managed and delivered transformational projects with technical background including migrating legacy applications and infrastructure to strategic IT environments
  • Substantial commercial and business skills with extensive experience in vendor negotiations and management
  • Experience in working in and navigating complex matrix leadership structures
  • Excellent team leadership skill, able to maintain the daily business and manage parallel the transformation of the team
  • Strong communication skills (effectively and with confidence), including ability to communicate complex IT topics in relevant business terms to a wide range of stakeholders 
  • Board members and Non-Executive Directors
  • Experience of operating in an environment of constantly changing priorities, challenging bureaucracy and staying true to the values and strategy of the Group
  • Strong knowledge and understanding of local and regional external environment (regulatory [esp. MaRisk, BAIT, GoBD, GDPR], political, economic and market, etc.)
  • Well-developed knowledge of operational, non-financial risk and control framework management – Fully examines risk and consequences before making difficult decisions
  • Above average prioritisation and control skills, with ability to critically review and acknowledge when and how to re-prioritise, mitigate or escalate
  • Fluent in English and German

*) Independently of the chosen wording all descriptions always include all suitable candidates regardless of their sex, ethnic affiliation, sexual orientation etc.

Telefon: (0228) 36 94 09 – 0             Email: info[at]mbmanagement.de

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MB Management GmbH - Executive Search CIO

Gutes und erfolgreiches Recruiting bedeutet, dem Mitbewerb immer einen Schritt voraus zu sein. Wir haben dafür das nötige Fingerspitzengefühl, die Kreativität, die Erfahrung und die nötige unternehmerische Denkfähigkeit.

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