Head Of Core Business Applications

Culina Group is a leading UK 3rd party food & drinks logistics provider offering dedicated and shared user warehousing and distribution solutions.

At Culina we have a winning culture, we believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive… A place where you're valued, challenged, and inspired!

We’re seeking an experienced and strategic Head of Core Business Applications to lead the performance, transformation, and future direction of our enterprise application landscape across Finance, HR, and key business platforms.

This is a pivotal leadership role, responsible for ensuring our core systems — including SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, Zellis Payroll, and UKG Time & Attendance — are secure, scalable, and aligned to the evolving needs of the business.

You’ll sit at the heart of business and technology, driving operational excellence while shaping how critical systems enable growth, efficiency, and innovation across the Culina Group.

What you’ll be doing:

Strategy & Ownership

• Define and deliver the enterprise applications strategy across Finance, HR, and core business systems
• Own the end-to-end application environment, ensuring stability, compliance, and continuous optimisation
• Ensure statutory, audit, and regulatory requirements are consistently met

Leadership & Capability

• Build and lead a high-performing, specialist team with deep technical and functional expertise
• Act as the escalation point for complex application and service challenges
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and innovation

Supplier & Commercial Management

• Manage strategic relationships with key vendors and managed service partners
• Drive supplier performance through robust SLAs, KPIs, and governance
• Oversee contracts, renewals, and commercial negotiations

Transformation & Improvement

• Lead system upgrades, process re-engineering, and transformation initiatives
• Drive automation, self-service capabilities, and data quality improvements
• Ensure systems evolve in line with business growth and operational demands

Financial & Operational Control

• Manage budgets, forecasting, and cost control across applications and resources
• Ensure strong financial governance and alignment with business priorities

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with senior business and technology leaders across Finance, HR, and operations
• Communicate complex technical concepts in a clear, business-focused way
• Build trusted relationships across a diverse stakeholder landscape

• Proven leadership experience in enterprise applications within a complex organisation
• Deep expertise in SAP S/4HANA (Finance) and SAP SuccessFactors
• Strong track record managing large-scale application environments and vendor ecosystems
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, influencing, and communication skills
• Commercial awareness with experience managing budgets, contracts, and suppliers
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational delivery

As part of our drive to make Culina Group a great place to work. We are proud to be an inclusive and diverse organisation where we are committed to employee development and recognising success for hard working performers.

Our dedicated learning and development programmes are open to every employee to give you the opportunity to shape your own future within logistics and continue to work in an environment where team culture thrives.

Our People are the driving force behind our success, which is why we offer a wide range of benefits which include:

• Annual Leave – Competitive holiday entitlement of 25 Days plus 8 Bank Holidays
• Company Bonus  – We do our best work to succeed together. When we achieve our goals you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme 
• Private Medical Cover – This gives you peace of mind, you have choice, flexibility and speed of access to the most clinically appropriate care via Bupa
• Car Allowance 
• Pension scheme – we want colleagues to enjoy a comfortable retirement so we offer a great contribution of 5% employee and 8% employer
• Life Assurance - x4 your annual salary
• Wellness – Via our Employee Assistance Programme we offer immediate access to a confidential telephone counselling and legal information service that operates 24 hours a days, 365 days a year
• Eye Care Vouchers – We can provide you with substantial savings with free eye tests and discounts on prescription glasses
• Reward & Recognition – We recognise that employees have gone the extra mile via Employee of the month and year, special recognition and long service awards.
• Everyday discounts - via our benefit platform you will have access to over 50 retailer discounts for everyday savings!

If you meet the requirements for the above role and are looking for your next career opportunity please apply now and become a part of our #WinningTeam!