Director of IT Operations

About this role
You'll build Stakeholders VR's IT function from the ground up, starting with Mission Control's internal IT and then taking on IT across a growing portfolio of acquired companies. The company closed its first tranche of around 20 acquisitions, inheriting multiple different IT environments with no unified standards, no centralized security, and no visibility into what's running where. You'll work with a small team, alongside the CTO and PMC founders, with AI as your default tool rather than an afterthought. The company is at $38M in EBITDA with plans to grow 10x over five years, and every new acquisition adds scope to this role.

The team at Mission Control is small — you'll work directly with the CTO and alongside PMC founders who built and sold their own businesses. This is a greenfield opportunity to define how IT works across a growing portfolio with an AI-first philosophy, equity upside, and a clear path to VP as the company scales.

What You'll Do
Mission Control IT. You'll select the tool stack for a fully remote corporate team — productivity suite, video conferencing, password management, device management, onboarding/offboarding — and roll it out. This is a finite project that you'll knock out in your first 60–90 days, not an ongoing timesink.
IT assessment across the portfolio. You'll gain access to every acquired company's IT systems and run a structured audit of their infrastructure — DNS, email, identity management, security, devices, networking. You'll figure out what's working, what's a risk, and what needs to change. Then you'll do it again, faster, as each new tranche of acquisitions closes.
IT standards and remediation. You'll define the portfolio-wide standards for IT infrastructure and build remediation plans to bring acquired companies into compliance. You own the roadmap for how we eventually centralize — but you'll drive adoption through influence and partnership with PMC leaders, not top-down mandates.
Vendor consolidation. You'll establish preferred vendors across common IT functions and migrate companies over where it makes sense. We're not dictating every tool, but when 20 companies are using 15 different solutions for the same problem, you'll bring that to a manageable number.
Audit readiness. You'll be the IT point person for PE and 3rd party audits, ensuring the portfolio meets compliance requirements as we scale.

What We're Looking For
10+ years of IT operations experience.
You've managed teams of 3–10 people and know how to get a lot done with a lean group.
You've worked in a diverse, multi-site, multi-brand environment — a rollup, franchise, or distributed company where you couldn't assume consistency across locations.
You have a demonstrated AI-native approach to IT operations. You've already automated help desk functions, used AI for auditing or compliance, or fundamentally rethought how an IT team operates with AI at the center. We'll ask you about this in detail.
You know how to drive standardization across teams you don't directly control. You build relationships, earn trust, and make people want to adopt your standards — not resent them.

Nice to Have
M&A or rollup experience — you've been through the chaos of integrating acquired companies before.
Experience in a PE-backed company and comfort with the audit cadence and pace that comes with it.
Hands-on familiarity with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, MDM platforms, and identity management tools like Okta.
You've built IT playbooks and runbooks from scratch rather than inheriting someone else's.
Experience supporting a fully remote workforce.
Hospitality industry background.