Head of IT

Competitive Salary

BBF Limited

Blackburn

Hybrid Working

The Head of IT is responsible for leading the organisation’s technology function, ensuring that IT services, infrastructure, systems, security, and support are reliable, secure, cost-effective, and aligned to business priorities. The role combines operational ownership of day-to-day IT delivery with strategic leadership, governance, supplier management, and the development of a technology roadmap that supports growth, resilience, and continuous improvement. This role can be based at either our Blackburn or Hull site with responsibility for supporting business operations across all sites including Poland. Regular travel between sites will be required.

The role of Head of IT for BBF

· IT strategy and roadmap: Develop and maintain an IT strategy that supports business objectives, improves operational effectiveness, and enables future growth.

· Service delivery: Ensure the IT function provides responsive, reliable, and professional support to users across the business, with clear processes, ownership, and performance standards.

· Infrastructure and networks: Oversee the stability, security, performance, and lifecycle management of core infrastructure, including networking, servers, cloud services, end-user devices, and connectivity.

· Cyber security: Lead the organisation’s approach to cyber security, including email security, access controls, endpoint protection, awareness, monitoring, risk management, and incident response.

· Business Resilience: Ownership of backup strategy, disaster recovery testing, incident response and resilience planning.

· Cloud and systems management: Manage and develop Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and other core business platforms to ensure they are secure, well-governed, and fit for purpose.

· Business systems and ERP: Provide leadership and input into the management, improvement, and future direction of business-critical systems, including ERP and associated integrations.

· Budget management: Own and manage IT budgets, ensuring spend is controlled, transparent, commercially justified, and aligned to business priorities.

· Supplier and contract management: Manage third-party providers, contracts, licences, renewals, service levels, procurement, and supplier performance.

· Data, reporting and systems integrity: Ownership of improving data quality, reporting capability, system controls and integration between business platforms

· Governance and compliance: Ensure IT policies, controls, documentation, processes, and standards support security, auditability, operational resilience, and regulatory requirements.

· Team leadership: Lead, develop, and support the IT team, setting clear priorities, expectations, ways of working, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

This is a senior operational and strategic leadership role, expected to influence business decisions, translate technical risk into business terms, and ensure that technology is treated as an enabler of performance rather than simply a support function. The role requires close engagement with finance, operations, commercial teams, site leadership, external partners, and senior stakeholders to ensure IT priorities are aligned with organisational goals.

· Proven experience leading an IT function or managing a broad IT service across infrastructure, systems, support, security, and suppliers. Preferably gain in manufacturing or FMCG

· Strong understanding of Microsoft 365, Azure, networking, cyber security, endpoint management, and business systems.

· Experience managing IT budgets, contracts, licences, procurement, renewals, and third-party service providers.

· Exposure to the following technologies: Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Cisco Meraki, Mimecast, EDI

· Experience of supporting or leading an ERP implementation. Preferably knowledge of Epicor Tropos and Infor S21

· Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate technical topics clearly to non-technical and senior audiences.

· Experience leading, coaching, and developing IT team members, with a focus on service quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

· Commercial awareness and the ability to assess technology investment in terms of risk, value, efficiency, resilience, and business benefit.

Who are BBF Limited?

BBF Limited are one of the UK’s leading ambient cake and chilled dessert manufacturers of retailer own label, licensed and branded cakes, supplying recognisable major retailers across the UK and European market.

Our team of experts develop and manufacture a wide range of high-quality ambient cake products across several different categories including celebration cakes, mini rolls, mince pies, fruit pies and a wide range of chilled desserts including cheesecake, crumbles and sponge cakes. These include mince pies, celebration cakes, slab cakes, cupcakes and many more!

We are passionate about our products and aim to put the customer at the heart of everything we do.

With recent investment and acquisitions taking us to nearly 1,400 direct employees, this is an exciting time to join BBF Limited! We are continually looking to grow, but we can only do that with exceptional talent across all levels and disciplines of the business. That is where you come into it!

On top of making some delicious cakes and desserts, we do a lot of fun stuff too! Whether that be Christmas fun days, pancake-flipping competitions, Red Nose Day events or odd-sock days, you’ll be coming to work smiling.

What benefits do we offer?

Financial

· Competitive Salary

. Car Allownace

. Bonus

· 4x Life Assurance/Death in Service Benefit

Health & Wellbeing

· Family Healthcare

.25 days holiday per annum (plus statutory holidays)

· 24/7 Access to a GP

· 24/7 Bereavement Support

Personal & Professional Development

· Dedicated in-house Learning & Development/Training team

· Online training platform with access to 100+ training courses

A few other bits

· Quarterly and Yearly BBF Star Awards – recognising those who have gone above and beyond!