IT Business Partner Lead

Hoogwegt Group; Arnhem; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Informal culture

Room for growth

Training & development

Supportive colleagues

Strong employment terms incl. variable

Pension plan

Sports programme

Modern office opposite Arnhem Central

Job summary

Hoogwegt Group in Arnhem seeks an IT Portfolio & Business Partner Lead to align business ambitions with IT delivery. You will package demand, projects and changes into a prioritised portfolio and ensure business owners own requirements and outcomes.

Reporting to the Global IT Director, you’ll shape the IT and AI roadmap, drive demand gates, and provide consolidated portfolio reporting while enabling organisational change and value realisation across Business Solutions, BI & Data and IT

Qualifications

• Proven experience in IT demand, portfolio and programme management, including prioritisation, business cases and benefits management.
• Experience in international B2B, trading, supply chain or food and agri environments.
• The credibility and communication skills to challenge senior business stakeholders constructively and build agreement on ownership and priorities.
• A coaching mindset: you help colleagues develop their capabilities in requirements definition, process ownership and change rather than doing the work for them.
• Strong business acumen and a disciplined approach to KPIs, investment choices and value tracking.
• Confidence working with data, AI and digital platforms from a business and commissioning perspective; this is not a hands-on engineering role.
• The ability to lead cross-functional collaboration and influence decisions without direct hierarchical authority.
• Experience with portfolio or programme management frameworks such as MSP, SAFe portfolio management or similar approaches.

Responsibilities

• Manage one integrated IT portfolio covering demand, projects and changes across all IT teams, aligned with business priorities and our 2028 strategy.
• Lead demand intake and prioritisation, ensuring initiatives have a named business owner, a clear business case and agreed requirements before entering delivery.
• Partner with Business Process Owners, Managing Directors and global service leaders to strengthen process ownership, requirements quality and accountability for business outcomes.
• Shape the IT and AI roadmap with the IT leadership team, agreeing sequencing and capacity with delivery leads and ensuring feasibility informs portfolio decisions.
• Apply a clear demand gate: initiatives proceed only when business ownership, business justification and delivery capacity are in place.
• Provide consolidated project portfolio reporting on progress, milestones, budgets, risks and benefits, working with IT Operations & Governance to contribute to one coherent IT scorecard.
• Establish benefits tracking and hold business owners accountable for realising the value of their initiatives.
• Integrate AI initiatives into the IT portfolio in partnership with the AI Value Lead and AI Steering Committee, securing alignment on IT capacity, sequencing and project reporting.
• Drive the IT innovation agenda beyond AI-specific use cases and lead organisational change management and adoption, with business owners leading change in their own areas.

Skills

Portfolio management

Demand intake

Prioritisation

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Benefits tracking

AI portfolio integration

Job description

Hoogwegt connects producers and customers in the international dairy and food ingredients market. Our business brings together commercial insight, specialist knowledge and global collaboration. Within Global IT, we translate business ambitions into a focused technology portfolio that supports the way our organisation works and grows.

Can you turn competing business priorities into clear choices and measurable results? As our IT Portfolio & Business Partner Lead, you connect business leadership with IT delivery. You bring demand, projects and changes together in one prioritised portfolio, while helping business leaders take ownership of their requirements, processes and outcomes. Reporting to the Global IT Director, you work across Business Solutions, BI & Data and IT Operations & Governance to align investment, capacity and business value with our 2028 strategy.

Why You?

You combine portfolio discipline with the credibility to challenge and coach business leaders. You ask what an initiative will achieve, who owns the outcome and whether the organisation is ready to deliver it. You build strong relationships without becoming an order-taker or taking over the business owner's responsibilities. Comfortable influencing without hierarchical authority, you make trade-offs transparent and turn complex discussions into practical decisions.

What will you do?

• Manage one integrated IT portfolio covering demand, projects and changes across all IT teams, aligned with business priorities and our 2028 strategy.
• Lead demand intake and prioritisation, ensuring initiatives have a named business owner, a clear business case and agreed requirements before entering delivery.
• Partner with Business Process Owners, Managing Directors and global service leaders to strengthen process ownership, requirements quality and accountability for business outcomes.
• Shape the IT and AI roadmap with the IT leadership team, agreeing sequencing and capacity with delivery leads and ensuring feasibility informs portfolio decisions.
• Apply a clear demand gate: initiatives proceed only when business ownership, business justification and delivery capacity are in place. Escalate unresolved ownership or priority issues to the Global IT Director.
• Provide consolidated project portfolio reporting on progress, milestones, budgets, risks and benefits, working with IT Operations & Governance to contribute to one coherent IT scorecard.
• Establish benefits tracking and hold business owners accountable for realising the value of their initiatives.
• Integrate AI initiatives into the IT portfolio in partnership with the AI Value Lead and AI Steering Committee, securing alignment on IT capacity, sequencing and project reporting.
• Drive the IT innovation agenda beyond AI-specific use cases and lead organisational change management and adoption, with business owners leading change in their own areas.

How you will work

You lead the conversation on what matters, why it matters and which initiatives should take priority. Business owners remain responsible for their processes, requirements and business outcomes. IT delivery teams own solution design, technical execution and delivery feasibility; capacity commitments are agreed with their leaders. The PMO owns project management standards and day-to-day project coordination. You bring these perspectives together rather than taking over their responsibilities. For AI initiatives, the AI Value Lead leads opportunity assessment, the business case and value realisation, while you ensure integration into the wider IT portfolio.

Requirements

• Proven experience in IT demand, portfolio and programme management, including prioritisation, business cases and benefits management.
• Experience in international B2B, trading, supply chain or food and agri environments.
• The credibility and communication skills to challenge senior business stakeholders constructively and build agreement on ownership and priorities.
• A coaching mindset: you help colleagues develop their capabilities in requirements definition, process ownership and change rather than doing the work for them.
• Strong business acumen and a disciplined approach to KPIs, investment choices and value tracking.
• Confidence working with data, AI and digital platforms from a business and commissioning perspective; this is not a hands-on engineering role.
• The ability to lead cross-functional collaboration and influence decisions without direct hierarchical authority.
• Experience with portfolio or programme management frameworks such as MSP, SAFe portfolio management or similar approaches.

What we offer

At Hoogwegt, we believe your career should be as dynamic as the market you work in. That's why we offer:

• An informal and open culture where you can be yourself.
• The freedom to shape your work in your own way.
• Plenty of room for personal growth and development, with training tailored to your role.
• A warm welcome from experienced and enthusiastic colleagues who will help you find your feet.
• Strong employment conditions, including attractive variable pay, a solid pension plan, generous leave, and collective insurance.
• A sports programme with bootcamp, running, or yoga under professional guidance
• A modern office directly opposite Arnhem Central Station, easy to reach by public transport.

Our commitment with you

At Hoogwegt, we believe that our strength lies in our differences. We are a global community that thrives on a diversity of perspectives, and we warmly welcome applications from people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. We strive to create a workplace where everyone feels at home and has the freedom to shape their own path. Come as you are, we look forward to meeting you.