Director of Retail IT Systems

Job Summary Jump Start—a growing locally owned convenience store chain known for state-of-the-art technology, fuel, and the industry leading Jump Start Rewards program—seeks a strategic, hands‑on Director of Retail IT Systems to own the full lifecycle of technology that powers more than 40 stores. The candidate will guide everything from secure, next‑generation firewalls at the edge to POS, fuel dispenser programming, tank monitoring, cloud services, and 3rd party integrations such as the Jump Start Rewards platform. The goal is to deliver secure, resilient, compliant, and guest centric systems. Key Responsibilities Define a 3‑year retail systems roadmap aligned with business objectives, incorporating a profitable and best‑in‑class POS environment and centrally managed next‑generation firewalls, monitoring systems and cloud delivered security services. Champion initiatives such as cloud‑based back‑office modernization. Lead selection, implementation, and support of POS, fuel dispensing controllers, tank monitors, price book, MNSP circuits, and area service provider contracts. Maintain 99.9% uptime and enforce SLAs across all store systems and server management environments. Deepen integration among Jump Start Rewards, mobile, Dover dispenser platforms. Continued development and commitment to the best‑in‑class customer POS experience. Own network security architecture: next‑generation firewall analytics, automated unit tests, route tables, security lists. Ensure adherence to PCI, NIST controls, and state fuel regulations; run annual penetration tests and incident response drills. Work to evaluate current systems and providers for retail security monitoring, AV and AI based options for loss prevention. Build reliable data pipelines into the enterprise data warehouse and enable store level dashboards for rewards, labor, margin, and shrink. Support predictive analytics (maintenance, demand forecasting) leveraging AZURE Resource Manager and EventHub’s. Drive vendor evaluation, contract negotiation, and performance management for hardware, software, telecom, cloud IaaS, and payment processors. Own a $5–7 million annual capex/opex budget and deliver ROI on major initiatives. Complete rollout of updated POS and centrally managed firewall stack to all stores on schedule and under budget. Reduce unplanned downtime to Conduct and audit the chain’s existing platforms for performance and ROI. Suggest adjustment and budgeting for the 2026 FY. Build a fully functional process, timeline and system plan for implementation. Qualifications Required 5+ years progressive IT experience, including 3+ years leading retail systems in convenience, petroleum, grocery, or QSR. Proven rollout of enterprise POS / forecourt upgrades across 25+ sites and familiarity with credit card processors, tank monitors, MNSP circuits, and multimedia networks. Hands‑on expertise with Palo Alto NGFW solutions, Azure ARM, OCI networking (VNets, subnets, NSGs, route tables), and core protocols (TCP/IP, SSL/TLS, IPSec, BGP). Demonstrated success managing PCI DSS audits and SIEM integrations. Financial acumen—capex/ROI modeling and vendor negotiations. Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field; MBA or MSIS a plus. Preferred Certifications such as PCNSE, CISSP, CISM, CCNA, Security+. Experience with Python / PowerShell automation, PKI/certificates, EDR, and application whitelisting. Exposure to AI/ML use cases in retail (computer vision loss prevention, demand forecasting). Familiarity with Weights & Measures compliance. Experience with AI and digital solutions for loss prevention and system monitoring. Must be able to pass a pre‑employment background and drug screen. Must be physically fit, and capable of the following job duties: stand, bend, lift, reach, walk, climb, drive. Jump Start is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate individuality and are committed to an inclusive workplace. #J-18808-Ljbffr