IT Executive: Operations,Governance and Security - Rainbow Chicken

Trending Talent Solutions; Durban; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Rainbow Chicken is seeking an IT Executive: Operations, Governance and Security to lead the security program while strengthening governance and driving operational excellence across the value chain.

The role focuses on delivering secure and reliable technology services, aligning IT with business priorities and evaluating emerging technologies to unlock innovation and efficiency.

Qualifications

• 3-year degree in IT or business management is required.
• 10+ years leadership in technology, governance and IT security with 5+ years in senior management.
• Experience with ITIL and governance frameworks such as COBIT, ISO 27001 and NIST.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST CSF.

Responsibilities

• Oversee availability, reliability and performance of IT environments.
• Lead operations strategy across infrastructure, cloud and IT operations.
• Manage IT service management processes: incident, problem, change and service requests.
• Ensure IT assets, contracts and licenses are well governed and compliant.
• Drive risk management, regulatory compliance and governance across IT.
• Lead security initiatives, risk mitigation and cyber resilience.
• Coordinate audits and remediation with vendors and partners.
• Foster collaboration with OT owners and executive leadership.

Skills

Risk judgement

Governance mindset

Resilience

Cybersecurity leadership

Vendor management

Analytical problem solving

Budgeting

OT knowledge

Education

3-year degree in Information Technology or Business Management

Tools

ITIL

COBIT/ISO 27001/NIST

Cloud security

Cloud (IaaS/SaaS)

Job description

Rainbow Chicken is seeking a dynamic IT Executive: Operations, Governance and Security to lead the security program while strengthening governance and driving operational excellence across the value chain. We are looking for an innovative hands‑on leader to drive the delivery of secure, reliable and fit‑for‑purpose technology services and solutions, while continuously evaluating emerging technologies to unlock innovation and improve efficiency.

Purpose of role:

IT Executive: Operations, Governance and Security holds overall accountability for the reliable operation, effective governance, resilience and security of the organisation's information technology environment, ensuring technology services are available, controlled, compliant, secure and aligned with business requirements. The role is designed to build strong partnerships with business leaders and IT Partners, translating business priorities into secure, resilient and well‑governed technology services, ensuring IT initiatives deliver measurable value and make a positive impact.

Skills

• Risk judgement, with ability to understand and communicate technology risk in business terms
• Governance mindset, balancing enablement with appropriate control
• Resilience, leading effectively during major outages, incidents and crisis
• Information and cyber security leadership, with the ability to prioritise controls based on business risk
• Vendor and contract management
• Analytical and problem‑solving capability
• Budgeting and cost management
• Understanding of operational technology (OT) and plant systems in a manufacturing environment

Qualifications and Experience:

• A 3-year degree in Information Technology or Business Management will be required
• A minimum of 10 years leadership experience in technology, governance and IT security with at least 5 years' experience in a senior management capacity
• Demonstrated understanding and practical application of IT Service Management frameworks e.g. ITIL
• Sound practical experience in implementing risk and governance frameworks such as COBIT, ISO 27001 and NIST
• Demonstrated understanding and practical application of cybersecurity frameworks e.g. NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF)
• Track record in leading a technology team and outsourced delivery partners
• Working knowledge of cloud (IaaS / SaaS) operating models and cloud security
• Professional certification in information security, IT governance or risk (e.g. CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, CGEIT) will be advantageous
• Experience in a manufacturing, FMCG or food production environment, including OT environments, will be advantageous

Leadership Attributes

• Collaborative, business-focused mindset with business centric thinking
• Talent development and team leadership (coaching and mentoring)
• Able to challenge constructively and deliver to high standard of quality
• High accountability and delivery discipline
• Stakeholder influence and credibility

Responsibilities:

