IT Business Relationship Lead

Canal & River Trust; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 44,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Increased holiday entitlement

Employee benefits package

Job summary

Canal & River Trust is seeking an IT Business Relationship Lead to bridge IT and business teams, translating strategic objectives into practical technology solutions. You will act as a trusted advisor, driving innovation, data-driven improvements and end-to-end delivery across the organisation.

You will work with stakeholders to prioritise IT requests, monitor delivery and push for measurable value, ROI and enhanced service quality.

Qualifications

• Experience with translating business needs into IT solutions.
• Ability to lead workshops and facilitate requirements gathering.
• Awareness of data, reporting tools, and AI/automation in IT contexts.
• Experience in engaging with senior stakeholders across organisations.
• Familiarity with integration and cloud technologies.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong relationships with business leaders and stakeholders.
• Collaborate with teams to understand priorities and technology requirements.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes through technology and data.
• Manage demand pipeline and prioritise IT requests.
• Monitor project delivery, risks and performance with stakeholders.
• Track KPIs, SLAs and opportunities for continuous service improvement.
• Evaluate emerging technologies for business value and ROI.
• Develop business cases, requirements and project proposals.
• Promote best practices in requirements gathering and documentation.
• Work with partners and funding bodies to deliver technology projects.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Business analysis

Requirements gathering

Process improvement

Technology adaptations

Data & reporting awareness

Project delivery monitoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

TOGAF

Cloud concepts

Job description

Join Our Team: IT Business Relationship Lead.

Working Hours & Travel

This role follows 37 hours, Monday to Friday working pattern. The vacancy will be offered on a remote working basis, with a requirement to attend our main hub spaces or other Trust locations as and when required.

Role Overview

As the IT Business Relationship Lead, you will play a key role in building strong partnerships between IT and the wider organisation. Working closely with business stakeholders, you will help translate strategic objectives into effective technology solutions, ensuring IT services deliver real value and support organisational goals.

Acting as a trusted advisor, you will identify opportunities for innovation and process improvement, helping teams harness technology, data and integration capabilities to achieve better business outcomes. From shaping new ideas through to implementation, you will bridge the gap between business needs and the art of the possible, driving transformation and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong relationships with business leaders and stakeholders, acting as a trusted link between IT and the wider organisation.
• Collaborate with teams to understand business priorities, challenges and technology requirements, ensuring IT initiatives align with organisational goals.
• Identify opportunities to improve business processes, efficiency and outcomes through technology, data and digital innovation.
• Manage and communicate the business demand pipeline, ensuring requests are prioritised, scheduled and progressed effectively.
• Monitor IT project delivery, performance and risks, providing regular updates to stakeholders and driving successful outcomes.
• Ensure high-quality IT service delivery by tracking KPIs, SLAs and continuous service improvement opportunities.
• Champion innovation by evaluating emerging technologies and supporting initiatives that deliver measurable business value and return on investment.
• Support the development of business cases, requirements and project proposals, taking ideas from concept through to project initiation.
• Promote best practice in business analysis, requirements gathering and documentation to improve organisational knowledge and decision-making.
• Work with project managers, partners and funding bodies to deliver technology projects and innovation initiatives on time and within budget.

Experience

• Previous experience of working with business teams at various levels of seniority
• Experience of leading cross-functional teams through processes designed to determine business and functional requirements
• Wide experience / awareness of different technologies, IT processes and methodologies
• Awareness of data & reporting tools, security considerations, integration capabilities and automation / AI
• Practical experience of business process improvement, requirements gathering tools and techniques
• Knowledge of integration and cloud technologies
• Experience of working with both technical and non-technical teams
• Creating IT solution requests from scratch to fully formed requirements

Skills & Attributes

• Excellent communication, documentation and presentation skills
• Excellent stakeholder management / relationship skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a strategic mindset
• High level expertise in business process improvement and workshop facilitation to bridge business and technical requirements
• Ability to conceive, visualise, explain, design and help articulate end-to-end solutions
• Sound understanding of best practice solutions architecture design principles, methodologies and governance (e.g. TOGAF or equivalent)
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities and meet deadlines
• In touch with general IT developments/trends and new technologies
• Proactive and self-motivated

What We Offer

In addition to your annual base salary of £40,000. We also offer a competitive pension scheme, increasing holiday entitlement, and a range of employee benefits. For a full breakdown of our benefits, check out our brochure here:EVP - 1.