Sayed Farouk

Own the Club’s operational technology strategy, setting the roadmap to enable best-in-class technology
products to be deployed that enable business outcomes
• Oversee all technology operations (e.g. network security) and evaluate them according to established goals
• Make executive recommendations regarding the Club’s operational technology needs, taking the lead role in
assessing the benefit of projects and making recommendations to the Executive Team / Technology Governance
forum (COO - CCO - CEO - Directors)
• Act as an innovation catalyst, harnessing capabilities across departments, internal and external resources and
developing a cohesive direction for all operational technology
• Own accountability for the technology architecture of the operational pillar of the business
• Align the department with the central Technology tracking, governance and control measurements to ensure
operational and commercial efficiencies, compliance with industry standards (PCI, ISO, etc.) and best practice
Own accountability for the development of annual operating and capital budgets across the operational
technology sphere
• Act as a mentor, harnessing talent, furthering your team’s skills and creating development pathways
• Embrace, promote and drive diversity and inclusion across the Club
• Use influence to become a trusted voice on technology in the Club, driving strategic improvements and bringing
resources together to maximum effect
• Lead the Operational Technology department and act as credible technology business partners with a service
and product mindset who enable business outcomes through agile working

•Developing and maintaining IT strategies, policies, and procedures that align with Black tomato’s goals and objectives.
•Planning and executing IT projects, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and meet business requirements.
•Managing and monitoring the Black Tomato infrastructure, including servers, networks, security, and telecommunications systems.
•Manage and monitor the 3rd parties and outsourced performance and SLAs
•Overseeing the development and maintenance of software applications, ensuring they meet business requirements and comply with industry standards.
•Managing vendor relationships and negotiating contracts for IT products and services.
•Developing and maintaining the IT budget, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively and efficiently.
•Identifying opportunities for process improvements to enhance Black Tomato efficiency and effectiveness.
•Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards, including GDPR, PCI DSS and data privacy and security.
•Staying up-to-date with emerging technology trends and making recommendations for their integration into Black Tomato systems
•Develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans to ensure Black Tomato systems are resilient and able to recover from disruptions.
•Manage and mitigate IT risks, including cybersecurity risks, through adequate controls and processes.
•Collaborate with other departments to identify and address IT-related issues that impact business operations.
•Ensuring that IT systems are fully integrated with other business systems and processes, including marketing and sales.
•Managing IT projects from concept to completion, including planning, scheduling, and monitoring project progress.
•Evaluating and selecting new IT technologies and vendors to meet the Black Tomato changing needs.

Operations Manager and Deputy Head of IT
Identifying user requirements and the technology solutions available to meet business requirements.
Providing high quality IT management combining the functions of projects & support. This include
managing and monitoring the MUFC Applications team and provide the best possible level of service, plus coaching and mentoring, as well as training and development.
Oversee the project planning and time management of all Application system projects across the MUFC FC sites, training grounds and where appropriate lead major projects.

Overall
1. Lead the development of business systems strategy ensuring that the systems fully support the
requirements of the business.
2. Manage Manchester United’s Applications team.
3. Develop a robust ongoing process for a regular strategic update (covering 3-5 years) of all Business
Application systems. This process also factors in all solutions life cycle management.
4. Represent the IT department at all levels of the club and promote the use of IT and ‘good
practice’ within individual departments.
5. Ensure excellent team interaction.
6. Work closely and have a strong relationship with the Infrastructure and Helpdesk teams.
7. Maintain high levels of system availability, performance, reliability and accessibility under a secure framework and where feasible have contingency options and solutions factored in.
8. Ensure all systems deployed are scalable and future-proofed.
9. Work closely with different departments throughout MUFC to ensure that they get the most
from their systems.
10. Ensure robust change management procedures are in place for all system changes and upgrades.
11. Maintain an “IT best practice” culture across all technical areas.
12. Ensure that effective operating cover is provided in the event of IT staff absences/holidays.
13. To keep in regular touch, via market research, on the latest technology trends and drivers.
14. Act as Deputy Head of IT and cover when possible

• Led my team across the Northern Gulf region, including Kuwait-Lebanon-Jordan-Bahrain-Egypt-Morocco
•My role was to serve as the primary point of contact for all IT warehousing-related services.
•Oversee the development and maintenance of the IT strategic plan.
•Review the adequacy and allocation of IT resources in terms of funding, personnel, equipment, and service levels.
•Coordinate priorities between the IT department and user departments.
• Manage development, implementation, and monitoring of IT strategies, policies, and procedures.
•Providing short-term and long-term strategic plans to ensure IT capacity meets existing and future requirements.
•Performing routine team administration tasks as well as team development initiatives.
•Responsible for administration and support of Windows server infrastructure as well as for Design and development of IT Services
•Accountable for management of IT Infrastructure and availability of IT Services, along with operational cost management
•Manage and execute WMS/IT projects
•I was leading the implementation of the service desk project using ITIL best practices. I implemented a service desk across the business. The system was designed to serve all departments across 19 countries. Its capabilities included Mobile Access, Web Access, Self-Service, Hardware Auditing, Reporting, and a Ticketing System.