Location: Based in the northwest suburbs of the Chicagoland area

Work Model: Hybrid: 3 days onsite (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday)

Salary: $200,000 –$215,000 + bonus

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Budget Responsibility: $7.5M

Our client is a long-standing and trusted partner in the education sector, providing high-quality print and digital learning resources that reach millions of students worldwide. With a legacy of over 150 years supporting educators, they operate a robust warehouse distribution center that plays a central role in getting materials into classrooms efficiently and reliably. They are now seeking a strategic, hands-on Vice President of Information Technology to lead and evolve their technology operations. This role will help drive innovation, optimize systems, and ensure technology aligns with the broader goals of the business. This position is part of the executive leadership team.

Position Overview:

The Vice President of Information Technology (IT) is responsible for planning and directing all aspects of the organization’s IT strategy, cybersecurity, and digital transformation initiatives. This includes oversight of systems that support warehouse operations, enterprise applications, business processes, and IT services. The ideal candidate is a proven technology leader with deep experience in warehouse and supply chain systems, application development, and cross-functional team leadership. This role requires strong technical acumen, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and a passion for leveraging technology to improve efficiency, scalability, and service delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Business Applications:

• Guide the management and communication of a project portfolio that aligns development and software implementation projects with the operational needs of the business.
• Oversee and actively participate in mainframe transformation project that is critical for immediate and future growth of the business, particularly as it relates to warehouse systems operations.
• Understand the design of and oversee changes to the company’s business applications architecture.
• When presented with significant business problems, weigh ‘build versus buy’ solutions and the cost benefit of each.
• Oversee design, development, implementation and support of operational business systems.
• Own, review, and refine the department’s project management, application development, and DevOps processes to meet the changing needs of the team, technology, and the business.
• Create a culture and environment where building, testing, and releasing software can happen rapidly, frequently, and reliably.
• Ensure high availability of operational business systems.

Strategic Leadership and Vision:

• Develop and implement a long-term IT vision and strategy in line with the overall business strategy that addresses short term needs and long-term growth capabilities.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to identify and prioritize as well as integrate IT and business strategies.
• Promote a culture of innovation and agility within the IT department, with a focus on future proofing solutions.
• Research and implement emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, that can provide competitive advantages and provide flexible and adaptive systems to meet changing business needs.
• Communicate complex IT concepts to non-technical stakeholders including the Board.
• Present IT strategies and progress reports to the Board of Directors.
• Serve as the liaison between IT and other departments for technology-related initiatives. Break down barriers on conversion for IT projects.

IT Operations & Services:

• Lead the management of IT operations and services, including infrastructure, networks, applications, security, and support.
• Ensure high availability, reliability, and security of all IT systems and services.
• Know the design of the company’s systems architecture and oversee the maintenance of and changes to network, on-premises, and cloud resources.
• Plan for future architectural needs.
• Ensure the consistent utilization and continuous improvement of IT processes and procedures.
• Ensure the responsiveness and quality of IT services and support to effectively meet business needs.
• Ensure that hardware and software updates and upgrades are completed regularly for sustained security and resilience.
• Ensure that hardware and software support and maintenance agreements are monitored, kept up-to-date, and renewed or re-negotiated, as needed.

Cybersecurity, Risk Management, & Data Protection:

• Lead implementation of comprehensive cybersecurity and IT policies and procedures to ensure IT infrastructure is robust and secure while also aligning with overarching business goals.
• Oversee data protection programs, policies, and procedures.
• Ensure that security awareness is driven company wide.
• Ensure compliance with relevant cybersecurity and data protection regulations and standards.
• Maintain the company’s cyber security and major incident response plans.
• Lead incident response during in-progress security and major technical incidents.
• Develop and test disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plans (BCP).

Team Management:

• Recruit, train, and mentor IT personnel, fostering a high-performance, high-quality, and innovative team culture.
• Promote communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within and across the teams and across functional areas.
• Create opportunities for and facilitate development of team members for learning new technologies & skills and professional growth.

Budget Management:

• Prepare and manage the IT budget & forecasts including operating & capital expenses, optimizing expenditures for maximum ROI.
• Conduct cost-benefit analyses for IT investments.
• Monitor IT spending and adjust plans as necessary to meet financial objectives.

Vendor Management:

• Establish strong relationships with key technology vendors and service providers to create a stable cadre of resources in a variety of technical areas, as needed.
• Negotiate contracts to secure favorable terms and ensure service quality.
• Regularly evaluate vendor performance and compliance with SLAs.

Job Requirements:

·     Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field.

·     10–12 years of progressive IT experience, including a minimum of 5 years in a senior leadership role.

·     Proven expertise in warehouse and supply chain systems.

·     Strong background in application development and system integration.

·     Experience leading mid-sized teams comprised of both full-time employees and external contractors.

·     Demonstrated ability to manage and oversee IT budgets exceeding $5M.

·     Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to take independent action to resolve complex issues.

·     Sound judgment with the authority to make decisions impacting key business operations.

·     Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization.

·     Strong track record overseeing ERM application development, infrastructure management, cybersecurity, and enterprise-level digital transformation initiatives.

·     Be able to travel and represent the company at events, conferences, leadership meetings, etc.

Benefits:

Our client offers a generous benefits package which includes life, health, dental, vision, STD, LTD insurance, 401(k), PTO, paid holidays and more.

Any pay range disclosed is based upon a combination of neutral factors such as required qualifications, experience, education, skill, training, certifications, seniority, etc. Our client reserves the right to provide any successful candidate a salary at the most appropriate level set as a result of such candidate’s qualifications, experience, education, skill, training, certifications or seniority.

Our client is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, they are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation in the application process due to a disability, please let us know.