Head of IT

Chan Brothers has invested meaningfully in its technology foundation over the past few years — building out middleware, an omnichannel portal, and a CRM platform across the group. As the technology estate grows in scope and complexity, the need for a single accountable technology leader has become clear: one person who owns the strategy, speaks for technology at the management table, and ensures that every investment earns its place.

The Head of IT Department is that leader. This is a role with genuine scope and influence — shaping how technology serves the business today and building the capability that will carry it forward.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Own and maintain a technology strategy and roadmap that aligns to Chan Brothers' business goals across leisure travel, corporate travel, and our subsidiary brands.
• Serve as the single, accountable technology voice at management level — translating between business need and technical options, without jargon.
• Advise the GMD and senior management on technology priorities, trade-offs, and risk.

Investment & Value

• Champion sound investment decisions by bringing total cost of ownership and expected business return into every significant technology evaluation.
• Establish a clear, consistent framework for evaluating and prioritising technology requests by business value and strategic fit.
• Provide management with regular, meaningful visibility into what the technology portfolio is delivering.

Delivery & Prioritisation

• Establish clear ownership, timelines, and tracking across technology projects so that delivery is consistent and predictable.
• Maintain a well-governed pipeline of initiatives, sequenced by business priority and strategic impact.
• Manage vendor and professional-services relationships with appropriate governance and accountability.

Architecture & Integration

• Hold and maintain the overall architecture map — understanding how our systems (GDS, CRM, middleware, cloud) connect and depend on one another.
• Ensure new systems and tools are assessed for integration fit, cost, and complexity as part of the evaluation process.
• Reduce technical debt where it creates meaningful operational or security risk.

Data Protection & Compliance

• Own data governance standards and PDPA compliance across the technology estate, including appropriate role-based access controls for customer data.
• Act as the functional lead for technology-related regulatory requirements, working with the relevant business owners.
• Establish clear, documented SOPs for data access, handling, and incident response.

Cybersecurity

• Establish and maintain approportionate, practical cybersecurity posture that protects our customer data, payment information, and business operations.
• Assess the organisation's current security controls, identify areas for strengthening, and implement improvements in a structured and prioritised manner.
• Ensure compliance with relevant security standards and data protection obligations; build management's awareness of risk exposure and mitigation measures in clear, accessible terms.

Team Building

• After an internal review, recommend and build the right team structure to support the technology needs identified.
• Hire, develop, and retain the right people; build a team culture grounded in accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Work constructively with existing IT staff to establish clear roles and a high-performance baseline.

What We Are Looking For

Experience

• At least eight to ten years of experience in technology roles, with a minimum of three to five years leading a technology function at head-of-department level or equivalent.
• Prior exposure to customer-facing, operationally busy businesses — travel, retail, hospitality, logistics or similar — strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple technology workstreams concurrently: strategy, delivery, infrastructure, and compliance.
• Hands-on experience managing vendor relationships and technology contracts, including SaaS platforms, GDS systems, and cloud environments.

Skills & Attributes

• Able to speak business as fluently as technology — earns the confidence of non-technical colleagues quickly.
• Sound commercial instinct: approaches technology decisions through the lens of cost, value, and risk, not just technical elegance.
• Strong written and verbal communication; comfortable presenting to the GMD and board-level stakeholders.
• Structured thinker who can simplify complexity — frameworks and clear documentation come naturally.
• Collaborative and straightforward to work with; brings people along rather than working around them.

Technical Grounding

• Working knowledge across: cloud and infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP), API and middleware architecture, SaaS application management, PDPA and data governance, and cybersecurity fundamentals.
• Familiarity with project and delivery management disciplines (Agile, waterfall, or hybrid — practical application matters more than certification).
• GDS platforms (Amadeus, Sabre) and travel-technology ecosystems are an advantage, not a requirement.