Principal Engineer (IT Capability & Maturity Assessment)

Job Description Requirements - Experience : 11+ years - Strong professional experience in IT consulting, technology strategy, IT transformation, or a related field, with strong experience assessing and improving IT operating models, processes, and capabilities. - Proven consulting experience with hands-on expertise in IT capability and maturity assessments. - Strong experience designing and executing IT assessment frameworks, applying maturity models and industry best practices, and benchmarking IT capabilities. - Demonstrated ability to translate assessment outcomes into actionable recommendations and phased technology roadmaps. - Strong understanding of IT governance structures, operating models, decision rights, and accountability frameworks. - Strong knowledge of IT Service Management practices, particularly ITIL or similar frameworks covering incident, problem, change, and service request management. - Familiarity with ITSM tools such as ServiceNow. - Strong understanding of SDLC processes including requirements, project management, QA, release, and rollout processes, with exposure to tools such as Jira. - High-level understanding of enterprise and store infrastructure, including networks, WAN/LAN, Wi-Fi, data centers, and cloud environments. - Awareness of cybersecurity principles and controls including IAM, endpoint security, network security, and data protection. - Experience in the retail or QSR domain is an advantage but not mandatory. - Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage franchisee IT teams, business leaders, vendors, and central corporate teams. - Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes, patterns, systemic issues, and improvement opportunities. - Ability to translate technical findings into clear business-focused insights and articulate their impact on operational disruption, cost, scalability, compliance, and customer experience. - Comfortable working with senior leadership and executive stakeholders and presenting assessment findings, insights, recommendations, and roadmaps. - Strong consulting mindset with the ability to work independently, facilitate workshops, manage multiple stakeholders, and deliver high-quality assessment outcomes. Responsibilities - Plan and lead comprehensive IT technology capability and maturity assessments for client franchisees. - Conduct discovery workshops and stakeholder interviews to understand current-state IT capabilities, processes, operating models, and business requirements. - Assess IT maturity across strategy, governance, IT operations, infrastructure, cybersecurity, service management, SDLC, and vendor management. - Design and apply structured IT maturity and capability assessment frameworks using relevant industry practices and benchmarks. - Gather, analyse, score, and synthesize assessment findings across multiple IT domains and franchisee environments. - Identify key capability gaps, risks, process inefficiencies, and areas for improvement across the IT landscape. - Translate assessment findings into actionable, business-focused recommendations and improvement initiatives. - Develop phased technology roadmaps aligned with business priorities, IT maturity, operational needs, and transformation objectives. - Assess IT governance structures, decision rights, accountability models, and operating processes. - Evaluate IT service management practices including incident, problem, change, and service request management, with awareness of tools such as ServiceNow. - Assess SDLC processes covering requirements, project management, QA, release, and rollout activities, including tools such as Jira. - Evaluate high-level store and enterprise infrastructure capabilities including WAN/LAN, Wi-Fi, store networks, data centers, and cloud infrastructure. - Assess cybersecurity fundamentals and controls including IAM, endpoint security, network security, and data protection. - Work closely with franchisee IT leadership, business stakeholders, vendors, and central client teams to validate findings and ensure consistency across assessments. - Present assessment findings, risks, recommendations, and technology roadmaps to senior leadership and executive stakeholders. - Ensure IT recommendations are clearly linked to business outcomes such as operational continuity, cost optimization, scalability, compliance, and customer experience.