Job Purpose

Bauer is on a journey to evolve its approach to Enterprise Technology across the Group. This role sits at the heart of the Technology Leadership Team, bringing together strategy, portfolio and operational excellence into a single, joined-up view of Enterprise Technology across the Group.
The Director of Enterprise Technology Strategy & Portfolio is a dual-purpose leadership role. Acting as a trusted partner to the SVP Technology, the individual will shape and coordinate Technology strategy and portfolio decisions, while also driving the operational rigour, process discipline and cross-market consistency needed for a large, distributed Technology function to perform at its best across all markets. This role is the main connector between Enterprise Technology and the wider Group, ensuring strategy, planning and delivery are aligned and mutually reinforcing.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Portfolio Oversight

• Partner with the SVP and Technology leaders to shape and evolve an integrated Enterprise Technology strategy across all Group functions, Lines of Business and markets.
• Own the Group-wide Technology portfolio view — surfacing demand, dependencies, risks and delivery plans so resources are focused on the most important outcomes.
• Lead portfolio governance and prioritisation, working with all Enterprise areas to establish best practice for project tracking, prioritisation and delivery management.
• Translate strategic ambition into clear, actionable plans, KPIs and operating rhythms that stay aligned with business needs and emerging opportunities.

Group-Wide Operational Excellence

• Drive operational excellence across the whole Technology team, ensuring a large, distributed group performs at its best across all markets.
• Design, standardise and continuously improve operational processes across Enterprise Technology teams.
• Lead initiatives that improve efficiency, scalability and productivity, embedding operational rigour in change management, tooling and workflow adoption.
• Track execution against strategic objectives Group-wide, proactively identifying and closing risks and gaps.

SVP Executive Partnership

• Act as a trusted adviser to the SVP Technology and key members of the Technology Leadership Team, running effective leadership rhythms, agenda setting and decision tracking.
• Coordinate cross-functional and cross-LoB activity, preparing executive materials and providing additional leadership capacity for strategic initiatives and special projects.
• Serve as the primary point of integration between Enterprise Technology and stakeholders across Finance, HR, Legal, Procurement and the wider Group.

Financial, Performance & KPI tracking

• Partner with Finance on budgeting, variance analysis and long-range financial planning.
• Optimise capacity allocation across teams, programmes and strategic initiatives, including headcount planning and investment prioritisation.
• Support the definition and tracking of key KPIs across the Group, improving the visibility of roadmaps and performance for the leadership team.

Continuous Improvement, Communications & Stakeholder Engagement

• Drive improvements in how Enterprise Technology operates, collaborates and measures performance across the Group.
• Lead clear, business-focused communication of Technology's value, priorities and outcomes, building strong relationships across Technology and the wider business.
• Build a culture of collaboration and empathy-driven communication, mediating conflicts constructively and ensuring purposeful, well-aligned communication Group-wide.

What You'll Love About This Role

• Think Big: Help shape the future direction of Enterprise Technology at Bauer, from strategic vision through to Group-wide operational delivery.
• Own It: Take end-to-end responsibility for the Technology portfolio, operational performance and leadership rhythms that keep the function focused on the highest-value outcomes.
• Keep it Simple: Turn complex technology, financial, portfolio and operational data into clear, actionable insight that leaders across the Group can quickly understand and act on.
• Better Together: Work closely with the SVP, Technology Leadership Team and stakeholders across LoBs and markets, bringing people together around shared priorities and joined-up delivery.

What You'll Need

Experience & Skills

• Senior technology leadership experience: Significant experience in technology strategy, portfolio management, business operations or transformation in a complex, matrixed organisation — ideally spanning both Group-wide and market-level scope.
• Strategic and portfolio skills: Proven ability to shape strategic direction, lead portfolio planning and prioritisation, and turn strategy into practical plans and measurable outcomes.
• Operational excellence: Track record of designing and embedding operational processes, best practice and continuous improvement across large, distributed technology teams.
• Financial and performance acumen: Strong skills in budget consolidation, planning, reporting and performance management, with a focus on insightful, decision-oriented information.
• Communication and influencing: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate technology value in clear business language and influence senior stakeholders at an executive level.
• Leadership and collaboration: Highly organised and structured, comfortable managing complexity and shifting priorities, with high emotional intelligence and strong conflict-resolution skills.
• AI and digital awareness: Ideally, experience supporting digital, data or AI-related strategy or transformation, and an interest in how emerging technologies can drive Group-wide business value.
• Sector experience: Experience navigating a large matrix organisation; media industry experience is a plus.
• Ability to travel: the Group operates across fourteen different countries with Enterprise Technology serving all of them, regular travel is a requirement of the role.

Further Details

Employment Type: Permanent, full-time
Role Location Type: Hybrid, with travel to multiple Bauer markets
Place of Residence: UK, Germany, or Poland

About Bauer Media Group

We are a media business focused on creating content that matters to millions of people across Europe. Our offering extends from print and online publishing to audio broadcasting and entertainment, alongside investments in other media related sectors. With more than 500 million copies sold each year, we are one of Europe’s largest Publishers. From women’s and celebrities’ magazines to TV listings to food and special interest, we own some of the most popular publishing brands in Germany, UK, Poland and France – both digital and print. But not only that. Reaching over 61 million listeners weekly, we operate over 150 radio and podcast brands in nine countries, spanning the UK, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Portugal. Family-owned in the 5th generation, Bauer Media focuses on the long-term, with a consumer-first mindset that guides us across our diverse portfolio. Our workforce of 12,000 shares a common purpose: to deliver content and services that enrich people‘s everyday lives.

What’s in it for you

• You’ll have 28 days holiday, bank holidays & 2 volunteer days to use.
• Your development matters, so access to our internal training provider – Bauer Academy, is a huge win. 
• We have enhanced Maternity/Adoption, Paternity and Shared Parental Leave Pay.
• You’ll have the opportunity for flexible working. 
• And much more! Find the full details of our benefits here

We are an international employer and equal opportunities are important to us. That's why we welcome everyone in their uniqueness, regardless of e.g. religion, gender, skin color, disability in our house.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or a long term health condition, and need us to make any reasonable adjustments or do anything differently during any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing careershub@bauermedia.co.uk

We are actively recruiting for this position, so the job advert may close earlier than expected.

If you have any feedback regarding our UK recruitment process, please email careershub@bauermedia.co.uk we would love to hear from you.