IT Applications Senior Director

Forest Lawn Mortuary•Glendale, AZ

11h

About The Position

Forest Lawn has always attracted unique and exceptional individuals; those who aren’t satisfied with simply building a career, but want to go home at the end of the day knowing they’ve made a profound and positive difference in people’s lives. Our Technology Services team at Forest Lawn is looking for an experienced technology leader to join our team as an IT Applications Senior Director. This position will lead the strategy, development, and ongoing evolution of our business applications and technology platforms, partnering with executive leadership and business stakeholders to deliver solutions that support the organization’s current and future needs. The role will oversee application strategy, product development, technology planning, and operational excellence while driving innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the function. As the IT owner of our enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform and business applications, this position will provide strategic direction for implementation, optimization, and integration across finance, human capital, procurement, and other critical business functions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Information Systems, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in IT, enterprise applications, software development, application delivery, or a related technology discipline, including extensive experience leading application teams and enterprise technology initiatives.
At least three years must include experience managing ERP modules, from either a functional or technical standpoint, in an enterprise-wide system implementation.
Valid CA Driver License with state required levels of active auto insurance required.
Experience with NetSuite, UKG, Salesforce, Procore, and Jira preferred.
Demonstrated experience leading the implementation, integration, and ongoing management of enterprise business applications and technology platforms.
Demonstrated knowledge of ERP implementation strategies, including module deployment, configuration, release and configuration control, and quality assurance for enterprise-wide systems.
Experience managing risk, budgets, and fiscal controls on large-scale ERP programs, including Request for Proposal (RFP) processes, cost-benefit analysis, and contract negotiation with software, hardware, and implementation of service vendors.
Strong understanding of enterprise application architecture, software development life cycles, systems integration, APIs, databases, cloud technologies, and modern application delivery practices.
Experience managing application portfolios and technology roadmaps, including prioritization, resource planning, release management, and lifecycle management.
Demonstrated experience managing complex technology projects and initiatives involving multiple business and technical stakeholders.
Experience evaluating technology solutions and managing software vendors, strategic technology partners, contracts, and service-level agreements.
Demonstrated ability to translate business requirements and strategic objectives into scalable technology solutions.
Experience establishing application development, delivery, governance, security, and operational standards.
Experience managing budgets, staffing plans, resource allocation, and departmental performance.
Demonstrated ability to lead, develop, and retain high-performing technology teams in a collaborative and results-oriented environment.
Effective communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex technical concepts to executive leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong analytical, strategic planning, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, projects, and competing business demands in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage and coordinate the development, implementation, and maintenance of business applications to support organizational operations and strategic objectives.
Direct the planning, implementation, progress review, and ongoing optimization of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, including but not limited to finance, human capital, procurement, and related business modules.
Manage the efforts of staff, contractors, and consultants engaged in all business systems implementation, upgrades, and production support, including project infrastructure, resource-loaded project plans, status reporting, fiscal controls, and project change control.
Lead business process reengineering, legacy data cleansing and conversion, and system interface design associated with system deployments.
Oversee business systems organizational change management, including end-user training, adoption of reengineered business processes, rollout and workstation readiness, and post-implementation production support.
Provide strategic leadership and direction to application delivery teams to ensure timely deployment, functionality, and performance of enterprise applications.
Analyze business requirements and translates them into effective software solutions by collaborating with stakeholders, Technology Services teams, and vendors.
Direct the daily operations of the IT Applications function, establishing priorities and ensuring application initiatives align with business priorities, technology roadmaps, and enterprise architecture standards.
Oversee application projects and initiatives from planning through implementation, including resource allocation, scheduling, project tracking, risk mitigation, and successful deployment.
Partner with business leaders and key stakeholders to understand business needs, define technology requirements, and translate organizational objectives into effective and scalable application solutions.
Oversee the development of product definitions and technical product specifications, including the architecture of underlying platform components.
Review and approve system designs, architecture, and programming initiatives to optimize efficiency, security, and scalability.
Manage product priorities and timing of product launches and communicates, coordinates, and negotiates with the marketing sales group.
Supports product implementation and deployment.
Manage vendor relationships and identify emerging technology platforms; evaluate and select vendors; negotiate agreements and contracts; manage the integration of partners; and secure necessary engagement and resource alignment for the creation of co-developed product features.
Promote and enforce company policies, procedures, mission, values and standards of ethics and integrity.
Provide supervision and development opportunities for staff.