Head of IT / CIO

Job Title – Head of IT / CIO

Department - IT

Reporting to: CFO/Managing Director

Location: Nashik

Experience - 12-20 yrs

Objective:

Lead information technology function of a rapidly growing, Indian Pharma company into API drugs manufacturing and exports.

• Develop IT strategy for the company and draft IT roadmap aligned with business strategy for growth.

• Transform and suggest the digital factory, AI/ML, IOT, RPA solutions including ERP transformation for the company.

• Create a IT organization which can meet the compliance required for GMP/US FDA as well as innovate to seek the benefits of digitalization for the business.

• Establish robust IT policies, procedures, security & governance mechanism in the company; Drive seamless operation & effective maintenance of enterprise architect, applications, and infrastructure while securing enterprise from security threats.

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Overall IT Strategy

• Contribute to formulation of the IT strategy by understanding business priorities.

• Implement IT Function structure at company level and ensure the role, responsibilities and accountabilities are well documented and communicated across levels

• Partner with Management, Functional heads and key stakeholders to identify new business requirements which is mapped to IT solutions.

• Assimilate business inputs and voices gathered by IT stakeholders and translate the requirements into IT actionable.

• Formalize IT function goal plan for the year and ensure goal cascades across verticals within department.

2. Financial Responsibilities

• Define guidelines for IT budget preparations at the company level

• Formulate the IT budget for the company, discuss and seek approval from the management team

• Track and ensure IT budget adherence at the company level; Timely report and address budget overruns if any

3. Business Applications

• Understand the business needs in terms of new applications, solutions and tools which will help in terms of automation of factories, process improvements, cost reduction and better customer experience.

• Implement ERP system for the company, ensure that integration with other IT systems are seamless.

• Innovate the manufacturing processes by implementing latest technologies for Pharma industry.

• Oversee project implementation and ensure adherence to timelines, budgets and quality; Act as an escalation point in case of project deadlocks and ensure timely resolution of issues

• Track and report on project status at identified critical milestones

i. Mutually discuss and resolve issues, evaluate partner performance and undertake actions for seamless project delivery

• Continuously scan changing IT landscape and share best practices relevant to Company; assess the latest technological advancements and drive new technology IT projects and initiatives at the company in consultation with management team, while proactively meeting business requirements.

4. Policy, Frameworks and Compliance

• Ensure effective design & implementation of IT policies and frameworks at the company level in terms of enterprise architecture, infrastructure, applications, sourcing, security & governance

• Establish IT backups / Disaster recovery / audit / health check frameworks and address critical escalations and findings of the IT health report at the business level.

5. IT Operations Excellence

• Implement a robust IT operating procedures (CSV) in accordance with FDA guidelines and as per internal IT SOP’s.that will guide the company’s IT function in line with best practises in the industry.

• Periodically draft a new IT sop’s after thorough review of its impact on the business.

• Drive development / up-gradation of IT systems, procedures & processes to cater to evolving company needs and enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of operations; Identify and sign Contract / MOU with Infrastructure, Application & Security Partners for company-specific requests/ tools

• Maintain an oversight of effective deployment of IT assets, systems, procedures and processes with respect to consistency, reliability and effectiveness.

o Monitor the validity of infrastructure, applications and systems licenses and ensure timely renewal

6. Partner Management

• Identify and establish strategic partnerships with the IT vendors.

• Strategically negotiate with partners for best cost for the projects.

• Oversee and periodically review partner performance and service levels at the established SLAs; Address or escalate non-compliances if any.

7. IT Security, Risk Management and Governance

• Drive adherence to IT security and governance framework, policies and guidelines

o Oversee compliance and ensure prompt resolution of non-compliances / security incidences

o Oversee establishment of IT security architecture and ensure integration of OT security with overall security architecture

• Ensure robust implementation of guidelines and protocols for security, privacy, and data protection controls; Oversee running of information security, privacy and data protection controls (people/ process/ technology) to adequately mitigate security risks; Address security incidences and escalate issues when appropriate

8. Customer Satisfaction

• Ensure customer feedback collection for the IT services and solutions; Analyse customer satisfaction levels and discuss new strategies with the management to improve customer satisfaction levels based on feedback received

• Oversee initiatives raising awareness about IT services and solutions and communicating its value contribution to the business.

• Ensure that end customers feedbacks are taken and acted upon in IT applications.

9. People Management

• Formulate manpower plan for the IT function and draw talent implications considering the current and future talent requirements of the business

• Drive a collaborative and a high performance driven culture – Set goals, review performance and provide feedback so as to ensure a motivated and committed team

• Invest time in grooming talent and preparing successors for critical roles within IT function

• Deploy framework for Functional Capability building; Nominate and ensure L&D interventions and programs for the team; Coach and mentor talent

• Drive team engagement & collaborative workplace initiatives.

Educational Qualification:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related discipline

o Higher Degree in relevant field (Computer Science or related, Business management)

Experiences:

• Minimum 10+ years of work experience with 4-5 years minimum in the similar role of leading IT function or a IT Vertical in a large/ mid-sized Pharma Organization (Preferably API)

• Experience in handling large scale transformation projects with business –wide change impact and managing IT technology project life cycle

• Experience of dealing with multiple stakeholders (Internal / External) and multitude of users

• Active experience of managing sizeable teams (> 10)

• Experience of handling business application rollouts, services / project of multi-dimensional nature and high complexity of services

o Must be aware of standard ERP systems in Pharma Industry such as S4 HANA or Oracle EBS. Also aware of Managing Network, Infrastructure and IT Systems & Assets

o Experience towards implementation one or more of the technologies like LIMS, MES, IOT, ELN projects for pharma companies will be an added advantage

• Exposure to cyber security and IT risk management verticals

• Preferable to have worked with technology Giants – AWS, SAP, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle