Applications Manager

A leading distribution business is looking to appoint an Applications Manager to take ownership of its application landscape and support its ongoing technology transformation.

With a complex portfolio of business-critical systems supporting operations across multiple businesses, the organisation is focused on improving system integration, operational efficiency and the overall customer experience.

This is an opportunity to take a leading role in shaping the application strategy, developing a capable team and ensuring technology continues to meet the evolving needs of the business.

About the Role

Lead the team responsible for the performance, support and strategic development of the business’s application portfolio.

You will own the application roadmap, ensuring systems remain reliable, secure, integrated and aligned with business priorities. Working closely with senior stakeholders, technical teams and external suppliers, you will translate business requirements into a clear, prioritised plan that balances day-to-day service delivery with longer-term improvement and transformation initiatives.

This role requires a combination of strategic thinking, hands-on leadership and strong commercial awareness, with responsibility for application lifecycle management, supplier performance, service quality and continuous improvement., * Application Strategy & Ownership: Take responsibility for the application portfolio, including ERP, warehouse management integrations, finance, transport, forecasting, reporting, document management and e-commerce platforms.

• Roadmap & Transformation: Develop and maintain a prioritised application roadmap, balancing business demand, system upgrades, transformation projects, operational resilience and technical debt.
• Team Leadership: Lead, coach and develop the applications team, including implementation and ERP consultants, establishing clear accountability, service standards and development objectives.
• Service Delivery: Oversee application support, incidents, problems, requests and changes, ensuring systems remain reliable, secure and fit for purpose.
• Business Stakeholder Management: Work closely with business leaders, process owners and delivery teams to understand requirements, agree priorities and ensure technology improvements deliver measurable benefits.
• Supplier & Commercial Management: Manage strategic technology suppliers against contracts, service-level agreements, performance expectations, risk and cost, supporting procurement, renewals and investment decisions.
• Systems Integration & Governance: Work with architecture, infrastructure, data and security teams to maintain a coherent application landscape, with appropriate standards for integration, access, testing, change and compliance.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to simplify the application landscape, reduce duplication, address legacy constraints and improve efficiency, resilience and long-term sustainability.
• Risk Management: Monitor and escalate application, cyber security, continuity and supplier risks, providing clear recommendations and ensuring appropriate controls are maintained., This is an opportunity for an experienced Applications Manager to make a significant impact within an established distribution business, taking ownership of a complex technology landscape and helping shape its future direction.

• Proven experience leading an applications, enterprise systems or application support team within a complex business environment.
• Experience owning a multi-system application portfolio and developing a strategic application roadmap.
• A strong understanding of enterprise applications, SaaS platforms, integrations, data flows and application lifecycle management.
• Experience within a distribution, retail or supply chain environment, with exposure to ERP and warehouse management systems. Sage X3 experience would be particularly relevant.
• A track record of improving application service delivery, managing technology change and delivering continuous improvement.
• Strong supplier management experience, including contracts, SLAs, service performance, budgets and commercial negotiations.
• The ability to balance strategic planning with operational priorities, ensuring business-critical systems continue to perform effectively.
• Excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence senior business leaders and work collaboratively across technical and non-technical teams., * Applications
• Distribution
• ERP
• Supply Chain
• Sage X3
• IT
• System Integration
• Warehouse Management

Cast UK is a leading executive consultancy, providing national recruitment solutions to both clients and candidates. Specialising in HR, Procurement, Buying, Supply Chain, and Logistics, each member of our specialist team has a professional background specific to their recruiting sector. With this unique insight and knowledge, our consultants are able to place individuals from trainee through to main board. For more information on Cast UK and a complete list of all of our current vacancies, please visit www.castuk.com.