Vice President of Information Technology (Waukesha)

Wild Marketing Group is seeking a Vice President of Information Technology to build, elevate and own our global IT strategy as the company enters its next phase of growth.

This is a senior leadership role with real breadth. You will own the systems that run the business and the platforms our customers see - modernizing infrastructure, enabling new commercial capabilities and driving operational excellence across a complex international supply chain. You will also work directly with customers and suppliers, developing creative technology solutions that strengthen their programs and ours. Technology at Wild is a way to win and expand customer programs, not just a cost to contain.

We are a global sourcing organization headquartered in Waukesha, with sourcing teams in Shanghai and Vietnam. Our capabilities span two core areas: 1) global sourcing and custom product development, including private label and retail solutions, and 2) branded merchandise marketing programs.

What You’ll Do

• Define and execute a multi-year IT roadmap aligned to business goals.
• Chair an IT Council with representation from sales, marketing, account management, operations and finance to set priorities and govern major technology investments.
• Treat technology as a revenue contributor, identifying and commercializing technology-enabled capabilities that win and expand customer programs.
• Own and optimize the business systems that run Wild, including; 1. NetSuite ERP, its integrations and the sandbox-to-production release process, 2. EDI and trading-partner integration for major retail and enterprise accounts, 3. Product information management and the data feeding webstores, punchout catalogs and customer product feeds, 4. Warehouse and logistics systems, including WMS and 3PL integrations. 5. CRM and the sales technology stack, 6. B2B e-commerce sites and company stores – platform, releases, uptime and payment-card scope, 7. Reporting and business intelligence on order, margin, inventory and program performance
• Own solution architecture and in-house development - target-state architecture, integration patterns and API standards for custom integrations and purpose-built applications such as point-of-sale, digital signage and ecommerce.
• Define integration strategy beyond EDI across REST and API services, middleware, webhooks and data contracts with customer and supplier systems.
• Partner directly with customers and suppliers on creative technology solutions - supplier and factory data integration, customer-facing platforms, and the digital experiences behind customer marketing programs.
• Operationalize AI governance - acceptable use, data handling, tool permissions and human review - and govern AI-assisted software development.
• Define the approval path for business-led and low-code development so it is channeled and supported rather than unmanaged.
• Oversee global network, cloud and on-premise infrastructure across Waukesha, Shanghai and Vietnam, with availability targets and on-call coverage across US and Asia time zones.
• Own Microsoft 365 tenant administration, Entra ID identity and access management, and endpoint management.
• Establish a robust cybersecurity posture and incident response plan, and manage disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Ensure compliance with applicable data-protection regulation across US, EU and Asia operations, including GDPR and PIPL.
• Own records retention, eDiscovery and litigation hold in coordination with legal counsel.
• Manage IT vendor relationships, contract negotiations, the annual IT budget and the staffing plan.
• Build, mentor and retain the IT team, including succession planning for critical systems knowledge.

What We’re Looking For

• 15+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, including 3+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Experience as the most senior technology leader in a mid-market or international company, or clear readiness to step into that role.
• Hands-on depth in ERP platforms, with NetSuite strongly preferred, and global supply chain systems.
• Experience owning custom application development and solution architecture, whether delivered in-house or through outsourced teams.
• A proven record of building or transforming IT organizations and delivering system implementations on schedule and on budget.
• Demonstrated ability to get architecture, security or AI governance standards genuinely adopted by both technical and business teams.
• Executive presence and the ability to translate technology decisions into business and financial terms.
• Bachelor’s degree in IT/Systems Management, Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Experience

Experience in one or more of the following is highly valuable:

• Import/export, distribution, promotional products or retail industries
• Global sourcing or international supply chain operations
• Hands-on software development or architecture background, with modern SDLC practice
• Multi-site or multi-tenant e-commerce platform architecture
• Information governance platforms such as Microsoft Purview
• International IT compliance and data privacy regulation

Who Will Be Successful Here

You have the technical depth to run the systems yourself and the leadership to build and motivate a team around them. You are comfortable in a lean IT organization - able to set strategy in front of the executive team and still work directly in the systems. You are entrepreneurial and at ease building in ambiguity, collaborative with sales, account and operations teams, and strong at vendor negotiation.

Most importantly, you see technology as a way to win business, not just a way to keep it running.

This is not a caretaker role. You will inherit an AI Council and a governance framework already in motion, and you will be expected to complete the rollout, drive adoption and scale it.