IT Director

About This Role

This IT Director role involves owning the organization's core IT infrastructure, including enterprise servers, data center and cloud environments, network operations, cybersecurity, and end-user/helpdesk support. The Director will determine and continuously refine the optimal operating model, balancing in-house team responsibilities with managed service provider (MSP/MSSP) delivery, and will lead a small internal team focused on vendor oversight, architecture, security, and escalation.

Responsibilities

• Define and continuously refine the optimal operating model for IT delivery, determining which infrastructure, network, security, and support functions are owned by the small in-house team versus delivered through MSP/MSSP partners, based on risk, criticality, cost, and available internal capacity
• Serve as the primary owner of MSP/MSSP relationships responsible for day-to-day management of servers, network, security operations, and helpdesk/end-user support, holding providers accountable to SLAs, KPIs, and contracted scope
• Lead and develop the small in-house infrastructure/security team, directing their effort toward vendor oversight, escalation management, architecture decisions, and work too sensitive, urgent, or strategic to outsource
• Direct enterprise network operations (switching, routing, wireless, WAN) delivered through MSP partners, ensuring resiliency, security, and lifecycle currency regardless of who performs the work
• Strengthen the organization's cybersecurity posture through governance aligned with recognized frameworks (e.g., NIST CSF, ISO 27001), including incident response, business continuity, disaster recovery, and backup validation, retaining executive ownership even where an MSSP executes day-to-day monitoring
• Serve as the executive technical lead during significant infrastructure and cybersecurity incidents, directing both internal staff and MSP/MSSP resources through technical response, executive communications, and post-incident improvement
• Own end-user support outcomes, whether delivered by the in-house team, an MSP-run helpdesk, or a blend of both, establishing a tiered support model, ticket SLA targets, and escalation paths to ensure fast, reliable resolution for end users
• Establish and monitor operational KPIs and service-level metrics across infrastructure, network, security, and helpdesk functions to hold both internal staff and MSP/MSSP partners accountable
• Develop lifecycle strategies for servers, network hardware, and enterprise platforms, coordinating internal team and MSP input, to reduce technical debt, improve resiliency, and optimize total cost of ownership
• Partner with IT leadership and actively participate in enterprise IT governance functions (technology evaluation, architecture review, Change Control Board, and project prioritization) to ensure infrastructure and security initiatives align with enterprise standards