Overview
The First Group Hospitality is a Dubai-headquartered, full-service hospitality management company specialising in hotel operations, asset management, and F&B strategy. With a team of industry veterans and a proven track record, the company delivers tailored solutions that enhance efficiency, optimise revenue, and maximise asset value for investors and hotel owners. As a trusted third-party hotel management provider, The First Group Hospitality partners with leading global brands to drive operational excellence and long-term profitability, thanks to expertise spanning property performance optimisation, cost management, and guest experience enhancement. Beyond management, The First Group Hospitality develops and operates a dynamic portfolio of upscale hotels, residences, and award-winning restaurants, creating high-value hospitality assets that stand out in the market.For more information, visit tfghospitality.com
Job Description
The Director of IT – Hospitality is responsible for leading, managing, and continuously improving all technology systems supporting hotel and restaurant operations. This role ensures that IT platforms enable exceptional guest experiences, operational efficiency, and business scalability across hospitality assets. The position has end-to-end accountability for property-level and corporate hospitality IT, including infrastructure, hotel systems, restaurant systems, cybersecurity, vendor management, and IT service delivery. The Director works closely with Operations, Finance, Sales, Marketing, and Property Leadership to ensure technology solutions align with business needs and brand standards.
Hospitality Technology Leadership
- Own and manage all IT systems supporting hotels and restaurants, ensuring high availability, performance, and security.
- Act as the senior technology partner to Hotel Operations, F&B, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Commercial and Corporate Leadership.
- Translate hospitality operational needs into scalable and reliable technology solutions.
Hotel Openings, Re-branding & Transitions
- Lead all IT-related activities for new hotel openings, re-branding projects, and property transitions, ensuring seamless cutover with minimal operational disruption.
- Plan and deliver technology roadmaps for hotel openings, including PMS, POS, networks, guest Wi-Fi, payments, IPTV, and back-office systems.
- Manage technology decommissioning and replacement during re-branding initiatives, ensuring data integrity and system continuity.
- Work closely with Operations, Brand, Finance, and external owners to meet brand standards, timelines, and commercial objectives.
White-Label & Business Development Support
- Partner with the Business Development team to support TFG’s positioning as a white-label hospitality operator.
- Provide technology input into proposals, tenders, and commercial discussions, including system capabilities, integration models, and operating costs.
- Support pre-opening technology due diligence for third-party owned hotels and hospitality assets.
- Design flexible, scalable IT architectures that support multiple brands and ownership models under a white-label operating structure.
Systems & Applications
- Oversee core hospitality systems including:
- Property Management Systems (PMS)
- Point of Sale (POS) systems
- Payment gateways and integrations
- Guest Wi-Fi and networking
- Digital signage, IPTV, and in-room technology
- Workforce management and back-office systems
- Lead system upgrades, migrations, integrations, and rollouts across properties.
Infrastructure & Operations
- Ensure stable, secure, and resilient IT infrastructure across all locations (networks, servers, cloud platforms, endpoints) working in partnership with the TFG Infrastructure team.
- Maintain 24/7 operational readiness for mission-critical hospitality systems.
- Establish and monitor service-level agreements (SLAs) for internal teams and external vendors.
Cybersecurity & Compliance
- Implement and enforce cybersecurity standards, data protection controls, and access management.
- Ensure compliance with PCI-DSS, data privacy regulations, and hospitality industry standards.
- Lead incident response for technology outages or security events.
Vendor & Budget Management
- Manage relationships with technology vendors, system integrators, and service providers.
- Lead vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance management.
- Develop and manage the hospitality IT budget, ensuring cost efficiency and return on investment.
Team Leadership
- Lead and develop hospitality-focused IT teams, including property IT support and central technology functions.
- Build a service-oriented culture with strong accountability, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
- Provide coaching, performance management, and career development for team members.
Strategy & Continuous Improvement
- Contribute to the overall IT strategy with a focus on hospitality innovation and guest experience.
- Identify opportunities to leverage emerging technologies such as automation, cloud platforms, mobile solutions, and data analytics.
- Standardize systems and processes across properties to support growth and operational consistency.
Desired Skill & Expertise
Qualifications and Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or related field.
- 8–12+ years of progressive IT experience, with significant exposure to hospitality IT (hotels and/or restaurants).
- Proven experience managing PMS, POS, payment systems, and multi-site hospitality environments.
- Demonstrated leadership experience managing IT teams and third-party vendors.
- Experience supporting 24/7 operational environments.
Skills and Competencies
- Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or related field.
- 8–12+ years of progressive IT experience, with significant exposure to hospitality IT (hotels and/or restaurants).
- Proven experience managing PMS, POS, payment systems, and multi-site hospitality environments.
- Demonstrated leadership experience managing IT teams and third-party vendors.
- Experience supporting 24/7 operational environments.
- Willingness to provide on-call or after-hours support during critical incidents or system deployments.
- Ability to travel between properties as required
- Commitment to staying current with hospitality technology trends and regulatory requirements