Director, IT Operations

Company Description: Pathstone is a growing wealth management firm serving ultra-high net worth families, single family offices, foundations, and endowments. We are united by a clear purpose: to help clients pursue their Preferred Life — with clarity, confidence, and long-term support across the full landscape of wealth and well-being. Our services include investment advisory, as well as integrated planning and coordination across key areas such as tax strategy, risk management guidance, wealth and estate planning support, philanthropic planning, and family governance — helping clients navigate complexity and make informed decisions aligned with their goals. With more than 20 office locations and over $100 billion in client assets under management, advisory, administration, and related services, Pathstone has expanded significantly over the past five years, reflecting sustained momentum and continued investment in our team and platform. Pathstone is committed to making a meaningful difference for clients and their families, while fostering a supportive, purpose-driven environment for our professionals. Team members are encouraged to pursue their interests and contribute to the firm’s culture through committees and initiatives that help shape our shared mission. Our people are our greatest asset, and we offer a competitive, flexible benefits program designed to support life both inside and outside of work. Benefits include comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, flexible spending options, flexible PTO, life insurance, education support, a 401(k) plan, parental leave, and more. Job Description: We are seeking an experienced Director of Information Technology to lead and transform our IT operations as we separate the IT function from Security. This senior role serves as the primary IT architect and operations leader, responsible for designing and delivering technology solutions that support current and future business initiatives while ensuring the availability, performance, and security of the enterprise technology environment. This hands-on leadership position requires the ability to review technical designs, troubleshoot escalated issues, mentor engineers, and make architectural decisions across Azure, Microsoft 365, identity, endpoint management, networking, and SaaS platforms. The Director will own full IT operations, from cloud platforms and SaaS applications to networks, infrastructure, and end-user services, and will be accountable for reliable service delivery, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. Reporting to executive leadership, this role will directly manage a distributed team of IT engineers and administrators and collaborate closely with Security, Finance, and business stakeholders to align technology with strategic objectives. Key Responsibilities: IT Strategy & Architecture * Develop and drive the firm’s robust IT architecture and infrastructure strategy, aligning technology investments with growth priorities and digital transformation goals. * Design end-to-end technical solutions for new projects, while overseeing firm-wide technology enhancements or integrations to support evolving business needs. * Ensure all solutions are secure, scalable, and compliant, following industry standards and best practices. Operations Leadership & Service Reliability * Lead IT operations, ensuring stability, performance, and availability of all IT systems and services. * Oversee cloud infrastructure (Microsoft Azure, IaaS/PaaS), on-premises data center resources, and enterprise networks. * Implement highly resilient systems to support uptime goals, disaster recovery objectives, and capacity planning for future growth. Cloud & SaaS Platform Management * Lead the management of all IT-owned cloud and SaaS platforms across the firm, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Okta Identity, Zoom, and other collaboration and enterprise applications. * Drive seamless integration across systems, establishing effective identity and access management across Azure Entra ID/AD and SaaS SSO platforms. * Guide the adoption and governance of AI usage in IT, ensuring tools are implemented thoughtfully, with a focus on security, cost efficiency, and compliance with organizational policies. IT Operations Service Management * Establish and continuously improve IT service management practices (incident, problem, change, and configuration management) to ensure reliable and efficient service delivery. * Own the reliability and performance of IT systems, proactively monitoring critical services and leading timely incident response efforts to minimize disruption and address root cause analysis for major outages. * Drive continuous improvement by leveraging data, metrics, and post-incident insights to enhance system performance and reduce recurring issues. * Champion automation and process optimization to improve efficiency, reduce operational risk, and streamline day-to-day operations. * Plan for scale and resilience by ensuring systems can support future growth and maintain robust disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities. Leadership & Team Management * Lead and mentor a distributed IT operations team, including system engineers, cloud administrators, system administrators, and service desk staff, ensuring seamless support for critical systems and fostering a customer-focused, high-performance culture. * Clearly define team roles, goals, and development plans, ensuring team members have the training and resources to succeed. * Foster a culture of accountability and knowledge sharing by maintaining technical documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures. * Provide leadership in recruiting and onboarding new IT team members, ensuring effective cross-training and succession planning. Project & Program Management * Oversee IT projects and programs from concept through delivery, including major technology upgrades, migrations, and rollouts (Office 365/Azure cloud migrations, identity consolidation projects, network or infrastructure upgrades). * Partner with cross-functional teams to ensure solutions align with business needs and compliance requirements, delivering projects on time and within scope. * Work closely with Security and DevOps/Engineering to align on security standards, infrastructure needs, and environment readiness, ensuring solutions are secure and scalable. * Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand priorities, gather requirements, and communicate IT roadmaps and service expectations. * Manage project portfolios and prioritize initiatives aligned with company strategy. Vendor & Partner Management * Serve as the