A&O IT Regional Business Partnering & Delivery

Overview

The Product IT Regional Business Partnering & Delivery plays a critical role in aligning and delivering IT services and solutions with the business goals of a specific product area within a defined geographic region. Embedded within a Business Product Center of Excellence (CoE) in the IT organization, this role ensures that product-specific IT capabilities are enabling and aligning with needed functionality, value realization, innovation, and continuous improvement in business outcomes.

Working closely with the Regional Product business leader, country product owners, and aligning with the Product IT Applications heads, the Product IT Global Service Delivery head, the Product IT Integration and Architecture head, the Service Delivery manager, the Infrastructure teams and the Product IT PMO, the Product IT Regional Business Partnering & Delivery drives the lifecycle management of product-related IT services and solutions, their implementation and the business as usual within the region.

This role reports to their Global Product CIO Leader in the CoE and is part of the Product IT leadership team. The role manages all country and regional IT Business Partnering and Delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities

Management

• Manage all the Product IT region business partnering and delivery teams
• Manage the Product IT region business partnering and delivery budget
• Is a senior member of the global CoE leadership team and takes part in the global leadership of the product area
• Is actively participating in designing and continuously improving the demand and delivery model, including design of service delivery model for the product
• As a senior leader, supporting the CIO in achieving the goal of optimal, competitive and future ready IT enablement of the product
• Maintains relationships with other Product IT regional teams

Business-IT Partnership for Product Enablement

• Serve as the primary IT liaison for the designated Product leader within the region and escalation point from Country Product leaders.
• Understands the regional Product strategy and connect it with the Global Product IT strategy
• Understands the IT services and their capabilities specifically, as well as the data, infrastructure and support capabilities. Additionally, keeps up to date with a general knowledge of IT services in other products.
• Understand business processes, priorities, and challenges related to the product and translate them into IT service needs.
• Understand customer needs and requirements and is able to translate them into IT needs and ways of implementation
• Ensure IT services contribute directly to product growth, customer experience, and operational efficiency.

Delivery and Lifecycle Management of Product IT Services

• Is in charge of the delivery of services within the Region to Operations and Customers from new Customer Onboarding to Business As Usual activities
• Collaborate with Global Customer Onboarding Governance lead to ensure promotion of standard exchange format (EDI/API) and quotation process
• Collaborate with Service Delivery Managers to ensure smooth operations, incident resolution, and service improvement.
• Monitor the performance of product-related systems and services, identifying enhancements and efficiencies.
• Support the planning, rollout, and decommissioning of product-related IT solutions as part of the Global Product IT strategy and its transformation.

Demand Shaping and Localized Coordination

• Collect and shape local or regional business demand related to the product, aligning it with CoE capabilities and roadmaps.
• Manage the Product IT pre-sales activities and IT solution design in the region in collaboration with Sales, Solution Design, the Product IT PMO and other regional IT Business Partners and Delivery for Global accounts.
• Follow the Demand management process
• Represent local product-specific needs in CoE backlog planning and sprint prioritization sessions.

Stakeholder Engagement, IT Account management and Communication

• Build trust and maintain strong relationships with local business stakeholders, product managers, operational leaders and customers.
• IT Account management with existing customers / accounts in the region
• Global IT account coordination for designated Global accounts in the region (For Europe only)
• Represents IT in Customer meetings if required
• Facilitate transparent and proactive communication between business and IT teams on product-related matters such as maintenance, new features, incidents, RCAs.
• Act as the “voice of the business” in IT and the “voice of IT” in the business.

Compliance, Quality, and Risk Management

• Ensure that product IT services comply with internal policies, data protection, and industry regulations.
• Support audits, assessments, and documentation of compliance controls related to the product.
• Monitor and escalate risks impacting service continuity or business enablement.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation

• Identify opportunities for digital innovation, automation, and improvement in product processes.
• Champion user experience improvements and advocate for high service quality and agility.
• Support the introduction of new capabilities in collaboration with the Product CoE

Competency Profile

• Management: Ability to manage Teams across multiple countries, languages and cultures
• Product and Business Acumen: Deep understanding of the specific product, its business processes, and customer value drivers.
• Stakeholder Management: Ability to influence and manage relationships with business users, IT peers, and vendor partners.
• Customer oriented: Ability to interact with external Customers
• IT Service Orientation: Skilled in ITIL-based service management with a focus on quality, reliability, and business impact.
• Collaboration & Communication: Strong communication skills, with the ability to navigate between technical teams and non-technical stakeholders.
• Execution Focus: Ability to translate strategies into action, managing operational follow-through and stakeholder expectations.
• Problem Solving and Adaptability: Comfortable with ambiguity and able to drive solutions in a dynamic business environment.
• Cultural Awareness: Sensitivity to local business culture while operating within a global IT governance framework.

Success Criteria

• Product Enablement: IT services are clearly supporting product-specific KPIs (e.g., speed-to-market, digital adoption, cost optimization).
• Service Performance: High user satisfaction, minimal disruptions, and strong operational performance of product-related IT services.
• Business Alignment: Product demand is well captured and prioritized; local initiatives are coordinated with global product strategies.
• Effective Collaboration: Strong collaboration with Service Delivery Managers, Product CoE teams, and Regional IT Partners.
• Innovation and Value Delivery: Successful ideation and execution of product-related digital and IT improvements.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Business Satisfaction Score for product-related IT services
• IT Demand Fulfillment Rate, including alignment with product roadmap priorities
• Service Uptime and SLA Compliance for key product systems and platforms
• Cycle Time for Change Requests and Enhancements
• Innovation and Improvement Index, measured by implemented suggestions, process enhancements, or automation outcomes
• Collaboration Rating, based on feedback from peers, SDMs, and the Regional IT Partners