Job Description
Title: Director of Information Technology and Security
Location: Remote
LifeLabs Learning is the source for instantly useful, delightfully unusual, science-backed training for managers and teams. We teach skills to build passionate and high-performing teams faster.
We’re a diverse team of experts who focus on tipping point skills like coaching, feedback, prioritization, and inclusion teaching only the behaviors that lead to the biggest impact in the shortest time. We make these skills stick by helping organizations build them into their culture and systems – and we have fun doing it! Learn more about us here!
Director of Information Technology and Security
We’re looking for a technology and security expert and data-loving efficiency builder. Could that be you? Come help us turn the workplace into a practice lab for learning life’s most useful skills!
Our team is a diverse, close-knit group of researchers, consultants, and experience designers. We get excited about brain science, encourage each other to improve, give frequent feedback, make each other laugh, and have one another’s backs.
As our Director of Information Technology and Security, you will play a key role in getting our internal technology systems, security and compliance caught up to our rapid growth and ambitious vision. We will look to you for insights, strategic system-building, data tracking, and to guide us through our next phase of growth. You will report to our CFO and lead our (currently small) internal Technology group.
Director of Information Technology and Security Accountabilities:
1. Tech Strategy + Systems
Purpose: Make sure we are putting our technology to use wisely to achieve our business goals, and set ourselves up for success in the future.
- Set and communicate an internal technology vision and strategy in alignment with our company goals and values.
- Continuously gather insights and data to ensure that the tech we use is cost-effective, secure, and delightful for Labmate users.
- Propose, implement, and optimize tech solutions to meet current and future needs.
- Monitor the need for upgrades and maintenance to our existing systems.
- Advise on data we should collect to assess performance against company goals.
- Manage, upgrade, and maintain the company’s remote IT infrastructure, including cloud servers, network access, and cloud services (AWS, GCP, etc.)
- Oversee our system for tracking inventory, including hardware and software licenses, and maintain inventory policies and processes.
- Monitor and manage IT service levels, including incident response, problem resolution, and user support, ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction per an internal SLA.
- Audit our company-wide and department-specific systems to advise on opportunities for automation.
2. Security
Purpose: Keep our team and clients secure, ensure our infrastructure is resilient, scalable and compliant.
- Identify and eliminate security risks, and ensure we’re compliant with relevant laws, best practices, and client needs.
- Consistently update business continuity and disaster recovery plans to minimize disruption to business operations in emergency situations or data loss.
- Develop and maintain Security Policies and procedures and perform annual audits; collaborate with legal counsel to update and maintain privacy policies and data processing agreements in compliance with state- and country- specific laws (e.g. GDPR, CCPA, etc). .
- In collaboration with Product, author and maintain a security and privacy roadmap to secure external client-facing product tech stacks.
- Address security needs of clients, including completion and oversight of necessary Data Processing Agreements
3. Vendor Management and IT and Security Investments
Purpose: Support organization profitability and return on investment by investing in values-aligned, dependable partners and infrastructure.
- Execute on vendor selection for technology and security business expenses, focusing on making values-aligned, safe, inclusive, efficient, and strategic decisions.
- Review vendor contracts on a regular basis to capture opportunities for cost-cutting and economy of scale.
- Track our tech and security-related expenses to ensure they are within budget, and forecast future budget needs, reporting on return on investment.
- Design and lead end-user training of new and existing technologies.
- Lead effective, inclusive, and brain-friendly change initiatives.
4. IT Team Culture and Development
Purpose: Help the internal IT Team become world-class in their roles, and create a department culture that drives engagement, learning, diversity, inclusion, and high performance.
- Lead, advise, give feedback, and help set priorities for the Information Technology function.
- Assess team performance through goal-setting and tracking specific role metrics.
- Track utilization rates to spot when it’s time to hire and/or re-distribute work.
- Based on organizational needs, recruit, interview, and onboard new IT Team roles.
- Design Technology roles to achieve department goals.
- Do ongoing succession planning to ensure we have sufficient capacity to meet our Tech goals.
- Build and model a department culture that creates engagement, belonging, learning, and high performance.
Director of Information Technology Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field.
- 5+ years in a leadership role within an IT department or organization.
- Successful track record of building systems to enable automation and rapid scaling of an IT function.
- Solid understanding of IT infrastructure, systems, and emerging technologies, with the ability to effectively communicate these back to the team.
- Knowledge of databases, programming languages, and infrastructure-as-code.
- Expertise in data security technologies, best practices, and regulations (including GDPR).
- Expertise in implementing technologies and systems for business continuity and disaster recovery.
- Skills in creating a smooth, efficient, and delightful internal user experience.
- Effectiveness in presenting proposals in clear and compelling ways (including articulating decision criteria, trade-offs, and ways to mitigate risk).
- Skills in designing simple, brain-friendly, and effective technology training for internal users with different learning needs and styles.
- People development prowess — including coaching, feedback, helping set priorities, and creating an inclusive, fair, and engaging team culture and climate.
- Strategic thinking and planning skills, including the ability to set metrics, identify (and adjust) priorities, create timelines, anticipate challenges, and involve the right stakeholders at the right times.
- Clear and compelling written communication, including explaining technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
- Demonstrating adaptivity and resilience skills and helping others do it too.
Preferred but not mandatory:
- Experience working with mission-driven startups and/or high-growth companies.
- Foundational data science knowledge.
- Knowledge of Business Intelligence tools.
- Working knowledge of Make (or similar integration software).
- Working knowledge of HubSpot CRM.
- MBA/advanced degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Security, or a related field.