Vice President, Applications and Solutions Delivery

The Vice President of Applications and Solution Delivery will play a critical role in driving the Cooper’s Hawk application strategy through product management, software engineering, SaaS / PaaS platform management, deployment and application operations.  Reporting to the CTO, the VP Applications and Solution Delivery is responsible for the delivery, management, and implementation of applications and solutions that support Cooper’s Hawk customers, team members, and business partners. As a member of the IT senior leadership team, this role is an influential role, making investment and priority trade-off decisions, negotiating and managing vendor contracts, and recruiting and developing high performing teams. This role will be responsible for product management application engineering across IT domains including Wine Club, Restaurants (e.g. POS, inventory management), Digital (mobile app, web) and Martec. Working closely with Business stakeholders across the organization, this role will provide technical leadership to deliver best in class technology solutions that enhance guest and team experience, optimize costs, and drive business value. The VP Applications and Solution Delivery will provide vision and leadership to a team that includes full-time employees, contractors, and 3rd party development resources on and offshore. What You'll Do:

• Lead and inspire the product management and application development team to engage with the business and identify new functionality, develop compelling business cases, prioritize projects and develop plans that maximize return on investment for the company. 
• Lead a team managing all aspects of product management, application development and delivery across multiple functions and business units.
• Effectively initiate, plan, schedule, control, and bring to closure multiple high priority projects.
• Develop and lead a collaborative and Agile software development approach that improves velocity, while maintaining a strong focus on both quality and scalability. 
• Drive the cultural changes necessary to enable a continuous delivery model, and foster a strong focus on automation of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). 
• Foster a strong customer service mind-set throughout the application development team, while championing thought leadership and partnership with the business. 
• Partner with business leaders to create robust solution roadmaps that are integrated with architecture and operations. 
• Seek out, validate, and bring to the technology organization innovative best practices and ideas from the outside, with a particular emphasis on application development methodologies. 
• Identify emerging technology trends, especially in the area of SaaS and cloud computing, and ensure the company is leveraging them when appropriate to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and drive value.
• Ensure that all application development initiatives are well managed and delivered to meet expectations on functionality, timeliness, and cost.
• Develop, implement and monitor software development policies and controls to ensure data accuracy, security, and legal and regulatory compliance
• Partner with internal customers to develop training and deployment plans aimed at maximizing both user adoption and realization of business benefits.
• Prepare product management and software development status reports and keep stakeholders informed of project status and related issues.
• Manage application vendor relationships and negotiate contracts to procure resources and technology solutions to meet the company’s strategic objectives.
• Assure lowest possible cost of ownership of applications through vendor negotiations and benchmarking. 
• Recruit, develop and retain high caliber software development talent, especially for key leadership positions, and develop a succession plan.
• Evaluate team members performance, provide candid feedback and high impact coaching that enables (and motivates) them to achieve departmental as well as enterprise goals.
• Build a culture of innovation and engagement, focusing on strengthening the organization’s employer brand to position Coopers Hawk as an IT employer of choice.   
• Maintain relationships with key business partners and senior industry leaders to leverage best practices, evaluate emerging application technologies, and distribute knowledge internally to inform plans and strategies. 
• Lead others in the development of standardized processes and motivate others to adopt processes and procedures in support of exceptional customer service while reducing costs and eliminating non-value-added processes/activities. 
• Define and monitor key performance indicator (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of applications
• Allocate team resources to ensure quality and timely delivery of features across multiple projects and support services
• Own the relationship with external partners, vendors, and technology providers whose products or services we leverage
• Define and manage the capital and operating budget for areas of responsibility
• Lead multi-discipline, high-performance work teams distributed across on site and remote locations effectively.  
• Develop product and software development strategy utilizing industry standards. Create a roadmap and schedule the implementation of the roadmap based on business requirements and strategy.
• Maintain application and operational strategies in conjunction with other leaders and business executives. 
• Interact with executives across the company to lead the narrative around product management and software engineering

What You'll Need:   

• BS in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or Information Technology or equivalent
• 10+ years’ experience in a senior leadership technology role including oversight of product management, engineering and application strategy
• Demonstrable experience delivering consumer engagement/guest facing technology – in-person and digital driving the customer experience
• 5+ years IT leadership experience in restaurant, retail, or hospitality businesses
• Proven ability to interact and communicate at all levels of an organization.  
• The ability to manage shifting priorities are critical for success in this position 
• 5+ years experience leading internal and 3rd party offshore teams in delivering complex initiatives (multi unit, membership & digital solutions,) 
• 3+ years experience in payment processing and digital transformation
• Experience with high throughput cloud-native distributed systems 
• Experience implementing and consuming large-scale web services platforms 

Other Skills/Abilities:   

• Demonstrated ability to create and successfully execute strategic plans for highly complex issues.
• Deep knowledge of design patterns and full stack engineering

Cooper’s Hawk reviews several factors when establishing compensation. Salaries and hourly wages appearing in a job posting may be published by third parties and may not reflect the salaries or hourly wages offered by Cooper’s Hawk.      Cooper’s Hawk is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Cooper’s Hawk makes reasonable accommodations during all aspects of the employment process, including during the interview process.      The information provided above indicates the general nature and level of work required of the position and is not a comprehensive list of all responsibilities or qualifications. The Benefits list is only a highlight of some of the benefits offered to team members; eligibility for certain benefits apply. 

About Us

Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants was created with the inspiration of bringing the Napa Valley experience to all of America, by combining an elegant tasting room with a polished casual restaurant and scratch kitchen. Cooper's Hawk wines have won hundreds of awards and are the Official Wines of the Screen Actors Guild® Awards. We are built upon the belief that food and wine hold the power to forge a COMMUNITY, and with the world's largest wine club membership, we are paving the way to democratizing the good life!