Demand Manager

Key responsibilities

Manage IT request intake: Act as the central point for new IT demands from the business units.

Requirement gathering and validation: Work with business stakeholders to clearly define requirements, and ensure requests are properly validated and documented.

Feasibility and estimation: Evaluate the feasibility of requests, working with IT to develop accurate effort and cost estimations.

Prioritization: Facilitate the prioritization of IT demands based on factors like business value, resource availability, and strategic alignment.

Stakeholder communication: Maintain strong relationships with business partners and IT providers, ensuring transparent communication throughout the demand-to-delivery lifecycle.

Demand tracking: Maintain an up-to-date register to track the status of all demands and ensure traceability from intake to delivery.

Process improvement: Continuously evaluate and recommend improvements to the demand management process to enhance efficiency and accuracy.

Core Responsibilities

Key duties and responsibilities of an IT Demand Manager include:

Demand Intake and Structuring: Serving as the single point of contact for new business-initiated IT requests, reviewing them for clarity and completeness before formal submission.

Stakeholder Collaboration: Acting as the relationship manager between IT and business units, facilitating communication to understand current and future IT needs.

Prioritization and Conflict Resolution: Facilitating meetings with stakeholders to prioritize conflicting demands based on organizational capacity, risk factors, and value.

Estimation and Feasibility: Coordinating the estimation process with internal and external IT providers, validating estimates for feasibility, capacity, and cost-effectiveness using benchmarks and historical data.

Demand Tracking and Reporting: Maintaining a transparent demand register to track the status of all requests and providing executive-level reports and dashboards on the demand pipeline, trends, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Capacity and Resource Planning: Working with capacity management and resource planning teams to ensure the IT department has sufficient resources and capacity to meet current and anticipated demand.

Process Improvement: Continuously evaluating current processes and delivery methods (e.g., Agile, DevOps, ITIL methodologies) to identify and implement improvements for streamlining the demand-to-delivery lifecycle.

Vendor and Supplier Management: Liaising with procurement and external suppliers to ensure they have adequate capacity and contractual coverage for estimated work.

Key Skills & Qualifications

Analytical Skills: Strong ability to analyze data, interpret market/business trends, and use statistical models for forecasting.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills: Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills to work effectively with diverse stakeholders, from technical teams to senior executives.

Project & Process Management Expertise: Demonstrated experience in project management methodologies and IT service management (ITSM) frameworks, such as ITIL, is often required.

Technical Knowledge: A solid understanding of IT infrastructure, enterprise software applications, and IT systems is essential.

IT and business acumen: A solid understanding of the IT demand-to-delivery lifecycle and how IT supports business goals.

Problem-solving skills: Ability to identify and resolve conflicts or challenges within the demand process.

Education & Experience: A bachelor's or master's degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field, along with several years of relevant professional experience in demand planning or IT management.