# Director of Service Operations & IT Spend

**Location:** Southern Netherlands (Hybrid | 2–3 days per week)

## About the Role
This is a confidential retained executive search for a major European organisation operating in a business-critical, operationally intensive environment. Reporting directly to the CIO, who sits on the Executive Board, this role will shape how technology services are delivered across the business.

The appointment has been created to strengthen technology operations and improve how they support the wider organisation. The Director will lead enterprise-wide IT operations and service delivery, supplier governance, FinOps, and IT governance, while helping define the future operating model and improve overall performance.

## Key Responsibilities
– Define and implement the future IT operating model.
– Lead enterprise-wide IT operations and service delivery.
– Oversee vendor and contract management across a multi-vendor technology landscape.
– Drive IT financial management (FinOps), commercial governance, and cost optimisation.
– Establish IT governance, performance management, and executive reporting.
– Partner with the CIO and Executive Board to improve operational performance and support business objectives.
– Lead enterprise-wide technology change and service transformation.

## Required Skills
– Significant leadership experience in a large-scale enterprise environment.
– A proven track record of leading enterprise-wide technology change and service transformation.
– Strong commercial, financial, and supplier management expertise.
– Excellent stakeholder management skills, including confidence influencing at Executive and Board level.
– A leadership style that combines strategic thinking with operational execution.
– Experience across IT operations and service delivery, vendor and contract management, IT financial management (FinOps), and IT governance.

## Preferred Skills
– Experience in operationally intensive, industrial, manufacturing, logistics, or similar enterprise environments.
– Experience delivering similar outcomes in organisations of comparable scale and operational maturity.

## FinOps Responsibilities
– Lead IT financial management (FinOps).
– Drive commercial governance and cost optimisation for technology spend.
– Support stronger financial visibility across the technology function.

## Benefits
– Highly competitive salary.
– Bonus.
– Comprehensive benefits package.

## Why You Might Be Interested
This is a senior leadership opportunity with clear scope to build, rather than simply maintain, an enterprise technology operations function. The role reports directly to the CIO and offers regular exposure to the Executive Board. It combines service operations, supplier governance, FinOps, and IT governance, giving broad ownership across technology performance. For leaders who want to drive meaningful operational change in a complex organisation, it offers strong strategic influence and business impact.