Director, Enterprise Applications

Crescent Energy•Houston, TX

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Enterprise Applications is responsible for the strategy, governance, optimization, and lifecycle management of Crescent Energy’s enterprise SaaS application portfolio. This role serves as the primary steward of business applications across corporate functions, ensuring technology investments are aligned with business objectives, appropriately governed, cost-effective, and positioned to deliver maximum business value. The Director will partner closely with business leaders to evaluate, select, onboard, and optimize enterprise applications while driving application rationalization efforts to reduce redundancy, control SaaS sprawl, and improve technology effectiveness across the organization. This leader will serve as a trusted advisor to functional stakeholders, helping business teams leverage modern SaaS platforms while maintaining alignment with enterprise architecture, security, data, and support standards.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, or related field.
10+ years of progressive experience managing enterprise applications, SaaS platforms, or business systems.
5+ years in a leadership role with responsibility for enterprise application portfolios, application governance, or technology strategy.
Industry experience in upstream oil and gas is required, with strong subject matter expertise in upstream business processes and operations. Experience supporting exploration, drilling, completions, production, land, reservoir, or corporate functions is highly preferred.
Experience leading application rationalization, SaaS governance, and enterprise integration initiatives.
Strong understanding of enterprise business systems including ERP, accounting, land management, HR, procurement, and operational platforms.
Experience with SaaS governance, application portfolio management, vendor management, and technology lifecycle management.
Knowledge of enterprise integration architectures, APIs, middleware, and cloud-based integration platforms.
Strong business process analysis and optimization capabilities.
Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and executive presentation skills.
Ability to balance business priorities, technical requirements, risk management, and financial stewardship.

Nice To Haves

Relevant certifications such as TOGAF, ITIL, PMP, or enterprise application certifications are a strong plus.
Industry experience in upstream oil and gas or other asset-intensive industries is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the strategy, governance, and lifecycle management of Crescent’s enterprise application portfolio, including ERP, accounting, land, HR, procurement, legal, and other business-critical SaaS platforms.
Maintain a comprehensive inventory of enterprise applications, including ownership, business purpose, costs, utilization, risks, and lifecycle status.
Develop and maintain enterprise application roadmaps aligned with business priorities, technology strategy, and organizational objectives.
Evaluate application effectiveness and business value, recommending enhancements, consolidations, replacements, or retirement as appropriate.
Ensure enterprise applications remain aligned with corporate architecture standards, business processes, and long-term strategic objectives.
Establish and maintain governance processes for evaluating, approving, onboarding, and managing enterprise SaaS solutions.
Serve as the primary technology advisor during business led software evaluations and vendor selection activities.
Coordinate cross functional reviews involving Cybersecurity, Data & Information Management, Legal, Procurement, Compliance, and Enterprise Services.
Define standards and processes for application onboarding, vendor oversight, lifecycle management, and technology stewardship.
Promote disciplined software acquisition practices to ensure consistency, security, scalability, and operational effectiveness across the enterprise.
Lead the enterprise application rationalization program to reduce redundancy, eliminate underutilized technologies, and control SaaS proliferation.
Continuously assess application utilization, business value, total cost of ownership, and strategic alignment.
Identify opportunities to consolidate platforms, standardize capabilities, and improve technology efficiency.
Develop metrics and executive reporting that provide visibility into portfolio health, utilization, risk, and investment effectiveness.
Champion a “buy before build” philosophy that prioritizes adoption of standard SaaS capabilities over custom solutions.
Serve as a trusted advisor to business leaders on application strategy, process improvement, technology investments, and vendor capabilities.
Partner with stakeholders to identify opportunities for improved business outcomes through better utilization of enterprise applications.
Facilitate application optimization initiatives that improve adoption, streamline workflows, and maximize return on technology investments.
Support organizational change management and adoption efforts associated with new enterprise technologies.
Help business functions navigate the evolving SaaS landscape while maintaining alignment with enterprise governance standards.
Develop and manage strategic relationships with enterprise software vendors and service providers.
Participate in contract reviews, renewal discussions, and vendor performance evaluations.
Ensure vendor roadmaps, support models, and product strategies align with Crescent’s long-term business and technology objectives.
Partner with Procurement and Legal teams to support software negotiations and contract governance.
Oversee the application lifecycle by coordinating the onboarding, implementation, transition, and retirement of enterprise applications, ensuring alignment with architecture standards, security policies, vendor obligations, and business requirements.
Partner with Data & Information Management teams to ensure enterprise applications can effectively participate in the broader enterprise data ecosystem.
Collaborate with AI & Automation teams to identify opportunities for workflow automation, process optimization, and emerging technology adoption.
Work closely with Cybersecurity & GRC to ensure security reviews, risk assessments, and compliance requirements are incorporated into application governance processes.
Coordinate with Enterprise Services to ensure successful provisioning, identity management, support readiness, and operational onboarding of enterprise applications.
Build and lead a high-performing team responsible for enterprise applications, integration services, vendor management, and application governance.
Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, and business partnership.
Develop strong relationships with business leaders, technology partners, and vendors to support enterprise objectives.
Communicate application portfolio performance, risks, investment opportunities, and strategic recommendations to executive leadership.
Establish strong relationships with business leaders, vendors, and technology partners to support enterprise objectives.