Director, IT Applications

Overview

Trinseo is a different kind of global materials company - at the intersection of people, technology, and customers. We are a world leader in the production of plastics and latex binders. Our culture is built on passion and innovation.

A career at Trinseo presents a unique opportunity to work in a highly collaborative environment. Helping customers solve their most complex material challenges is the reason we come to work each day. We are seeking innovative thinkers - ready to tackle any challenge and passionate about delivering value.

As a global materials solutions provider focused on delivering innovative and sustainable solutions to our customers, we need people to feel respected and included so they can be more creative, innovative, and successful. We strive to create workplaces that reflect all communities and customers we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work. That's why we're fully committed to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience to drive us forward every day.

Overview:

The IT Director, Enterprise Applications & Architecture is a strategic business and technology leader who shapes the enterprise technology landscape and delivers scalable, secure, and high-value solutions. This role builds trusted partnerships with senior business leaders, translates strategy into executable roadmaps, and leads high-performing teams that enable operational excellence, growth, and digital transformation.

The Director leads Enterprise Applications and provides executive oversight of Enterprise Architecture and Business Intelligence & Analytics through the Enterprise Architect, who leads both the Enterprise Architecture team and the Data & Analytics team. The role is accountable for SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA, application modernization, architecture governance, process optimization, reporting, analytics, and global solution delivery, balancing reliable day-to-day operations with long-term modernization and readiness to resume the SAP ECC-to-S/4HANA transformation when business priorities and timing are confirmed.

Success requires an influential, outcomes-oriented leader who can simplify complexity, develop talent, strengthen governance, and guide investment decisions across a global application and technology portfolio.

Responsibilities

Business Relationship Management

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders, translating strategic priorities and operational challenges into clear technology roadmaps and investment decisions.

• Build strong partnerships across Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Commercial, and other business functions.

• Establish shared priorities, decision rights, ownership, and measurable outcomes across business and technology teams.

• Engage senior stakeholders regularly to assess satisfaction, identify emerging needs, and address concerns early.

• Communicate complex technology topics in clear business language and influence decisions through transparency, listening, and follow-through.

• Co-create multiyear capability and application roadmaps with business leaders, supported by clear value cases, adoption plans, and sustainable operating models.

Application Strategy and Portfolio Management

• Define and execute a global enterprise technology and applications strategy aligned with business priorities, architecture principles, and digital transformation goals.

• Lead the governance, support, enhancement, and optimization of Trinseo's application landscape, including SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA, and integrated business systems.

• Own the application lifecycle and multiyear roadmap, improving resilience, standardization, user experience, modernization, and return on technology investment.

• Provide strategic direction and executive oversight for Business Intelligence & Analytics capabilities through the Enterprise Architect and Data & Analytics team, ensuring reporting, dashboards, analytics, and business insights support decision-making and operational performance.

• Partner with business leaders to improve end-to-end processes across manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, commercial operations, finance, and HR.

• Oversee application projects, upgrades, transformations, and continuous improvement initiatives that improve business performance and user experience.

• Drive portfolio decisions using transparent measures of business value, risk, cost, technical health, strategic alignment, and capacity.

Organization Leadership and Talent Development

• Build a forward-looking workforce strategy for Enterprise Applications and, through the Enterprise Architect, the Enterprise Architecture and Data & Analytics teams, addressing critical capabilities, team capacity, succession, career development, and readiness for evolving business and technology needs.

• Build a culture of trust, collaboration, inclusion, and continuous learning.

• Lead, coach, and inspire a globally distributed team with clear goals, empowered decision-making, meaningful feedback, and development opportunities.

• Build an effectively blended workforce of employees, contractors, managed-service providers, and strategic partners.

Enterprise Architecture and Transformation Readiness

• Provide direct leadership, coaching, and performance management for the Enterprise Architect, who reports to this role and leads both the Enterprise Architecture team and the Data & Analytics team; oversee the teams’ capabilities, priorities, performance, and collaboration, and set the vision, standards, governance, and roadmaps that connect business strategy with technology investment.

• Guide the evolution of the current and target-state application landscape, ensuring roadmaps, integrations, and modernization initiatives align with enterprise architecture principles and business outcomes.

• Maintain ERP transformation readiness through proactive assessment of architecture, application rationalization, integrations, technical debt, process alignment, data dependencies, and delivery capacity.

• Support and optimize SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA environments while preserving the plans, knowledge, and capabilities needed to restart the transformation when authorized.

• Oversee data architecture, data platforms, and analytics delivery through the Enterprise Architect, who retains day-to-day leadership responsibility for the Enterprise Architecture and Data & Analytics teams and ensures close alignment with Enterprise Applications, AI, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and business stakeholders.

AI and Application Innovation Support

• Partner with IT's AI Lead, business stakeholders, and vendors to identify and scale responsible AI-enabled capabilities that improve business outcomes, productivity, and user experience.

• Align application AI opportunities with company AI strategy, governance, security requirements, and business priorities.

• Develop Applications team skills to support AI-enabled application capabilities, embedded intelligence, and automation opportunities.

• Partner with the AI, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and business teams to assess technical, operational, architectural, data, analytics, and governance impacts.

Operational Excellence and Governance

• Ensure secure, reliable, and compliant application, architecture, data, and analytics operations in partnership with the Enterprise Architect, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and other technology teams.

• Provide executive oversight of the support, governance, and continuous improvement of Business Intelligence & Analytics platforms through the Enterprise Architect and Data & Analytics team, informed by business stakeholder priorities.

• Manage application budgets, vendor relationships, software licensing, and technology investments.

• Define and monitor service levels, experience measures, delivery performance, and operational health, using insights to drive continuous improvement.

• Ensure effective governance, risk management, and compliance processes across the application portfolio.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, Business Information Systems, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.

• 10+ years of progressive technology leadership in enterprise applications, architecture, or related digital capabilities within a complex global environment.

• Experience leading SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA environments in global manufacturing.

• Experience with large-scale ERP transformation, application modernization, or migration.

• Experience leading enterprise architecture governance, standards, and roadmaps aligned with business strategy.

• Experience assessing, developing, and leading technical teams through organizational and technology change.

• Experience evaluating emerging technologies and AI-enabled applications preferred.

• Executive oversight of Data & Analytics, including platforms, reporting, analytics, governance, and performance insights.

• Strong knowledge of manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, finance, HR, and commercial processes.

• Success managing large technology initiatives, vendors, budgets, and cross-functional partnerships.

• Knowledge of IT service management, Agile delivery, application governance, and AI governance.

Key Competencies

• Talent Development

• Strategic Leadership

• Business Partnership

• SAP and ERP Expertise

• Application Portfolio Strategy

• Enterprise Architecture

• Talent Development

• Innovation and AI

• Data & Analytics Oversight

• Financial and Vendor Management

• Change Leadership and Influence

• Problem Solving and Decisions

• Customer and Business Value Focus

Equity and Inclusion With our expanding global presence, cross-cultural insight and competence are essential for our ongoing success. We believe that a diverse workforce contributes different perspectives, experiences, and creative ideas that enable us to continue to improve every day. Race, gender, ethnicity, country of origin, age, personal style, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion, work and life experiences and many more factors contribute to this diversity. We welcome all applicants, regardless of their backgrounds, and are committed to a fair and inclusive hiring process.