MIS Manager – Transformation & Global Systems - #1171421

Our client is looking for a senior MIS leader to transform, restructure and strengthen the Group's technology environment and MIS operating model across multiple countries and businesses.

This is not a traditional IT infrastructure or maintenance role. The MIS Manager will be expected to assess the organization from both a top-down strategic perspective and bottom-up operational perspective, identify structural and technology gaps, challenge legacy practices, and translate management direction into a practical transformation roadmap.

The successful candidate should have experience entering environments where systems, processes, responsibilities and governance may not yet be fully standardized. The individual must be comfortable creating structure from ambiguity, making decisions within complete information, managing resistance to change, and driving transformation through to execution.

While this is a senior management role, the individual must retain sufficient technical depth to challenge technical decisions, diagnose critical issues and personally step in when necessary.

Key Responsibilities

1. MIS Transformation & Organizational Restructuring

• Lead the assessment and transformation of the Group's existing MIS organization, technology landscape, processes and operating model.
• Identify structural gaps, duplicated activities, fragmented systems, inefficient processes, control weaknesses and key-person dependencies.
• Define the future-state MIS operating model and develop a prioritized transformation roadmap.
• Restructure roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, workflows and governance where required.
• Lead consolidation, migration, integration and standardization initiatives while ensuring business continuity.
• Move the organization away from reactive IT support toward a more structured, scalable and business-aligned MIS function.

2. Top-Down Strategy & Bottom-Up Execution

• Translate Senior Management's business direction into technology priorities, investment decisions and executable plans.
• Work directly with country teams, technical teams and end users to understand operational realities rather than relying solely on management-level reporting.
• Connect strategic objectives with ground-level execution and identify gaps between intended processes and actual practices.
• Challenge existing assumptions and legacy practices where they no longer support the business.
• Provide Senior Management with clear visibility of technology risks, priorities, dependencies, resources and transformation progress.
• Be prepared to go into operational detail when required to understand the root cause of problems and drive resolution.

3. Global MIS Governance & Standardization

• Establish a Group-wide MIS governance framework covering infrastructure, systems, applications, security, access, data, technology assets and service management.
• Define clear accountability and decision rights between Headquarters, country operations and external service providers.
• Standardize technology architecture, policies, operating procedures and controls across multiple countries and business units.
• Reduce unnecessary technology fragmentation and improve Group-level visibility and control.
• Establish appropriate KPIs, service standards and management reporting to measure MIS effectiveness.

4. Enterprise Systems Integration & Optimization

• Own the overall architecture and integration strategy across servers, storage, file systems, identity and access management, email, business applications, APIs, databases and cloud platforms.
• Lead end-to-end integration and optimization initiatives across Linux, Windows and MacOS environments.
• Establish scalable hybrid solutions covering technologies such as Active Directory/LDAP, SSO, MDM, file sharing, databases, APIs and automation.
• Identify interoperability, performance and reliability issues across platforms and drive sustainable solutions rather than temporary fixes.
• Evaluate existing systems objectively and determine whether they should be retained, enhanced, integrated, consolidated or replaced.
• Ensure system architecture remains scalable and appropriate for future business growth.

5. Linux & Open-Source Technology Leadership

• Take overall ownership of the Group's Linux server and open-source technology environment, including architecture, security, availability, performance and lifecycle management.
• Establish standards for deployment, configuration, hardening, patching, monitoring, automation, backup, recovery and technical documentation.
• Evaluate and introduce suitable open-source technologies where they provide stronger operational, security, scalability or cost advantages.
• Ensure open-source solutions are implemented within appropriate governance, security and support frameworks rather than deployed independently without organizational control.
• Maintain sufficient hands-on technical capability to review configurations, challenge proposed solutions, diagnose critical issues and intervene directly when circumstances require.
• Reduce dependency on individual technical resources by establishing proper documentation, automation, knowledge transfer and operational standards.

6. Technology Architecture & Infrastructure

• Oversee the Group's network, server, endpoint, cloud and enterprise infrastructure architecture.
• Ensure infrastructure across different countries is reliable, secure, scalable and appropriately standardized.
• Lead modernization and consolidation of legacy or fragmented infrastructure.
• Establish technology lifecycle and capacity-planning disciplines to support future organizational growth.
• Review major technology investments and ensure solutions are commercially and technically appropriate rather than driven solely by vendor recommendations.