primary point of contact for IT vendors, ensuring strong strategic partnerships and cost-effective contracts. * Oversee timely and favorable renewals and negotiations for major technology vendors and cloud services (Okta, Zoom, Box, telephony, LogicMonitor, Cloudflare). * Monitor vendor performance against SLAs and drive improvements or changes as needed. * Evaluate and onboard new vendors and service providers to support evolving technological needs. Financial & Resource Management * Manage IT budget and technology spend across cloud services, software licenses, hardware, and other services. * Work closely with Finance on annual budgeting and forecasting, providing clear insights into IT investments and identifying opportunities for cost savings. * Monitor cloud usage and SaaS licensing, optimizing costs where appropriate by right-sizing resources, eliminating waste, and negotiating volume discounts. * Ensure capacity planning for systems and storage, balancing performance and cost efficiency. Governance, Risk & Compliance * Ensure IT operations comply with industry regulations and internal policies, including financial services requirements and data privacy and security standards. * Collaborate with Information Security and Risk teams on initiatives such as Zero Trust architecture, vulnerability management, identity governance, and audit readiness. * Maintain state of audit readiness through proper documentation, change logs, and consistent processes. Innovation & Continuous Improvement * Proactively identify opportunities to leverage new technologies and modern best practices to enhance IT service delivery and agility. * Partner with development and product teams to enable efficient CI/CD pipelines and integrated solutions. * Evaluate emerging trends to future-proof the firm’s IT operations. Required Qualifications: * Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or related field. * 10+ years of experience in IT infrastructure and operations, with 3 – 5+ years in IT management or leadership roles within medium to large enterprises. * Proven ability to lead end-to-end enterprise IT operations, including data centers, cloud platforms, networks, applications, and support, while improving reliability and efficiency. * Strong expertise in cloud and enterprise IT systems, especially Microsoft Azure (IaaS/PaaS), the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, and enterprise networking. * Familiarity with identity and access management, virtualization, endpoint management, and IT security tools (Azure, Active Directory/Entra ID, Okta SSO/MFA, VMware vSphere, Intune/Endpoint Manager, endpoint protection like CrowdStrike, web proxies like Netskope). * Strong understanding of IT architecture, systems integration, and modern best practices such as Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines. * Experience implementing IT service management practices, including incident response, change management, service desk operations, monitoring, capacity planning, and backup and disaster recovery. * Proven ability to manage enterprise vendors and SaaS providers, including contract negotiations and performance management. * Demonstrated financial acumen, with experience managing and optimizing large-scale technology budgets. * Effective leadership skills, with experience building and mentoring high-performing teams while fostering accountability and collaboration. * Excellent communication skills, with the ability to partner with executive stakeholders and work with non-technical team members, translating business needs into clear, actionable technical strategies. * Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a focus on continuous improvement. Preferred Qualifications: * Experience in financial services or other regulated industries, with familiarity in compliance frameworks (SEC, NIST, SOC 2) and audit processes. * Ability to design processes that meet rigorous data security and record-keeping standards. * Advanced certifications or expertise in cloud technologies (Azure, AWS, GCP), Cloud Security/Zero Trust architectures, and security operations (identity federation, threat detection, data protection). * Exposure to AI/ML platforms or governance of emerging technologies is a strong plus. * Proven success leading large-scale IT projects or transformations, such as M&A integrations, cloud migrations, and infrastructure upgrades, on time and within budget, using structured project management methodologies. * Familiarity with ITIL or similar frameworks for change control, with a track record of improving processes to reduce operational risk. What Success Looks Like: * Ensure critical systems and services operate reliably, delivering consistent performance and minimizing unplanned downtime so the business can run smoothly. * Lead efficient incident response and proactive problem-solving, reducing recurring issues while maintaining a well-documented, secure, and audit-ready environment. * Drive key IT initiatives, such as cloud migrations and system upgrades, to successful delivery, enabling business growth, digital innovation, improved scalability, and enhanced end-user experience. * Manage technology budget effectively, optimizing cloud and vendor costs while improving efficiency and delivering strong value from IT investments. * Build and lead a high-performing, engaged team, reflected in retention and productivity, while earning the trust of internal stakeholders through reliable service and strong partnership. This is a hybrid opportunity based in our Bellevue, WA, Newtown Square, PA, New York, NY, or San Francisco, CA office. Pay Transparency: Pathstone’s expected starting base compensation range for the position as of the time of this posting is $175,000 - $225,000 per year. The actual base compensation selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including (but not limited to) experience, education, specialty and training. The successful candidate(s) may also be eligible for a discretionary bonus award. Visa Sponsorship: Please note, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for the position offered. Accordingly, we are unable to hire individuals who require, or will require, employment visa sponsorship either now or in the future. Pathstone is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As you explore opportunities, know that Pathstone communicates with candidates exclusively through an @pathstone.com email address. We do not make unsolicited job offers, and we will never ask for personal or financial information through email or web forms. If you receive outreach that appears to be from Pathstone but originates from a different domain, please disregard it. #LI-Hybrid