Northallerton / hybrid
circa £85,000 + pension
Please note applications are being managed by Allcroft Associates. For more information and to apply please visit their website - Assistant Director, Digital and Technology - Allcroft Associates
About Broadacres
Broadacres is a not-for-profit rural housing association based in Northallerton, providing homes and services across North Yorkshire’s rural communities, market towns and surrounding areas.
We own, manage and invest in more than 7,000 homes, and our work is rooted in a clear social purpose: helping people to live safely, affordably and well in places they are proud to call home.
Digital and technology have a central role to play in how we deliver that purpose. Like many organisations with a broad geography, a mobile workforce and a wide range of customer needs, we need systems, data and technology that make services easier to access, simpler to deliver and better connected across the organisation.
Broadacres has already made important progress. Salesforce is in place as our CRM, alongside core systems including Aareon QL, DRS Scheduling and Business Central. The next step is to bring these foundations together into a clearer, more integrated digital roadmap: one that improves how systems connect, strengthens data quality and insight, supports frontline colleagues and gives customers better, more responsive services.
This is where the Assistant Director, Digital and Technology will have a real impact. You will lead the digital and technology function, but this is not a role about keeping the lights on. It is about shaping how Broadacres uses technology to improve services, support better decisions, strengthen cyber resilience and enable the organisation to work in a more joined-up, efficient and customer-focused way.
You will be joining at an important point. Broadacres has the ambition, systems and committed colleagues to move forward, but we need a senior digital leader who can bring clarity, confidence and momentum to the next stage. Someone who can develop the roadmap, make the case for investment, improve the fundamentals and help colleagues see technology as a practical enabler of better outcomes.
For a digital and technology leader who wants to make a visible difference in a purpose-led organisation, this is a substantial opportunity to shape the future of services across rural North Yorkshire.
The opportunity
This is a significant senior leadership opportunity at the centre of Broadacres’ next phase.
As Assistant Director, Digital and Technology, you will be the most senior digital and technology leader in the organisation. Sitting within the new Transformation Directorate and reporting to the Director of Transformation, you will lead the digital and technology function while working across Broadacres to ensure systems, data, cyber security and digital capability directly support better services, stronger performance and improved customer outcomes.
This is not a traditional IT leadership role. Broadacres needs someone who can lead the function well, but who can also operate as a strategic organisational leader. The role will combine operational responsibility for Digital and Technology services with the wider opportunity to shape the digital roadmap, improve systems integration, strengthen data foundations and make technology a practical enabler of service improvement.
Broadacres has made progress with Salesforce and uses it as a CRM, but the wider digital roadmap is still developing. Core systems include Aareon QL, DRS Scheduling, Salesforce and Business Central. The opportunity now is to create a more joined-up, integrated and confident digital environment that supports colleagues, customers and the wider transformation programme.
You will inherit a committed team and important systems infrastructure, but there is also a clear need to improve integration, data quality, digital confidence and the practical use of technology across the organisation.
The impact
This role will be central to how Broadacres builds stronger digital foundations for the future.
You will:
Lead digital and technology across Broadacres.
Develop and deliver a clear digital and technology strategy, vision and roadmap.
Build the short, medium and five-year view of digital investment and development.
Lead a Digital Transformation Board, helping the organisation sequence priorities against business need, risk, investment and deliverability.
Improve integration across core systems, including Salesforce, Business Central, Aareon QL and DRS.
Strengthen data management, data quality, reporting and insight.
Lead the development of a cyber security strategy and plan, ensuring Broadacres has secure, resilient and scalable digital foundations.
Oversee Digital and Technology operations, service desk performance, infrastructure, development, telephony and cyber security.
Support frontline colleagues with practical, usable technology, including property services and mobile teams.
Build digital confidence and capability across the organisation.
Lead the development of an AI strategy and roadmap, ensuring any adoption is ethical, proportionate and linked to improved customer and colleague experience.
Manage digital and technology budgets of circa £1.5m across revenue and capital.
Work closely with the Director of Transformation to ensure digital is embedded in the wider transformation programme.
The successful candidate will need to be both strategic and practical. You will be able to develop a credible roadmap and investment case, but also improve the fundamentals, support colleagues and make digital change feel useful, understandable and deliverable.
Location and working pattern
Broadacres is based in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
This role will require visible leadership and regular presence with colleagues. The exact working pattern will be discussed with the successful candidate, but candidates should expect to spend meaningful time on site, typically two to three days per week, in order to build relationships, understand the organisation and support delivery.
This is not a remote technology role. It is a visible senior leadership appointment requiring presence, credibility and close engagement across Broadacres.
The person
We are looking for a credible digital and technology leader who can combine strategic thinking with practical delivery.
You may come from housing, local government, health, care, utilities, wider public services, regulated customer service environments, infrastructure, property-led organisations or another complex, purpose-led organisation. Housing sector experience would be helpful, but it is not essential where candidates bring the right digital capability, values and ability to work in a regulated, customer-focused environment.
Your experience is likely to include:
Leading an ICT, digital or technology function.
Developing and delivering digital strategy, technology roadmaps and investment plans.
Leading digital transformation programmes with associated capital investment, business cases and benefits realisation.
Improving systems integration, data management and data maturity.
Strengthening cyber security, resilience and governance.
Leading ICT service delivery, infrastructure, service desk, development and supplier relationships.
Working with senior stakeholders and translating technology into business, service and customer outcomes.
Supporting digital change in a complex organisation with multiple systems, stakeholders and priorities.
You will also demonstrate:
Strong leadership skills and the ability to develop a high-performing digital and technology team.
The ability to work beyond the IT function and influence colleagues across the wider organisation.
A practical understanding of systems integration, data, cyber security and digital service delivery.
Good judgement around investment, risk, value for money and organisational readiness.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain digital and technical issues clearly to non-technical audiences.
The ability to build confidence with senior leaders, colleagues and Board members.
A visible, collaborative and values-led leadership style.
A strong social conscience and commitment to Broadacres’ purpose.
Broadacres is not looking for someone who sees the role as traditional IT only. The right person will be an organisational leader who can connect technology to service delivery, finance, culture, customer experience and the wider transformation journey.
Salary and reward
The salary for the role is circa £85,000.
The package also includes:
SHPS defined contribution pension, with 10% employer contribution.
Generous holiday allowance.
Wider benefits package to be confirmed.
This is a permanent senior leadership appointment.
Why this role?
This is an opportunity to join Broadacres at an important point in its journey. The organisation has a clear purpose, strong local connections and an ambition to be the best rural housing association in the country.
Broadacres already has firm foundations, committed colleagues and an important role in rural communities across North Yorkshire. The next phase is about building on those strengths with clearer digital direction, stronger data, better connected systems and technology that makes services easier to deliver and easier for customers to access.
For the right person, this is a chance to bring digital and technology leadership into an organisation where the work will make a visible difference. You will help create the roadmap, systems, data and digital confidence Broadacres needs to deliver better services and stronger outcomes for customers and colleagues.
If you are motivated by the opportunity to lead practical, purposeful digital change in a values-led housing association with real ambition for its customers and communities, this is a compelling opportunity to make a lasting impact.
