Associate Director/Director, IT Infrastructure & Operations

Role Summary

The Director of IT Infrastructure & Operations is a strategic leader and hands-on technical expert responsible for ensuring the reliability, scalability, and security of the company’s IT environment. This role oversees infrastructure architecture, systems administration, integrations, and end-user support to meet business needs and regulatory requirements. The ideal candidate balances tactical execution with visionary planning, driving efficiency and continuous improvement in a collaborative, fast-paced biotech environment. This is a hybrid role.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an enterprise infrastructure roadmap aligned with business functional roadmaps, risk management, and compliance priorities.
• Partner with senior leadership to plan IT budgets, assess capacity, and prioritize technology investments.
• Identify opportunities for innovation, automation, and cloud optimization to enhance system performance and reliability.
• Establish IT technical standards, metrics, and processes to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing management of secure, redundant network and server infrastructure.
• Oversee all internal and external IT operations, including managed service providers, to ensure service continuity and user satisfaction.
• Implement performance monitoring, incident response, and disaster recovery strategies to minimize downtime and data loss.
• Maintain strong vendor partnerships and manage contracts for hardware, software, and service providers.
• Foster a culture of accountability, learning, and proactive problem-solving.
• Partner cross-functionally with departments to understand business requirements and translate them into reliable technology solutions.
• Define and refine support workflows, escalation procedures, and SLAs for service delivery.
• Ensure IT infrastructure meets FDA 21 CFR Part 11, SOX, and GxP regulatory standards.
• Support validated systems used in laboratory and on-prem environments by ensuring secure configurations and proper documentation.
• Collaborate with Quality and Compliance teams to maintain audit readiness and alignment with GxP practices.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure and operations, with at least 3 years in leadership or project management.
• Experience in FDA 21 CFR Part 11, IT SOX, and GxP-regulated environments; prior exposure to GMP laboratories preferred.
• Consulting or small/emerging company experience in the life sciences sector highly desirable.
• Strong background in network infrastructure, including routers, firewalls, DNS, load balancers; Palo Alto experience is a plus.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Information Technology required; advanced degree preferred.