(Senior) Director - Digital Strategy (m/f/d)

Description

Department:

This role sits within the EMEA Digital & Technology (DTS) practice at Alvarez and Marsal. A&M Digital revolves around a full-service Digital offering spanning Strategy, Customer Experience, Technology and Data. Our positioning is at the intersection of strategy and execution (not slides and then gone, nor fingers on keyboards coding & testing or detailed customer journey designing), architecting the destination, orchestrating the delivery and navigating the change & transformation journey.

Through our DTS practice, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) helps clients ideate, incubate, and industrialise new business models including agile target operating models, customer and product innovations, or intelligent and automated back offices leveraging a mix of capabilities ranging from digital product management, customer experience (CX) service design, data and analytics, and self-service platforms. Working directly with client management, A&M's involvement reassures all stakeholders that the company is taking important steps to address key market opportunities or challenges and maximise the value of its business and technology investments moving forward.

A&M’s DTS professionals work on some of the world’s most high-profile cases in a rapidly transforming landscape, striving for game-changing solutions that provide impactful long-term change. Our international team is comprised of seasoned executives from diverse backgrounds, functional experts & highly skilled consultants.

The Purpose of the (Senior) Director Digital Strategy role:

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to join a ‘hands on’ team.  You will contribute to work streams on large programs but also smaller projects, leveraging your Digital & Technology knowhow and skill set in challenging the status quo and developing sound solutions either from an external point of view or in collaborative settings with your client organization.

The focus of this role is to help A&M’s clients to understand the capability and impact of digital transformation and technology, across the DACH region and broader EMEA. You will advise in shaping their vision of technology and business capabilities, build a strategy to succeed and define digital transformation roadmaps to deliver the strategy.

Using your skills in strategy execution, you will own and deliver the transformation for our clients. Skills in operating model design, business analysis, business process and organisation design will all be learned, developed and tailored for our clients’ needs. 

Our DTS Strategy consultants not only form strategies or advise the clients, but also build this alongside cross-functional teams - becoming part of client teams and operating fully end to end, from problem identification to formulating strategy and delivering the end product. You will work on transferring capabilities to help our clients use digital technology and operating models to transform their businesses and ways of working. You will shape and drive end-to-end digital transformations across business, technology, process and people, creating value by reinventing the core of our client’s businesses. 

This work includes gathering and analysing information, formulating and testing hypotheses, and developing and communicating recommendations. You’ll also have the opportunity to present results to client management and implement recommendations in collaboration with client team members. You will work with clients and teams on broader consulting work that includes strategy, operations/processes, training, organisational structuring, new digital initiatives, and marketing with a strong digital focus.

Responsibilities:

You will support in a leadership role the delivery of digital transformation projects within the DACH region and across EMEA, where identifying disruptive transformation levers and managing political complexity will be key to generate significant and sustainable savings. Assignments will focus on delivering large and complex transformation programs across our key client industries, bringing high added value to our clients (disruption mindset, restructuring DNA, acceleration of the transformation).  To this effectively, you will need to:

• Undertake modernisation programmes transforming traditional, largely manual IT departments and processes to a modern, highly automated, digital-first engineering function/business model;
• Help shape platform-led transformation strategies working with multi-disciplinary team of technologists, business architects and experience designers;
• Run short discovery or platform strategy phases of work, developing business transformation vision, value roadmap, high-level target solution designs, target experiences;
• Promote how digital transformation can improve performance, reduced costs and achieve higher profitability;
• Be creative to generate break through ideas regarding transformation levers;
• Cultivate and share best practices through thought leadership, personal experience and the shared collective experience gained from similar projects and engagements;
• Stay up to date on aligned industry trends and solution innovations, constantly refine point of view and demonstrate ongoing thought leadership;
• Work closely with senior stakeholders in the client’s business and with professionals from leading financial institutions;
• Be an action-oriented self-starter with strong analytical skills and entrepreneurial flair;
• Have a strong exposure to client, be able to deal with top executives in complex situation;
• Be proactive in industry events e.g. conferences, forums, debates – ensure the Company is perceived as a key player in the Digital Transformation space.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate would possess a strong passion for (large scale) digital transformation and consulting experience. Experience & abilities you will bring are likely to include:

