Head of Global Information Technology

Lumileds; Penang; On-site; MYR 900,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Lumileds seeks an experienced Head of IT to own global IT strategy, architecture, service delivery and IT compliance across sites. The role reports to the Executive Leadership Team and drives cost-effective performance through centralized governance with distributed execution.

Based in Penang, you will lead a lean internal team and manage trusted MSPs to support manufacturing and commercial operations. You will oversee SAP, IT security, data management and PMO, ensuring alignment with business

Qualifications

• 10+ years of IT experience with global or multi-site scope and budget accountability.
• Proven experience running IT in a global manufacturing environment, with MES and shop-floor awareness.
• Demonstrated success governing vendor-centric outsourcing and managed services.
• Working knowledge of SAP-centered enterprise landscape and infrastructure, networking and cloud platforms.
• Experience with IT audit and ISO/IATF compliance in manufacturing.
• Executive presence with IT and business leaders; fluent in English.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve global IT strategy, operating model and multi-year roadmap with executive endorsement.
• Maintain governance model and scale execution through partners while ensuring central control over standards.
• Oversee IT service delivery, uptime targets, incident/problem/change management per ITIL.
• Direct manufacturing IT and MES landscape, including CAMSTAR and shop-floor integration.
• Lead SAP landscape and enterprise applications portfolio, and PMO for on-time, on-budget projects.
• Manage IT budget, vendor contracts, and cost alignment with business outcomes.

Skills

IT leadership

Global governance

Vendor management

Budget accountability

Executive communication

Strategic planning

Cross-cultural

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology

Tools

SAP

ITIL

VMware

Cloud platforms

Job description

You are a seasoned IT leader who is equally comfortable in a boardroom and in a data center. You have run a global IT function in a manufacturing company; you understand that IT exists to keep employees productive, factories producing and customers supplied, and you have the commercial instinct to hold large vendor contracts to account. You lead through a small, senior internal team and a wide network of service providers rather than through headcount. Clear communications, influence, governance and clear service-level expectations are your primary instruments.

You are pragmatic but conscious about cost. You see that as an opportunity to shape the landscape rather than a constraint to work around. You are calm under pressure, direct in communication, and credible with a CFO, a plant manager and a security engineer in the same afternoon. Working across Malaysian, Singaporean, Chinese, European and American cultures is second nature to you.

Position Summary:

The Head of IT carries end-to-end accountability for Lumileds' global information technology. The role owns IT strategy, architecture, service delivery, and IT compliance across every site, and is the single point of accountability to the Executive Leadership Team for the availability and cost of the company's technology landscape.

Lumileds runs a deliberately lean operating model: centralized governance with distributed execution. A small internal leadership team sets strategy, architecture, security and vendor direction, while day-to-day infrastructure, application and end-user support are largely delivered by specialized managed service providers under clear service-level agreements. The Head of IT is the architect and the guardian of that model and is expected to make it deliver predictable performance at a controlled cost.

The role spans six functional domains: IT Operations and Infrastructure; Manufacturing IT and MES; IT Compliance; Data Management, Enterprise Applications and PMO; and HR Information Systems. It supports manufacturing and commercial operations. Based in Penang, the role sits close to the company's largest manufacturing and IT population.

What You Will Do:

Strategy and Governance

• Own and evolve the global IT strategy, operating model and multi-year roadmap, and secure Executive Leadership Team endorsement for it.
• Maintain the centralized governance with distributed execution model, ensuring central control over architecture and standards while execution scales through partners.
• Chair the IT Change Control Board and the IT Steering Committee and keep IT investment decisions traceable to business outcomes.
• Represent IT to the Executive Leadership Team through monthly business reviews and quarterly operational reviews, with clean, consistent reporting.

