Delivery Unit Head (m/w/d)

Role Overview

The Delivery Unit Head is a delivery leadership role responsible for driving end‑to‑end IT service delivery and operations across multiple strategic client accounts in Germany and the wider DACH region. The role ensures alignment with business objectives, adherence to service commitments, and achievement of financial targets while maintaining strong executive‑level client relationships and fostering continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

1. Delivery Management & Governance

• Own and lead end‑to‑end service delivery across assigned accounts or verticals.
• Establish and drive governance frameworks aligned with HCLTech delivery standards.
• Ensure all contractual commitments, SLAs, and KPIs are consistently met or exceeded.
• Identify risks proactively and implement mitigation strategies.
• Ensure delivery compliance with German and EU regulatory requirements, including GDPR/DSGVO, data residency/EU-hosting obligations, and client-specific frameworks such as BaFin/DORA and IT-Sicherheitsgesetz where applicable.

2. Customer Engagement & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the senior point of contact for CXO/VP/Director‑level stakeholders.
• Build and nurture strategic client relationships to drive satisfaction and retention.
• Collaborate with account teams to support account growth, renewal, and governance initiatives.
• Conduct governance forums, steering committees, and escalation discussions in German where required by the client.

3. People Leadership & Team Management

• Lead large, distributed delivery teams across Germany, European near-shore hubs, and global delivery centres (incl. India).
• Drive a high‑performance culture with focus on capability development and employee engagement.
• Mentor and guide delivery leaders, ensuring alignment to organizational goals and standards.
• Partner with the works council (Betriebsrat), HR, and legal on co-determination topics, restructuring, and workforce changes in line with German employment law (BetrVG, KSchG, AGG).

4. P&L Ownership & Financial Management

• Own and manage the financial performance of a ~EUR 30-70M portfolio.
• Drive revenue growth, profitability, and margin improvement initiatives.
• Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and cost optimization across delivery units.

5. Transformation, Transition & Innovation

• Support transition programs from initiation to steady‑state (BAU).
• Drive transformation initiatives focused on service modernization, automation, and digital adoption.
• Champion continuous improvement, innovation, and adoption of best practices.

Qualifications & Experience

• 18+ years of experience in IT service delivery and operations leadership.
• Strong executive‑level stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Proven experience leading large teams in global delivery environments.
• University degree (Diplom / Bachelor / Master) in Engineering, Computer Science, or IT; MBA preferred.
• Certifications such as ITIL, PMP, Agile, Cloud are highly desirable.
• Business-fluent German (minimum C1, native level preferred) and fluent English, both written and spoken.
• Proven delivery or portfolio leadership experience with German or DACH-based clients; familiarity with German business and governance culture.
• Valid right to work in Germany / EU citizenship or an existing EU work permit (Blue Card / Aufenthaltstitel).
• Working knowledge of German employment and co-determination practice (Betriebsrat) and EU data protection (GDPR/DSGVO).
• Willingness to travel within Germany and the DACH region; based in or willing to relocate to the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main area.

Digital Foundation Services – Skills Required

• Digital Workplace: end-user computing and device lifecycle, VDI/DaaS, Microsoft 365 and Intune/Autopilot, collaboration and unified communications, modern service desk, and experience-led management (XLAs, digital experience monitoring).
• Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure: Azure, AWS, and GCP delivery at scale, migration and application modernization, containers/Kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code, VMware and private/hybrid cloud, and FinOps-based cost optimization.
• Cyber Security: security operations (SOC/SIEM/SOAR), identity and access management (IAM/PAM), zero-trust architecture, endpoint and network security, vulnerability and patch management, and compliance with ISO 27001, BSI IT-Grundschutz, NIS2, and DORA.
• Artificial Intelligence & Automation: AI-savvy leadership with practical exposure to GenAI and agentic AI use cases in IT operations (AIOps), intelligent automation and RPA, observability and self-healing platforms, and awareness of the EU AI Act and responsible-AI governance.
• IT Infrastructure & Data Center Management: data centre and colocation operations, compute, storage, backup, and disaster recovery/business continuity, network services (LAN/WAN, SD-WAN), Unix/Linux and Windows platforms, and database and middleware operations.
• Service Management & Tooling: ITIL v4 process ownership, ServiceNow or equivalent ITSM platforms, SLA/KPI and XLA governance, and DevOps/SRE ways of working.
• Commercial & Technical Fluency: ability to shape solutions, review technical proposals and RFPs, and translate DFS capability into client outcomes for CXO-level stakeholders.