Refinery Business Relationship Manager at Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.

Job Description

• The Refinery BRM is a strategic partner with the refinery leadership team and drives thought-leadership to bring innovation and value to the refinery. They manage the end-to-end IT portfolio of applications and ensure spend is aligned to strategy, follows governance and procurement processes. This role partners closely with key business stakeholders and the strategy group/Value Office to ensure IT demand is captured, prioritised and planned effectively giving visibility to both business and IT. Ensures alignment with the overall IT strategy and roadmap. Ensures that all commitments to business can be achieved and prioritised effectively but also partner with business to proactively offer and support in any technology efficiency / improvements. This role forms part of the IT leadership team.
• Direct and manage the provisioning of IT services to the Refinery operations of the business.
• Act as a point of escalation for the IT build and run teams within this business tower and also be a key point of contact for business stakeholders for IT demand.
• Maintain demand process for new IT proposals with overall responsibility for steering these proposals through the early phases of approval
• Develop and enhance relationships with key business stakeholders, actively manage their expectations and monitor satisfaction levels
• Address business demand by capturing high level technology requirements
• Ensure high level technology impact analysis is provided to business for faster decision making and demand planning
• Develop training, maintenance, implementation, upgrade, enhancements, safety procedures, protocol, and documentation where required
• Work with the senior management team to develop business cases, business plans, budgets, IT strategy, and other key targets for the IT team
• Provide leadership, direction, and coordination for IT activities between refinery business departments
• Develop expense and capital budgets, gain approval, analyse monthly variances, and lost opportunities and operate the IT department within budget parameters.
• 24/7 availability in order to resolve critical issues
• Assure prompt and effective action is taken to resolve technical problems and minimise repetitive discrepancies through continuous improvement efforts
• Manage and provide oversight for end-to-end service delivery from Refinery IT team (including ecosystem partners and third parties) to business
• Contract Management - Evaluates a potential service provider’s reputation, resources and expertise
• Carry-out all required contract negotiations for new and existing contracts with third parties
• Regular presentations and updates at leadership forums e.g. RLT’s and Exco’s
• Responsible for driving and ensuring IT compliance and security standards are maintained at all times.

Professional Qualification and Certifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering or other related field, or equivalent work experience.

Work Experience: 

• 10 and more years IT experience in a complex environment 
• 5+ years management experience, preferably in a business facing / client facing role
• Proven experience in a Refinery or chemical processing environment

Knowledge and skills:

• Strong strategic partnering skills with IT and business stakeholders
• Strong leadership skills
• Ability to work under pressure, with tight deadlines and a ‘can-do’ attitude
• Thought-leader and change agent to drive change and innovation at a strategic level that delivers maximum business value
• Extensive knowledge of IT systems and application architectures – highly skilled and experienced in development and operational support of IT systems
• Deep understanding of the manufacturing technology stack to include OS, DB, middleware, application layer, OT, IoT, virtualisation, and cloud technologies
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

Key Processes Supported:

This role supports to following critical Refinery processes:

• Refinery Control rooms and Control System support
• DCS
• Saldanha, Wharf and Partner comms
• PLC maintenance
• Reliability and Maintenance systems
• Support of the OT environment 
• Digital Roadmap
• Planning and Scheduling systems
• Technical Services – Process Engineering
• Operations systems
• Turnaround processes
• Process Engineering
• Laboratory system