IT Manager

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a worldwide communion of 150 member churches committed to working for justice, peace, and reconciliation. With a head office in Geneva and a presence in 99 countries, we strive to address the root causes of poverty, inequality, and conflict through collaborative and sustainable solutions.

The Department for Planning and Coordination (DPC) oversees and supports the work of other departments in a number of fields. It facilitates and develops overall program planning and coordination, develops and maintains systems and processes to ensure across the organization high quality implementation and full compliance of LWF's work.

As the IT Manager at the LWF, you play a critical role in overseeing the management and strategic direction of our IT function. You will be in charge of the infrastructure, application and the cloud services, including IT operations and projects. Reporting directly to the Director for DPC, you are responsible for resolving complex challenges related to outsourced IT services, decentralization of the IT systems and network, RFPs and migration projects while ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. Close collaboration with IT service providers and staff is foreseen.

This position is located in Geneva, Switzerland. Remote work is possible from EU with regular travels to Geneva.

IT Manager

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. Master's degree preferred.
• Experience of leading IT operations / digital transformation projects. Ideally 10 years of experience in IT roles, including leadership experience, preferably within a medium-sized organization or IT service provider. International exposure is an asset.
• Demonstrated experience working with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and overseeing outsourced IT services.
• Proven track record of successful project management, particularly in IT migrations and vendor transitions.
• Familiarity with ITIL framework and best practices for IT service management.
• Excellent knowledge of MS Active Directory / Azure Active Directory / Office 365 solutions (SharePoint, Teams).
• Advantage could be considered any of the following: experience in various application services, HR applications (e.g. Sage People), finance and reporting applications (such as Sage), ITSM and knowledge management (with Atlassian products such as Jira, Confluence).
• Experience in the use of relevant tools and frameworks such as ITIL, COBIT, etc.
• Fluency in English; knowledge of French is an asset.

Additional Study and Experience

• Experience of working in an international environment, NGO and/or a faith-based / ecumenical organization is an asset.
• Leadership and communication skills are expected, with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with a variety of stakeholders.
• Strong analytical thinking.

LWF Core Skills

• Analytical thinking/ Level resource
• Initiative/ Level resource
• Leadership/ Level resource
• Achieving results/ Level advanced
• Accountability/ Level advanced
• Working effectively with others/ Level resource

Required Skills

• IT management/ Level resource
• Adaptability/ Level advanced
• Attention to detail/ Level resource
• Capacity building/ Level advanced
• Change management/ Level advanced
• Information management/ Level resource
• Regulatory Compliance / Level advanced

Main duties

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the roadmap for IT systems and services in alignment with the organizational goals of the LWF. Plan and manage the IT architecture, including IT equipment purchases, licenses, and its budget for the central office and follow-up and ensure the smooth decentralization of part of the IT systems and services.
• Oversee relationships with IT service providers, ensuring adherence to Service Level Agreements, KPIs based on the service catalogues and the terms and conditions of the contracts.
• Assess the resource needs and coordinate the work of the internal IT staff, external service providers and consultants.
• Develop and manage the central IT budget, ensuring cost-effectiveness and optimal allocation of resources. Monitor expenses, analyse variances, and make recommendations for budget adjustments as necessary.
• In cooperation with internal stakeholders, design and plans prospective new systems, platforms, and practices.
• Lead tender processes for selecting new IT providers and manage the onboarding of projects.
• Develops and ensures shared knowledge on policies on IT used across LWF departments and programs.
• Responsible for LWF information security and for the implementation of the required technical & organizational measures.
• Responsible for the planning, implementation and testing of LWF’s disaster recovery- and Business Continuity Plan.

Key dimensions

Leadership

• As the IT Manager, invest efforts to service delivery management with the IT Coordinator, current IT service provider, establish and improve current IT management structures.
• Lead the IT area and manage service provider relationships to ensure all technical aspects are appropriately vetted and negotiated.
• Able to coordinate and collaborate with multi-cultural team and technicians.

Technical Expertise

• Provide oversight and guidance on IT management, security management, knowledge management and change management.
• Demonstrated experience in MS Office 365 administration, Intranet, SharePoint technologies, Cloud Services, MS Office Suites, Windows desktop & network environment, Customer relations management and video conferencing.
• Good understanding and experience in managing IT related areas, applications in communication (VoIP, mobile phone fleets etc.)
• Knowledgeable of technological trends and able to effectively convey technical concepts to non-technical audience

Process based thinking

• Implement and maintain ITIL-based processes including project management, supplier management, service management, change management, incident and request management.
• Continuously identify opportunities for process improvement and efficiency gains within the IT function.