Director of IT Engineering

Get to Know Us Horizon3 is a fast-growing, remote cybersecurity company dedicated to the mission of enabling organizations to proactively find and fix and verify exploitable attack vectors before criminals exploit them. Our flagship product, the NodeZeroTM platform, delivers production-safe autonomous pentests and other key assessment operations that scale across the largest internal, external, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. NodeZero has been adopted by organizations of all sizes, from small educational institutions to government agencies and Global 100 enterprises. It is used by ITOps/SecOps teams, consulting pentesters, and MSSPs and MSPs.  We are a fusion of former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators, startup engineers, and formerly frustrated cybersecurity practitioners. We're committed to helping solve our common security problems: ineffective security tools, false positives resulting in alert fatigue, blind spots, "checkbox” security culture, cybersecurity skills shortage, and the long lead time and expense of hiring outside consultants. Collectively, we are a team of learn it alls, committed to a culture of respect, collaboration, ownership, and results.   What You’ll Do We are seeking a Director of Information Technology to lead our internal IT function across a fully remote, security-focused SaaS company. This leader will own the overall IT strategy, operations, and service delivery for our global workforce, overseeing multiple teams (e.g., Help Desk / End-User Support, Corporate Systems, and IT Infrastructure) and the managers who lead them. You will be accountable for delivering a secure, reliable, and friction-minimizing technology experience for employees while partnering closely with Security, Engineering, People, and Finance to support Horizon3 http://Horizon3.ai's growth. In this role, you will: - Define and drive the multi-year IT strategy and roadmap, aligned with company goals and the broader Security & IT vision. - Own end-to-end accountability for the performance, quality, and outcomes of the Help Desk, IT Engineering, and Business applications teams - Own IT service delivery for a distributed, remote-first workforce, ensuring reliable endpoint, identity, and collaboration experiences for employees. - Build, lead, and develop a high-performing IT organization, including managers and senior individual contributors across Help Desk, Corporate Systems, and Infrastructure. - Establish and continuously improve IT operating rhythms, including intake, prioritization, change management, incident management, and communication practices. - Partner with Security, Engineering, and Compliance to design and operate secure-by-default IT environments, with strong identity, access management, device compliance, and data protection controls. - Oversee selection, implementation, and lifecycle management of core IT platforms and tools (e.g., identity and access management, endpoint management, MDM, collaboration suite, device and asset management, ticketing). - Own and optimize IT budgets, vendor relationships, and contracts, balancing cost control with reliability and user experience. - Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) and service-level objectives (SLOs) for IT (e.g., ticket response and resolution times, employee satisfaction, device compliance rates, onboarding time-to-productivity). - Partner with People team and hiring managers to deliver a smooth technology onboarding and offboarding experience, including provisioning, access setup, and device logistics for remote employees. - Ensure IT processes and documentation (runbooks, knowledge base articles, standards) are created, maintained, and leveraged by the team. - Lead IT support for periodic company events (e.g., in-person summits, trainings) and any office or hub environments as needed. - Serve as an escalation point for complex or high-impact IT incidents, collaborating with Security and Engineering on root cause analysis and long-term remediation. - Communicate clearly with executives and stakeholders about IT priorities, tradeoffs, risks, and progress. As a People Leader, You Will - Recruit, hire, and onboard talented IT professionals and managers to support our organizational goals. - Set the operating rhythm for IT Leadership, prioritization, planning cadences, escalation paths, and cross-team coordination, so the teams operate as one integrated organization rather than silos. - Set clear expectations and success metrics for your teams, and provide regular feedback, coaching, and career development. - Build a culture that emphasizes ownership, service excellence, inclusion, and continuous improvement. - Recognize and retain high performers while addressing performance gaps with clarity and fairness. - Model calm, accountable leadership during incidents and periods of high change. What You’ll Bring - Significant experience (typically 10+ years) in IT, with at least 5+ years in people leadership roles, including managing managers and multi-site or distributed teams. - Proven track record owning IT strategy and operations for a mid-sized or larger organization, ideally in a SaaS, security, or other highly regulated / security-conscious environment. - Demonstrated ability to manage other managers and have a track record of developing them. - Experience operating in a remote-first or hybrid workplace, supporting distributed employees across time zones. - Deep understanding of core IT domains, including: - Endpoint management (macOS and/or Windows) and device lifecycle - Identity and access management (e.g., Okta, Entra, or similar) - Collaboration and productivity suites (e.g., Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom) - Ticketing and ITSM tooling (e.g., Jira Service Management or similar) - Network and office connectivity in hub locations (Wi-Fi, conference rooms,) - Enterprise AI administration and enablement (e.g., Claude, Gemini, AWS Bedrock or similar) - Cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, or similar) - Strong partnership history with Security, Engineering, and Compliance teams on identity, access, and device security controls. - Demonstrated ability to design and implement IT processes at scale (intake, change management, incident management, problem management, asset management). - Comfort making pragmatic tradeoffs between ideal architectures and business reality, while still moving toward secure, durable solutions. - Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and to present options, risks, and recommendations clearly. - Strong vendor management skills, including evaluation, negotiation, and ongoing performance management. - High bias for action, ownership, and follow-through in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments. Nice to Have - Experience in a high-growth startup or scale-up environment. - Background in cybersecurity, IT security engineering, or exposure to security frameworks and audits (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP). - Experience building or supporting IT operations for federal, regulated, or public sector customers. - Prior leadership of IT in a remote-first organization. Location & Travel This role is open to candidates located in the United States and is primarily remote. Occasional travel (up to ~10%) may be required for in-person team meetings, company events, or work at hub locations. Compensation and Values At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations. In accordance with various State’s transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position: - Base salary range [or Total On-Target Compensation]: $218,000 - $256,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate’s location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills. - Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options. Perks of Horizon3 - Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive. - Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities. - Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. - Hybrid & Remote Work: We embrace a mix of remote and hybrid work models depending on role and location, including our Chicago office, where some roles require regular in-office presence. - Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary, equity and benefits. Our benefits include health, vision & dental insurance for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave. Compensation and Values At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations. In accordance with various State’s transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position: - Base salary range: $218,000 - $256,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate’s location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills. - Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options. You Belong Here Horizon3 is not just an equal opportunity employer - we are a community that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles of our culture and success. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, hair length or any other legally protected status by law. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means we strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that reflects the varied communities we serve. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and strengthen our ability to create cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. At Horizon3, every team member is valued and supported in an environment that encourages personal and professional growth. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Come be a part of Horizon3, where your unique contributions are recognized, and your potential is limitless. Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.  Application Note In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.