Functional Advisory Lead – CIO Advisory

KEYES; Herstal; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

KEYES is expanding its CIO Advisory practice in Belgium, seeking a Functional Advisory Lead to guide CIO-level engagements and strategic IT initiatives. The role combines advisory leadership, delivery oversight, and business development to shape client IT strategy, architecture choices and transformation roadmaps.

The successful candidate will manage client-facing engagements, coordinate expert teams, and develop reusable advisory assets while expanding KEYES's presence with private and public

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience advising CIOs and executive committees.
• IT strategy expertise: defining IT blueprints, target architectures and roadmaps.
• Technical depth in application, data, integration and infrastructure architecture.

Responsibilities

• Act as a trusted sparring partner to client CIOs on IT strategy, governance and major investment decisions.
• Define and structure IT blueprints connecting business strategy with applications and infrastructure.
• Develop and formalise coherent roadmaps and defend them to executives.

Skills

IT strategy

CIO advisory

Stakeholder management

Roadmap development

Executive communication

Tools

IT architecture

Job description

Join KEYES and Give Meaning to Your Talent!

Are you looking for an environment where technology is not an end in itself, but a lever for building a sustainable future?

At KEYES, we are not just looking for technical expertise — we are looking for people who share our values. Are you ready to take the next step in your career and grow with one of Belgium's leading IT companies?

Join KEYES as a Functional Advisory Lead - CIO Advisory! KEYES supports private and public organizations across Belgium and Europe in their digital transformation by combining business expertise, technological excellence, and a long-term vision. We help large enterprises, public sector organizations, healthcare providers, and SMEs tackle their digital challenges through our expertise in: - Infrastructure & Cloud Solutions - Cybersecurity Solutions - Business Software Solutions - Mainframe Solutions - Data & AI Solutions - Advisory Solutions - Staffing Solutions.

For more information: www.keyes.eu

KEYES is building out its CIO Advisory practice to meet growing demand from clients who need a trusted, independent partner to shape their IT strategy. The Functional Lead operates across a portfolio of client engagements and faces a set of recurring strategic challenges:

• Helping client CIOs translate business ambitions into coherent IT blueprints – applications, data, integration and infrastructure
• Aligning business and IT priorities, arbitrating between competing demands, and building a shared transformation agenda
• Identifying and assessing strategic scenarios (build/buy, modernisation, sourcing, cloud) and quantifying their impact and risk
• Formalising pragmatic, sequenced roadmaps that client CIOs can defend to their executive committees and boards
• Maturing KEYES's own CIO advisory methodologies, tools and assets to deliver consistent, high-quality engagements at scale

The role combines client-facing advisory, oversight of IT strategy project delivery, and the development of KEYES's methodological capability - with a clear expectation of contributing to business development.

Tasks and responsibilities:

1) CIO advisory & sparring partner

• Act as a trusted sparring partner to client CIOs on their IT strategy, governance and major investment decisions
• Define and structure IT blueprints that connect the client’s business strategy with its application, data and infrastructure landscape
• Integrate business and IT challenges into a coherent narrative, surfacing trade-offs and dependencies leaders need to arbitrate
• Identify and assess strategic scenarios – supported by business cases, TCO and value quantification – then formalise a clear, sequenced and defensible roadmap for the client
• Bring credibility and authority in C-level conversations, challenging and convincing senior stakeholders with substance

2) Delivery oversight & methodology development

• Oversee the delivery of IT strategy engagements across clients, safeguarding quality, coherence and impact
• Develop and continuously improve KEYES's CIO advisory methodologies, frameworks, templates and reusable assets
• Activate and coordinate the right KEYES experts at the right time, ensuring consistency across workstreams and engagements
• Coach and upskill KEYES consultants, embedding the methodologies and raising the bar on advisory deliverables

3) Business development & practice growth

• Detect and shape new advisory opportunities within and beyond existing client relationships
• Contribute to proposals and scoping, translating client needs into compelling, well-structured advisory offers
• Build trusted, lasting relationships with client CIOs and their leadership teams, positioning KEYES as the go-to advisor
• Represent KEYES's CIO advisory point of view externally, building the firm’s reputation and pipeline
• Develop thought leadership – points of view, publications and speaking engagements – that builds KEYES's visibility and intellectual capital in CIO advisory

#LI-ES1

• A proven senior advisor with 15+ years of experience and the credibility and presence to convince and challenge CIOs and executive committees
• IT strategy expertise: proven experience defining IT blueprints, target architectures and roadmaps, and integrating business and IT challenges
• Technical expertise in IT architecture and IT blueprint design: solid command of application, data, integration and infrastructure architecture, and the ability to design, document and defend IT blueprints with technical depth and credibility
• Methodology development: ability to formalise, structure and continuously improve advisory methodologies, frameworks and deliverables
• Stakeholder management at CIO/C-level: comfortable in strategic conversations, diplomatic and firm, with strong business development drive

• Languages: fluent French, Dutch and English required