Director Tech

With 600 brick-and-mortar stores, two online channels, and its own warehouse, Gall & Gall is one of the largest retail chains in the Netherlands. The Gall & Gall Director Tech will join this market leader to continue producing retail technology innovations. 

About Gall & Gall

The name Gall & Gall is so well established that we no longer say “we are going to the liquor store”, but “we are going to Gall & Gall” when we want to treat ourselves to some alcoholic drinks. This liquor specialist has been in business since 1884 when founder Maria Gall decided that she could make a good living out of a liquor store. Her motto – “No order too big, no order too small, no order too far” – still rings true after all these years. Today, you run into your Gall & Gall around the corner, online, and on the way to wherever you might be going.

Gall & Gall has been part of the Dutch-Belgian Ahold Delhaize conglomerate family since 1989. With retail chains and e-businesses in 11 different countries, some 50 million people shop at one of their 22 chains every week. In addition to Gall & Gall, their brands include Albert Heijn, bol.com, Etos, and American supermarkets Stop & Shop, Food Lion, and Giant.

After nearly 140 years, Maria’s liquor store has become the Dutch market leader in the liquor segment, not only as a brick-and-mortar retailer but online, as well. There has been plenty of visible investment in the front-end of the platform, but the backend is still built on a range of legacy systems that can sometimes be a stumbling block to a successful omnichannel customer experience. “Fixing the core” is the first step. After that, the focus will shift to strengthening platform integration with sister brands and continuing to develop the current omnichannel strategy.

Those plans are ready to go, and that will be a task for the Director Tech. In addition to running the entire Gall & Gall tech department, of course.

Vacancy: Director Tech

The Director Tech will take a deep dive into the core technical processes at Gall & Gall, updating everything, showing legacy systems the door, investing in future-proof systems, and integrating them together. The Director Tech will be responsible for creating an IT landscape that is fully aligned with Gall & Gall’s commercial objective: to be where the customer is.

In addition to investing in technology for the long term, the Director Tech will make sure there is always a “reliable run” environment. That means they will design the platform so well that the likelihood of failure is virtually non-existent. And when failures unexpectedly happen, online or in-store? They will be able to solve them in no time. Creative thinking based on a test-and-learn approach is a must-have in this role.

The Tech Director is a member of the MT and will operate independently within Gall & Gall, while still working closely with parent company Ahold Delhaize. That synergy is what makes this role especially interesting. The Director Tech will have a hands-on role in sharing and scaling technology. The Gall & Gall Director Tech will collaborate with the Etos Director Tech, the CIO/CTO for Albert Heijn, Gall & Gall and Etos, and others who work on these projects. They will also report to the CIO/CTO.

“The ideal candidate is someone with IT experience in the broadest sense of the word, and a digital native who can win over senior management and the board with their plans to make Gall & Gall the omnichannel frontrunner in the Netherlands.” – Gerhard van der Bijl, CIO/CTO for Albert Heijn, Gall & Gall, Etos

The Director Tech will develop and implement a long-term tech roadmap to help paint a clear picture of tech investments. Gall & Gall’s business roadmap guides the company’s strategy, but it is not always aligned with IT. So the Director Tech will be facing the continuous challenge of setting the right technical priorities based on that map, as well. They will need a strong personality, the ability to maintain a solid overview, and a can-do mentality.

To make innovative retail technology a reality, the Director Tech will lead a team of 20-25 FTEs and manage the partners from the Tech Partner Ecosystem. This team is responsible for E-commerce, Logistics, Data, and IT operations. The Director Tech can build their tech team as they see fit. They will need to take a cost-effective approach and know when it is wise to solve something themselves and when to bring in vendors or digital agencies. Within the team, they will facilitate agile collaboration with the business side.

The Director Tech will have the opportunity to work in a dynamic organization with an open culture. Nearly all meetings are still held in Dutch, so a solid grasp of the Dutch language is essential for this position. And working at Ahold Delhaize means they can count on a strong focus on personal growth.

Interested?

Gall & Gall works with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, contact Hayke Tjemmes at hayke.tjemmes@topofminds.com