Head of Restaurants It

**Job Advert Summary**:
Spur Corporation is a growing multi-brand restaurant franchisor, headquartered in Cape Town. The group currently has Ten brands, namely, Spur Steak Ranches, Panarottis Pizza Pasta, John Dory’s Fish Grill Sushi, RocoMamas, The Hussar Grill, Casa Bella, Nikos Coalgrill Greek, Doppio Zero, Modern Tailors and Piza e Vino. In order to retain an exceptional talent pool, the group endeavours to create a great place to work, building a collaborative and innovative performance-based culture which enables each employee to thrive on his or her unique Spur Corporation journey. Spur Corporation’s employees are passionate and purpose-driven people growing great brands. Through their dedicated service and talent, they offer support to the group’s endeavours and operational activities, offering an exceptional return on investment to all its shareholders. A career at Spur Corporation is an opportunity for an employee to nurture, learn, grow, and realise their full potential.

A position has become available in the IT Department at the Century City Office, Cape Town for a Head of Restaurant IT. The Head of Restaurant IT serves as a strategic IT business partner with our Group’s restaurant leadership and has the overall responsibility within IT for the purpose of Restaurant technology strategy development, solution discovery, service management, risk management and relationship management. This is a senior role within IT and will report directly to the Chief Information Officer. The IT leader serves as the business relationship link between Spur Corp brands and IT and provides highly valued consulting level support and guidance through key IT initiatives. They communicate decisions, priorities and relevant technology development information to appropriate levels of staff regarding business unit requests and initiatives. They proactively share knowledge of restaurant and technology risks and opportunities to build competitive advantage through technology for restaurant franchisees.

We are looking for technology leaders, data scientists and digital savants to help us build digital platforms for the restaurants of the future for our iconic brands. The smartest restaurant digital commerce engine in the world, led by data and advanced analytics. This spans from making digital ordering easy and secure, deepening our data and advanced analytics, or leveraging AI to improve our guest experience - we are digitally transforming and invite you to join our team on an incredible and exciting journey.

**Minimum Requirements**:
**Qualifications and Experience**:

- BCom/Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology management and computer engineering.
- Masters degree preferred
- A strong background in restaurant or retail IT would be highly recommended.
- 10+ years of appropriate leadership experience (Restaurant or Retail Operations, IT Management)
- Preferred experience in restaurant, retail and/or eCommerce in South Africa.
- Experience leading process improvement efforts.

**Duties and Responsibilities**:
**Duties and Responsibilities**:

- Responsible for the development and implementation of restaurant solution roadmaps.
- Ensure successful technology-driven advantages in restaurants and with customers.
- Proactively work with restaurant leadership and strategic vendors to build and grow the restaurant platform of the future for franchisees.
- Develop solution concepts and business cases for new investments.
- Ensures end-to-end operational IT services are provided across the restaurants through SLAs and active monitoring and management.
- Leads the IT restaurant team and provides mentorship, guidance, and support.
- Leads with data-centric business process improvements.
- Perform initial business analysis in conjunction with the Business and IT and prepare recommendations and business plans as needed.
- Create and analyze relevant information and develop recommendations and present to senior management.
- Oversee the launch of solutions and help to maximize the positive impact across the group
- Identify, screen and evaluate new solution opportunities to address unmet (internal and external) customer needs.
- Partner with key staff members to create strategic business plans.
- Uses strong analytical skills, including an understanding of business operations, process, financial cases, and financial resources.

**Skills and Competencies**:

- Creative problem-solving skills
- Strong negotiation skills
- Excellent customer service skills
- Well organized and detail-oriented
- Strong time management and planning skills
- Ability to adapt to change quickly
- Ability to work under pressure and meet established timelines
- Ability to work independently - must be self-motivated