Our client in the retail industry is seeking a System Designer to join their team.


Purpose of the role;
The System Designer is responsible for planning, design and oversight of the construction of various parts of the company software package (system). This is a technical, but strategically important role impacting the long term success of the Company.

The System Designer is responsible for:

Influencing the future direction in regard to functionality, development platforms, appearance, operating platforms, and throughput of the system.
Participation in the definition of the overall structure of system modules (taking into consideration the frameworks the company already has in place).
Close cooperation with retail consultants and software developers to ensure that the company applications systems address customer requirements, cater for future expansion, are built to a high quality, and are well received by the customers.
Protection of the strategic vision of the product, to ensure that all development work is performed in a way that improves the value of the overall software package.
Preparation of high level and then detailed software designs involving subsystem and component specification and the relationships between them.
Extensive use of graphical methods in designs and documentation.
Preparation of the design sketches for the user interface.
Preparation of proof of concept software prototypes.
Making user that the physical and logical design of the database adequately address the data, performance requirements, and design specifications.
Maintenance and expansion of accurate, high quality technical and user documentation.
Analysis of user requirements and evaluation of the required effort to deliver the software needed to fulfil the requirements. Such evaluations are then used to estimate development costs.

The System Designer needs to liaise with team members from the following areas the business:

Service delivery (implementation and support)
Project management
Software development

Capabilities, Skills, Knowledge and Personal Qualities

Be trustworthy and reliable.
Able to maintain high energy and a strong positive attitude.
Be highly motivated and have a confident approach when dealing with people.
Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well with others.
Able to make decisions that will not be unacceptable to colleagues at the Management Team level.
Disciplined and well-structured approach to work.
Able to plan and carry out (manage) plans through to the point of realisation 18 months into the future.
Excellent personal presentation, commensurate with the Company Corporate Dress Code and with high professional standards.
Flexible in accepting work assignments and capable of following directions.
The ability to work responsibly without direct supervision.
Able to travel interstate and internationally.

Qualifications

Tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Business or related commercial field.
5 years plus experience in a system design position.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The ability to interact with people at all levels e.g. business owners, project managers, line managers, designers, programmers, end users, etc.
Strong ability to create plans and schedules, to manage tasks on the schedule through to completion, and consistently deliver outputs within the quality standard on time.
The ability to switch between abstract higher level views and specific detailed views.
Able to coach and mentor software developers.
Able to handle multiple tasks and balance the workload based on priority of assignments.
Able to learn the company software applications and their underlying design to the level required to provide advice about the system and its operations.
Strong understanding of commercial software processes and principles.
Strong understanding of the retail industry.
Strong understanding of information technology and its use in retail.
Experience developing both store-level and Head Office retail management systems is an advantage.
The ability to communicate clearly in English over the telephone, in writing, and in person is essential.
The ability to handle all communication, whether verbal or in writing, in a professional manner.
Detailed technical knowledge of the software development environment, tools, libraries and programming languages.
Detailed technical knowledge of the Microsoft Windows platform and Microsoft Office applications.