1. Operations and Service Management

• Accountable for the availability, reliability and performance of the organisation's IT environment
• Establish and execute the organisation's business-wide infrastructure, cloud and IT operations strategy in alignment with enterprise architecture
• Lead IT service management, including incident, problem, change and service request management
• Ensure the operational run and support of business applications, infrastructure, network, cloud services and end user services
• Establish and monitor IT service levels, KPIs and operational performance
• Formulate and drive appropriate service improvement plans where deviations from agreed service levels, KPIs and performance criteria are noted
• Ensure effective proactive monitoring, event management and operational reporting
• Active management of major incidents and executive-level escalation for critical technology outages
• Ensure root cause analysis is completed with service improvement opportunities identified and implemented
• Drive continual improvement and automation of IT operations
• Establish IT disaster recovery, resilience and business continuity capabilities aligned to business criticality, ensuring that plans are appropriately tested
• Provide assurance to executive leadership on continuity readiness and risk exposure

2. Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Establish and maintain the organisation's IT governance framework
• Define IT policies, standards, procedures and control frameworks
• Be accountable for IT risk management and technology-related regulatory compliance, ensuring appropriate risk mitigation actions are implemented and maintained
• Maintain technology and cybersecurity risk registers, together with risk mitigation and remediation plans
• Conduct ongoing benchmarking of the IT risk profile against industry benchmarks, threat intelligence and peer organisations, ensuring that risk management practices remain robust and aligned to evolving risk patterns
• Lead governance and resilience engagement with Operational Technology (OT) owners and drive an overall decrease in the risk profile
• Support governance of the IT portfolio (projects, programmes and technology investments) in partnership with Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Applications
• Ensure appropriate controls over IT assets, IT Partners and suppliers, contracts and licences
• Lead and co‑ordinate internal and external audits and drive appropriate remediation of findings
• Provide technology reporting and assurance to the Head of IT and, through the Head of IT, to the Audit & Risk Committee
• Ensure compliance with applicable security, privacy and regulatory requirements, including POPIA, the Cybercrimes Act and King Code principles on technology and information governance

3. Cybersecurity

• Establish and execute the organisation's information and cyber security strategy in alignment with enterprise architecture
• Develop forward‑looking roadmaps to further advance the overall cybersecurity posture, continuously evaluating emerging technologies and service models to improve security, resilience, cost and capability
• Protect information, systems, infrastructure and critical business services against cyber threats, ensuring resilience and security are designed upfront into infrastructure, applications and operations
• Establish cybersecurity policies, standards, controls and security architecture
• Ensure effective identity and access management, including privileged access, across on‑premise and cloud environments
• Manage security monitoring, vulnerability management, penetration testing and threat management, through internal resources and/or a managed security service provider (MSSP)
• Lead cybersecurity incident response and co‑ordinate the response to security breaches
• Ensure appropriate data protection, privacy and information classification controls are in place, in line with POPIA
• Manage third‑party and IT Partner cybersecurity risk
• Champion security awareness and conduct regular security awareness and training programmes

4. Partner and Financial Management

• Vendor performance management of infrastructure, cloud, workplace technology, application and technology partners, ensuring IT Partners deliver against agreed outcomes, service levels and commercial expectations
• Ensure IT Partners operate as an effective extension of the organisation and that value, risk and cost are actively managed
• Manage operational budgets, ensuring that operational and capital expenditure across infrastructure, operations and security domains is appropriately managed
• Monitor IT performance against agreed business outcomes, budgets and service levels
• Act as a senior technology partner to executive business leaders
• In collaboration with the IT leadership team, foster a culture that supports IT delivery of value, curiosity, collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement
• Manage talent development for the direct team, applying coaching, mentoring and succession planning
• Define objectives and performance goals for the direct team, ensuring alignment with the broader IT team
• Manage the performance, delivery and impact of the direct team and partners

Key Performance Indicators:

• Availability of business‑critical systems against agreed targets
• Number of major incidents and mean time to restore service
• Disaster recovery tests completed and passed against the annual plan
• Audit findings remediated within agreed timeframes
• Cyber posture measures (e.g. critical vulnerabilities remediated within SLA, phishing simulation results)
• IT Partner SLA performance and operating cost against budget
• Reduction in residual IT and OT risk ratings on the risk register