7. Information Security, Risk & Business Continuity

• Establish Group-level standards for identity and access management, endpoint security, patch management, DLP, vulnerability management, backup and disaster recovery.
• Identify technology, cybersecurity and operational risks across different offices and businesses.
• Establish appropriate controls, monitoring, audit mechanisms and incident-management processes.
• Strengthen business continuity and reduce technology-related single points of failure.
• Ensure technology practices are aligned with applicable regulatory requirements and appropriate international standards.

8. Organization & Team Leadership

• Assess the capability, structure and effectiveness of existing MIS teams and external technology partners.
• Determine the appropriate balance between centralized resources, local support, outsourcing and specialist expertise.
• Build clear accountability, ownership and performance expectations across the function.
• Develop internal capability while addressing skill or performance gaps where required.
• Build a team capable of operating effectively through transformation, uncertainty and changing business priorities.

9. Stakeholder & Change Management

• Partner with Senior Management, business leaders and country management to align technology transformation with business priorities.
• Influence stakeholders across different countries and functions, including situations where direct authority may be limited.
• Manage resistance to change and communicate the rationale, priorities and expected outcomes of major transformation initiatives.
• Balance business urgency with technology risk, sustainability and governance.
• Act as a credible bridge between Senior Management, business operations and technical teams.

10. Transformation Execution & Accountability

• Convert strategic direction into clear priorities, milestones, ownership, timelines and measurable outcomes.
• Manage multiple transformation initiatives across countries and businesses simultaneously.
• Make practical decisions and maintain momentum even when information is incomplete or priorities are changing.
• Establish clear management reporting covering transformation progress, risks, technology performance and major decisions required.
• Take ownership of outcomes rather than limiting responsibility to recommendations or technical implementation.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or above in Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive IT/MIS experience, preferably including at least 5 years in a management or technology leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading IT/MIS transformation, restructuring, integration, centralization or significant organizational change.
• Strong experience working within multinational, multi-country or multi-business environments.
• Proven experience assessing an existing organization and redesigning its operating model, governance, processes and technology environment.
• Strong technical foundation across Linux, Windows, macOS, enterprise infrastructure, networking, cloud platforms, databases, identity management, systems integration and cybersecurity.
• Practical experience with Linux and open-source environments, including the ability to engage technically when required.
• Experience managing environments where requirements, structures or priorities were evolving or not fully defined.
• Strong project, stakeholder and change-management capabilities.
• Strong business judgment and ability to communicate technology matters clearly to non-technical Senior Management.
• Professional certifications are advantageous but practical transformation experience and demonstrated delivery capability are more important.

Leadership Profile

We are particularly interested in candidates who have:

• Transformed, built or restructured an MIS/IT function rather than simply inherited and maintained one.
• Experience working from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective.
• The ability to move comfortably between Board/Senior Management discussions and detailed operational problem-solving.
• Experience bringing structure, governance and accountability into an ambiguous or rapidly changing environment.
• The confidence to challenge legacy practices and recommend difficult changes when necessary.
• Strong technical credibility without becoming overly focused on technology at the expense of business outcomes.
• The ability to distinguish between strategic problems, organizational problems and purely technical problems.
• Experience managing resistance and influencing stakeholders across different functions, cultures and countries.
• A strong sense of ownership and accountability for outcomes.
• The resilience and adaptability to operate effectively through uncertainty, restructuring and organizational change.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 6–12 months, the MIS Manager should be able to:

• Establish a clear view of the Group's current technology landscape, organizational capability and major risks.
• Present Senior Management with a practical current-state versus future-state MIS transformation roadmap.
• Establish clear HQ, country and vendor responsibilities.
• Strengthen technology governance and management visibility.
• Reduce fragmented systems, duplicated activities and key-person dependencies.
• Improve integration and standardization across Linux, Windows, macOS, cloud and business application environments.
• Establish stronger security, operational and business-continuity controls.
• Restructure or strengthen the MIS organization where required.
• Demonstrate measurable progress from a reactive and fragmented environment toward a structured, scalable and business-aligned Group MIS function.