• Education: a high-grade degree qualification (or equivalent) in a relevant subject;
• Experience within advisory (ideally from a large Professional Services firm or from a digitally focused boutique), working on large scale transformation program and highly exposed to top management;
• Previous experience delivering digital transformation projects in a consulting or client-side role e.g., strategic consulting (digital strategies, digital roadmaps, workflows...), familiarity with established and emerging technologies (data analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, cloud migration, blockchain and digital twins..) and ability to integrate Digital Transformation into other service offerings such as process improvement or operations excellence, stakeholder engagement, change management;
• Experience in transforming mainly businesses through enabling technology and transforming the way clients operate. You are confident working in a technology environment - you will bring proven skills and experience at leading and delivering management consultancy projects;
• Demonstrable credibility as a strategic advisor or experience leading a client-side digital transformation initiative.  The ability to engage, listen, comprehend and propose coherent solutions to business challenges and in helping banks, insurers and other financial services companies build business cases for adopting new technology solutions;
• A creative, strategic thinker who can bring innovative ideas, a new perspective or a new strategy to the table to challenge the status quos;
• Demonstrated aptitude for both data & data analytics and an ability to work with numbers with ease with an ability to interpret and present data to all levels within an organisation;
• Strong communication and relationship building skills, an excellent networker in the DACH market with the ability to navigate a wide map of internal stakeholders and external account relationships to CXO and CIOs;
• Native/Fluent German & English language skills are essential, along with excellent writing skills;
• Solution oriented, data driven, learning mind-sets; 
• Experience working with Cloud Products/Platforms or within a complex, high tech environment;
• Solid understanding of Internet and Web technologies & Smart offerings;
• A deep understanding of the current trends, challenges and technologies used desired;
• An understanding of change management thinking – especially pertaining to disruptive technologies highly desired;
• Willingness to travel often (within Europe) & right to work in the EU;
• Additional European languages (to a fluent business level) would be highly valuable;
• Further education such as an MBA would be highly valued.

Why A&M?

Companies, investors, lenders and government entities around the world turn to Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) when conventional approaches are not enough to activate change and achieve results.

Privately-held since 1983, A&M is a leading global professional services firm that delivers performance improvement, turnaround management and business advisory services to organizations seeking to transform operations, catapult growth and accelerate results through decisive action. Our senior professionals are experienced operators, world-class consultants and industry veterans who draw upon the firm's restructuring heritage to help leaders turn change into a strategic business asset, manage risk and unlock value at every stage.

When action matters, find us at www.alvarezandmarsal.com

Diversity & Inclusion:

A&M’s entrepreneurial culture celebrates independent thinkers and doers who can positively impact our clients and shape our industry. The collaborative environment and engaging work—guided by A&M’s core values of Integrity, Quality, Objectivity, Fun, Personal Reward, and Inclusive Diversity—are the main reasons our people love working at A&M. Inclusive Diversity means we embrace diversity and we foster inclusiveness. It runs through how we recruit, develop employees, conduct business, support clients, and partner with vendors. It is the A&M way.

Diversity & Inclusion

A&M’s entrepreneurial culture celebrates independent thinkers and doers who can positively impact our clients and shape our industry. The collaborative environment and engaging work—guided by A&M’s core values of Integrity, Quality, Objectivity, Fun, Personal Reward, and Inclusive Diversity—are the main reasons our people love working at A&M. Inclusive Diversity means we embrace diversity, and we foster inclusiveness, encouraging everyone to bring their whole self to work each day. It runs through how we recruit, develop employees, conduct business, support clients, and partner with vendors. It is the A&M way.

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is Alvarez & Marsal’s practice to provide and promote equal opportunity in employment, compensation, and other terms and conditions of employment without discrimination because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, sex or gender, gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, military service and veteran status, physical or mental disability, family medical history, genetic information or other protected medical condition, political affiliation, or any other characteristic protected by and in accordance with applicable laws. Employees and Applicants can find A&M policy statements and additional information by region here.

Unsolicited Resumes from Third-Party Recruiters

Please note that as per A&M policy, we do not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters unless such recruiters are engaged to provide candidates for a specified opening and in alignment with our Inclusive Diversity values. Any employment agency, person or entity that submits an unsolicited resume does so with the understanding that A&M will have the right to hire that applicant at its discretion without any fee owed to the submitting employment agency, person or entity.