Director, Business Technology Solutions - Commercial & Strategy - Quaker Houghton

About Us

At Quaker Houghton, we are experts in the development, production and application of industrial process fluids, lubricants and coatings for the manufacturing industry. We have been an integral part in the growth of the world’s largest industrial and manufacturing companies from aerospace and automotive to primary metal and energy. Today, we have a global presence, with our corporate headquarters located in Conshohocken, PA. Quaker Houghton is a global publicly traded company with a unique collaborative culture that supports career growth for its colleagues and offers competitive compensation and benefit programs.

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO), the Director of BTS – Commercial & Strategy is a pivotal member of the DIT Leadership team, with the opportunity to build an organization that delivers innovative and effective digital and technology solutions. Alongside other Leadership Team members, this individual is expected to extend their leadership beyond their immediate team to foster a cohesive technological and strategic unity within the broader global DIT organization. This role involves close collaboration with other BTS Teams, Cybersecurity, Data & Analytics, and Infrastructure & Operations teams to be successful.

This individual has end-to-end responsibility for driving the digital strategy and managing the technology solutions for the Commercial and Strategy Business Units including Sales, Marketing, Product Management functions, among others. This entails ensuring that the technical platforms and capabilities align with business needs, emphasizing proactive, strategic partnerships, and comprehensive solution lifecycle management.

This leader must be a strategic thinker, an effective communicator, results oriented, hands on when needed, an inspiring and a tech-savvy leader, adept at navigating the complexities of a fast-paced and innovative technology landscape while maintaining alignment with strategic objectives and delivering tangible business benefits.

What will you do

Business Partnering:

• Lead strategic engagement with Commercial and Strategy teams.
• Capture, validate, and prioritize potential initiatives funneling them into a proactive technology roadmap.
• Identify opportunities to achieve business strategy or solve problems with technology solutions.
• Manage stakeholder expectations, identifying gaps between needs and current capabilities/capacity and work to find innovative solutions to close those gaps.
• Strategic advocate and thought leader showcasing the value of digital and technology
• Drive technology enabled innovation agenda with stakeholders and team

Product Management:

• Own the end-to-end product management process for portfolio applications, ensuring alignment between the technical platform, business strategy, and customer needs.
• Shape, capture and validate demand including partnering with stakeholders to establish expected outcomes and priority of initiatives as it relates to strategy.
• Form a cohesive and aligned strategic roadmap from the variety of disparate sources (demand, ideas, business strategy, DIT strategy) and lead the team to successfully execute.
• Manage the governance processes to prioritize the right efforts at the right time to achieve optimal outcomes.

Project Delivery:

• Direct the scope, definition, and project management processes, driving the selection, design, build, test, and deployment phases, along with change management and ongoing support.
• Accountable for delivery of projects within the Commercial and Strategy portfolio and owned applications
• Functional Consultancy & Requirements Management - Drive definition of business requirements for IT solutions including business cases, ROI analysis, and functional specifications.
• Solution Architecture, design, build, and functional test - Lead the development and delivery of the best in class technology solutions
• Collaborate with architecture and Infrastructure & Operations teams to ensure solution compatibility with standards, strategy and service model.
• Service design coordination, design, transition, support, and monitoring

Solution Lifecycle Management:

• Ensure systems and applications are current, functional, and competitive by overseeing their creation, maintenance, enhancement, compliance, security, and eventual sunset.
• Identify and perform continuous application landscape management.
• Ensure auditable execution of security and compliance policies for owned applications.
• Lead the software development lifecycle, implementing best practices to deliver high-quality software solutions efficiently and effectively.
• Enforce rigorous application security and compliance standards across all solutions.

Vendor Management: Manage third-party vendors to ensure they meet standards and commitments and contribute effectively to solutions and initiatives.

Leadership: Build and lead a lean internal DIT team capable of achieving the strategy, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

What do we look for

• Bachelor degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related field. Masters preferred.
• At least 15 years of experience in a technology leadership role, with a proven track record in product management, SDLC management, and leading technical and BA teams, particularly within R&D and technology-driven product environments.

General Qualifications/ Requirements

• Expert knowledge in managing technology solutions for Websites, Web applications, Sales Automation, CRM, MarTech, Product Lifecycle Management.
• Deep knowledge of information systems, architecture, technologies and procedures and best-practices in Sales, Marketing and Product Management business processes, ideally in a chemical manufacturing environment
• Mastery of SDLC methodologies, including Agile and DevOps.
• Strong strategic planning and project delivery skills.
• Experience with application security frameworks and compliance regulations.
• Proven leadership abilities in managing diverse and cross-functional technical teams.

Functional Competencies:

• Strategic and creative thinking which creates value internally and externally
• Engaging and inspiring team leadership, building high performing teams and mobilizing the organization to achieve
• Ability to communicate, challenge and influence effectively in group settings
• Ability to deliver sustained results/projects in a dynamic and fast paced environment
• Vendor Service Management and Organizational Change Management
• Successful Project, Program and Risk Management
• Proven stakeholder management skills
• Design Thinking, Agile Ways of Working, DevOps

What's in it for you

• Competitive pay programs with excellent career growth trajectory
• Opportunities to see your efforts contribute toward the success of the business
• Work for a global leader in the industrial process fluids industry
• On-site Fitness Center and Cafeteria

Quaker Houghton is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse workforce. Quaker Houghton provides equal employment opportunity for all qualified candidates. Quaker Houghton does not discriminate against any candidate for employment based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, creed, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, marital or domestic partnership or civil union status, veteran’s status, physical/mental disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by U.S federal, state, and/or local employment law. Furthermore, Quaker Houghton is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified candidates with physical and/or mental disabilities. Applicants with a disability who need assistance applying for a position may emailOneHR@quakerhoughton.com.