IT Operations, Infrastructure and Service Delivery

• Hold accountability for the availability and performance of all global IT services against a 99.8 percent uptime commitment, with incident, problem and change management run to ITIL practice.
• Own a hybrid landscape of servers across owned, leased and infrastructure-as-a-service platforms, including Nutanix, VxRail, VMware, Isilon, Cohesity and cloud hosting.
• Direct the global network, including SD-WAN connectivity, segmented OT and IT networks that protect industrial processes, secure remote access and site connectivity.
• Govern the standardized user workplace: leased laptops on a refresh cycle, Microsoft 365 and Teams as the core collaboration platform, and a global service desk.
• Drive data center consolidation, end-of-life remediation, site cessations and relocations, and capacity planning that keeps pace with business growth.

Manufacturing IT

• Own the manufacturing IT and MES landscape that keeps the factories running, including Camstar development and shop-floor integration.

Enterprise Applications

• Own the SAP landscape supporting finance, supply chain and operations, together with the planning, integration and analytics estate built on SAP IBP, CPI-DS, Datasphere, Analytics Cloud, BW and BusinessObjects.
• Oversee the wider business application portfolio, including PLM, OpenText content and digital asset management, Salesforce, and the HR information system.
• Direct the project management office so that enhancement and transformation projects land on time, on budget and with the business benefit that justified them.
• Manage the SAP license position and other major software entitlements, keeping usage, compliance and cost aligned.

Vendor, Contract and Cost Management

• Own the IT vendor ecosystem end to end, from selection and negotiation through to performance management and exit, across infrastructure outsourcing, network and connectivity, application support and workplace services.
• Hold managed service providers to their service-level agreements through structured governance, monthly service reviews and escalation routes that work when a major incident is live.
• Own the annual IT budget and the monthly forecast and deliver year-on-year cost alignment without eroding service (or security).
• Approve IT purchase requisitions and contract renewals, and work with Legal, Procurement and Finance on reviews, billing arrangements and licensing agreements.

Corporate Transactions and Transition Services

• Lead IT through corporate transactions: due diligence, expert sessions with prospective partners / customers, carve-out planning and post-transaction separation of systems, data and infrastructure.
• Own the IT scope of Transition Services Agreements, both as provider and as recipient, including service definition, cost allocation, extensions and eventual termination.
• Serve as the IT counterpart to divested and acquiring entities, keeping business continuity intact while systems are separated or integrated.

People and Organization

• Lead a globally distributed internal team of employees and contractors, spanning IT operations and infrastructure, manufacturing IT, enterprise applications, data management and HRIS.
• Develop the senior IT management team, set objectives, run performance and development cycles, and build the succession depth a lean organization depends on.
• Shape the IT organization design so that critical knowledge stays in-house and commodity execution stays with partners.

Partner with the Head of Information Security, peers at Finance, HR, Legal, Procurement, Quality, Manufacturing and Supply Chain leadership as the single face of IT to the business

What You Will Bring (Required Qualifications):

• 10 or more years of IT experience, including at least 5 years leading a global or multi-site IT function with full budget accountability.
• Proven experience running IT in a global manufacturing environment, with genuine understanding of factory operations, MES and shop-floor dependencies.
• Demonstrated success managing a vendor-centric operating model, including negotiating and governing large outsourcing and managed service contracts.
• Working knowledge of an SAP-centered enterprise application landscape and of enterprise infrastructure, networking and cloud platforms.
• Experience of IT audit and compliance in a regulated manufacturing setting, including ISO 9001 and IATF 16949.
• Executive presence and the ability to communicate clearly with the Executive Leadership Team, with plant management and with engineers.
• Substantial experience working across multiple cultures in a global corporation, and fluency in English.
• Bachelor's

Field of Study

Information Technology, Management

Years of Experience (Minimum)

• 10+ years

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience as CIO or Head of IT in a mid-sized global industrial company.
• Experience with carve-outs, divestments or post-merger integration, and with Transition Services Agreements.
• Professional certifications such as ITIL or equivalent (service) management certification.
• Experience in semiconductor, LED, electronics or automotive supply base.
• Established relationships with major IT service providers and system integrators in the Asia Pacific region.
• Existing right to work in Malaysia, or willingness to relocate to Penang.

Lumileds is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer