Digital Transformation Manager
Great Malvern, England, United Kingdom Full-time Posted 3 weeks ago
Function: Digital Transformation Office
Reports to: Director Digital Futures
Shape the future of digital at HBK
HBK is establishing a new Digital Transformation Office (DTO) to accelerate its transformation as a global leader in precision measurement, sensing and industrial technology.
The role is explicitly AI-first: leveraging data, AI, and platform thinking as default design principles rather than optional add-ons.
The Digital Transformation Manager is a senior, business-facing leader responsible for shaping, prioritising and delivering digitally enabled strategic initiatives across HBK. The role works at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and execution, partnering with Product, R&D, Manufacturing, Operations, Commercial and Corporate functions to:
Success in this role will be measured by:
Required Skills & Competencies
Experience & Qualifications
This role sits at the centre of HBK’s ambition to:
At HBK, we believe in freedom with responsibility, enabling a healthy work-life balance and continuous professional development. You will join an international team in an innovative and enjoyable working environment.
About HBK
On January 1, 2019, Brüel & Kjær and HBM merged to form HBK (Hottinger Brüel & Kjær). With over 3,500 employees worldwide, production facilities in Denmark, Germany, the UK, the USA, China, and Portugal, and a presence in 80 countries, HBK is a global leader in test and measurement solutions. Learn more at https://www.hbkworld.com.
Reports to: Director Digital Futures
Shape the future of digital at HBK
HBK is establishing a new Digital Transformation Office (DTO) to accelerate its transformation as a global leader in precision measurement, sensing and industrial technology.
The role is explicitly AI-first: leveraging data, AI, and platform thinking as default design principles rather than optional add-ons.
The Digital Transformation Manager is a senior, business-facing leader responsible for shaping, prioritising and delivering digitally enabled strategic initiatives across HBK. The role works at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and execution, partnering with Product, R&D, Manufacturing, Operations, Commercial and Corporate functions to:
- Identify high-value digital opportunities
- Translate ideas into well-defined initiatives and programmes
- Oversee delivery to measurable outcomes
- Establish and operate portfolio governance and PMO disciplines
- Digital Strategy & Ideation
- Partner with senior business leaders to identify, frame and shape digital transformation opportunities aligned to HBK’s strategy.
- Facilitate ideation workshops using AI-first, data-first and platform-led approaches.
- Challenge problem statements to ensure focus on business value, scalability and reuse, not point solutions.
- Translate strategic themes into discrete initiatives with clear hypotheses, value drivers and success measures.
- Initiative Definition & Business Case Development
- Lead end-to-end initiative definition including:
- Problem statement and outcome definition
- Target-state processes and operating models
- Data, AI, platform, cyber and integration implications
- High-level architecture and delivery approach
- Develop robust business cases including value sizing (financial and non-financial), risks, dependencies and change impacts.
- Ensure alignment with HBK standards for architecture, security, compliance, and IP protection.
- Portfolio Management & PMO Leadership
- Co-define and continuously evolve the Digital Transformation PMO methodology, covering:
- Portfolio intake and prioritisation
- Funding and capacity allocation
- Stage gates and decision forums
- Benefits tracking and value realisation
- Operate portfolio-level oversight across initiatives, ensuring:
- Strategic alignment
- Delivery predictability
- Dependency and risk management
- Provide clear, executive-level portfolio reporting, including RAG status, value delivery, risks and decision requests.
- Execution Oversight & Delivery Governance
- Work with delivery teams (internal and partners) across:
- AI & data
- Platform and cloud engineering
- OT/IT convergence
- Cybersecurity
- Ensure delivery teams apply modern delivery practices (Agile/Hybrid) while operating effectively in engineering and manufacturing contexts.
- Actively remove blockers, manage escalations, and course-correct delivery where needed.
- AI, Data & Platform Enablement
- Embed AI as a core design principle, focusing on:
- Decision automation
- Insight generation
- Engineering productivity
- Customer value creation
- Partner with AI, Data, Platform and Cyber Centres of Excellence to:
- Reuse shared capabilities
- Avoid duplication
- Accelerate time-to-value
- Promote responsible AI practices, data governance, and security-by-design.
- Change & Stakeholder Leadership
- Drive strong engagement across business, engineering and technology communities.
- Support adoption through change, communication and capability uplift.
- Act as a visible role model for digital ways of working and outcome-led delivery.
Success in this role will be measured by:
- Realised business value from digital initiatives
- Quality and robustness of initiative pipeline and portfolio
- Predictability and transparency of delivery
- Executive confidence in digital investment decisions
- Effective reuse of AI, data and platform capabilities
Required Skills & Competencies
- Digital strategy execution in complex, engineering-led organisations
- Strong AI literacy – able to identify and apply AI use cases (not necessarily hands-on model building)
- Portfolio and programme management at scale
- Business case development and value realisation
- Executive stakeholder management and facilitation
- Working knowledge of:
- Data platforms and analytics
- AI/ML applications in industrial, engineering or manufacturing contexts
- Cloud and platform architectures
- Cybersecurity and compliance considerations
- Experience operating across IT, OT, software, hardware and product environments is highly valued.
- Strong grounding in Agile, hybrid and scaled delivery models (e.g., SAFe, Spotify-inspired, or custom enterprise models).
- Comfortable balancing:
- Speed vs safety
- Experimentation vs standardisation
- Global vs local needs
- Experience working with external partners and system integrators.
- Outcome-oriented, pragmatic and commercially minded
- Confident influencing without formal authority
- Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity
- Strong systems-thinking and problem-framing skills
- Clear, concise communicator at executive level
Experience & Qualifications
- Significant experience in digital transformation, technology strategy, or large-scale change roles
- Proven experience delivering digital initiatives within:
- Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial technology, Regulated or IP-sensitive environments
- Track record of operating at portfolio or programme level, not only project delivery
- Experience in AI- or data-led transformation programmes
- Background in management consulting, internal transformation offices, or enterprise PMOs
- Exposure to global, matrixed organisations
This role sits at the centre of HBK’s ambition to:
- Scale AI and digital innovation responsibly
- Leverage platforms and data as strategic assets
- Align technology investment to measurable business outcomes
- Transform how ideas move from concept to value across a global engineering enterprise
At HBK, we believe in freedom with responsibility, enabling a healthy work-life balance and continuous professional development. You will join an international team in an innovative and enjoyable working environment.
About HBK
On January 1, 2019, Brüel & Kjær and HBM merged to form HBK (Hottinger Brüel & Kjær). With over 3,500 employees worldwide, production facilities in Denmark, Germany, the UK, the USA, China, and Portugal, and a presence in 80 countries, HBK is a global leader in test and measurement solutions. Learn more at https://www.hbkworld.com.
