VP Application Services and Support

This leader will drive P&T organizational capability for development and testing enabling environments. These services support and enable the Product teams to proceed at pace with change the business activity to drive competitive advantage for IHG. By delivering testing and automation capabilities those teams can focus their efforts on creating capabilities that make a commercial difference and do so in a way that is consistent (to help with skills transferability) and high quality (to limit business disruptions so often associated with the change process). 

The second major accountability space is in production support. This leader will drive mission critical production support utilizing advanced telemetry systems and structured support processes to achieve consistent high availability service delivery for mission critical applications.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY

• DevOps Strategy: Create and implement a roadmap for IHG’s DevOps strategy to enhance product development and delivery speed. This transformation aims to improve quality and market responsiveness. It involves adopting new practices and tools to streamline processes.
• Product Marketing: Develop a product marketing strategy for application services to ensure disciplined adoption across stakeholders. Collaboration with key stakeholders is crucial for success. This strategy will help in promoting and integrating new products and platforms effectively.
• Tech Solutions & Support: Design and develop tech solutions, ensuring stability through proactive monitoring and resiliency features. Application support functions are vital for maintaining operational stability. This includes implementing measures to prevent disruptions and ensure smooth functioning.
• Collaboration: Partner with Product Towers, Technology, Information Security, and Commercial Services teams for joint solutions. Focus on the customer journey strategy and seamless integration. Working closely with these teams ensures comprehensive and cohesive solutions.
• Application Ecosystem: Ensure a connected ecosystem for flexible and speedy integration and operation of application components. This includes managing largely purchased or rented application components. The goal is to maintain a robust and adaptable application environment.
• Production Support: Provide production support for mission-critical applications, including business readiness, change management, and deployment. Small enhancements and compliance with security standards are essential. This support ensures applications are reliable and meet business needs.
• Team Management: Manage the Platform Engineering team, promote high performance culture, drive talent development, and oversee budget management. Leadership involves motivating teams and driving organizational effectiveness. Ensuring the team has the right capabilities and resources is key to success.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

• Enterprise Application Work: Extensive experience creating competitive advantage through enterprise application work and mission-critical support. Preferably, this experience is in an agile and product-based organizational model. Key skills include CI/CD automation, product roadmap development, and vendor roadmap influence.
• Experience & Skills: 15+ years of progressive work-related experience in multiple disciplines, including product development, production support, and CI/CD automated pipelines. Experience in the travel industry and agile project management is essential. Certification in core ITIL support processes is preferred.
• Mission Critical Support: Experience in mission-critical production support within a large corporate environment is required. Familiarity with production infrastructure support processes and models is necessary. The candidate should demonstrate knowledge in global transformation and implementation programs.
• Thought Leadership: Thought leadership in digital solutions and tech products & platforms. A solid business understanding of managed and franchised operating models. Proficiency in digital system development, UX/UI, and hotel operations concepts is crucial.
• Business Requirements: Demonstrated proficiency in conceptualizing and translating business requirements into specific system functionality is needed. Skilled in directing the modeling, development, and implementation of holistic business solutions. Effective communication skills for interacting with senior leaders, peers, stakeholders, clients, vendors, and staff are essential.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Extensive experiences engaging with stakeholders to prioritize, group, and align functionality to meet business objectives. Skilled at managing budgetary allocation within approved parameters. Oversight of the application development platforms and processes is part of the role.
• Production Support & Team Management: Extensive experience managing production support for mission-critical application systems and services. Skilled with managing Platform Engineering teams, promoting a high-performance culture, and driving talent development. Leadership involves motivating teams and ensuring organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

Location: Atlanta, GA.  Our hybrid work structure is an expectation of three (3) days a week in office. This expectation may be adjusted to evolve with the changing needs of the business.

The salary range for this role is 147,000 to $309,000.  This role is also eligible for bonus pay (as applicable). We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, 401K, and other benefits to employees.