Director of IT Applications

WinCo Foods•Boise, ID

About The Position

The Director of IT Applications provides strategic and operational leadership for one or more business-aligned application teams. The role is accountable for the full application lifecycle—including strategy, delivery, integration, administration, production support, security, vendor management, training, and continuous improvement—across custom-developed and vendor-provided solutions. Working with business leaders and IT partners, the Director translates business priorities into a practical application roadmap, balances project delivery with reliable day-to-day support, and develops a high-performing team of software development, application support, business analysis, and project management professionals. The position manages a portfolio of business-critical applications and related projects, maintenance, upgrades, enhancements, and production support. It oversees application architecture and delivery, integrations, governance, security, risk, vendor relationships, budgets, licensing, and resource planning. The Director also leads and develops a multidisciplinary team, supports organizational change and adoption, and provides leadership during major incidents, including outside normal business hours when critical applications or operations are affected.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in computer science, management information systems, business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
8 or more years of progressively responsible experience delivering and supporting business applications, including custom-developed and vendor-provided solutions.
4 or more years of people-management or leadership experience with teams responsible for application development, application support, business analysis, and/or project delivery.
Demonstrated experience managing a portfolio of business-critical applications and balancing strategic initiatives, enhancements, technical maintenance, and production support.
Experience leading complex, cross-functional technology initiatives and communicating effectively with executives, business leaders, technical teams, vendors, and end users.
Working knowledge of application architecture, systems integration, APIs, databases, data management, cloud/SaaS delivery models, software development lifecycle practices, testing, release management, and operational support.
Working knowledge of cybersecurity, privacy, access management, audit controls, business continuity, and risk management as they apply to enterprise applications.
Enterprise perspective and business acumen.
Clear prioritization and sound decision-making under pressure.
Strong written, verbal, and executive-level communication.
Collaborative relationship building and constructive conflict management.
Ability to translate technical complexity into clear business choices.
Commitment to employee development, customer service, and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

Experience in grocery, retail, distribution, or another high-volume, operationally complex environment.
Proficiency with the Workday platform across implementation, configuration, reporting, security, integrations, and business process optimization.
Experience across multiple Workday modules.
Experience leading enterprise ERP, financial, human capital management, payroll, benefits, legal, risk, or accounting platforms.
Experience with budgeting, forecasting, contracts, licensing, vendor performance, and resource planning.
Experience supporting a mixed technology environment that may include IBM i/DB2/RPG applications, modern web technologies, relational databases, integration platforms, APIs, and cloud services.
Knowledge of DevOps and secure software development practices, automation, observability, and continuous integration/continuous delivery concepts.
Knowledge of ITIL practices and Agile delivery methods; relevant certification in project management, service management, business analysis, process improvement, cybersecurity, or a major enterprise application platform.
Master's degree in a relevant field.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain multi-year application roadmaps aligned with business strategy, operational priorities, risk, and available resources.
Partner with business leaders to clarify needs, evaluate options, and communicate recommendations, tradeoffs, costs, and risks in business terms.
Lead application portfolio planning, including modernization, technical debt reduction, lifecycle management, rationalization, and build-versus-buy decisions.
Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve employee and customer experiences, strengthen controls, and increase the value of technology investments.
Direct the design, development, configuration, testing, implementation, integration, documentation, and enhancement of enterprise applications.
Establish delivery standards and governance for custom development and configurable SaaS or cloud platforms.
Ensure solutions are supportable, scalable, secure, resilient, and aligned with enterprise architecture, data, integration, and technology standards.
Oversee data integrations, APIs, batch processes, reporting dependencies, and third-party interfaces.
Maintain transparency into delivery commitments, dependencies, risks, resource constraints, and outcomes; escalate issues and drive decisions to resolution.
Lead a portfolio of projects, enhancements, upgrades, maintenance, and support work; align priorities and capacity with business sponsors and IT leadership.
Provide executive oversight for complex initiatives, ensuring clear scope, ownership, milestones, financial accountability, testing, readiness, and adoption.
Apply fit-for-purpose Agile, iterative, and traditional delivery methods while maintaining consistent governance and change-control discipline.
Promote organizational change, communication, training, and stakeholder engagement for new or significantly changed solutions.
Manage strategic application vendors and service providers, including selection, contracting support, performance reviews, service levels, escalations, renewals, and value realization.
Develop and manage operating and project budgets, licensing, resource plans, and cost-optimization opportunities.
Ensure compliance with company policies and applicable requirements related to cybersecurity, privacy, records retention, segregation of duties, audit, licensing, and software change management.
Maintain business continuity, disaster recovery, and vendor contingency plans for critical applications and integrations.
Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team that may include managers, software developers, application administrators, business analysts, and project managers.
Set expectations, establish priorities, delegate accountability, provide feedback, and evaluate individual and team performance.
Recruit, retain, and develop talent with the business knowledge, technical skills, and customer-service mindset needed for current and future priorities.
Manage employee actions in accordance with company policy, including staffing, scheduling, development, recognition, compensation recommendations, performance improvement, and corrective action.
Work effectively in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities and business-critical deadlines.
Participate in major incident response and provide leadership support outside normal business hours when critical applications or operations are affected.
Use standard office technology and other equipment necessary to perform the essential functions of the role.
Perform other duties as assigned or needed.