Chief Information Officer

Dean Dorton • Lexington, KY

7h

About The Position

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is a forward-looking, enterprise-level executive responsible for architecting and advancing Dean Dorton’s technology, digital transformation, and AI-enabled future. This role ensures that technology is a primary engine for operational effectiveness, innovation, scale, and service excellence across all offices and the firm’s global practice footprint. Guided by the firm’s Vision for the Future to control our destiny through strength, discipline, and curiosity, the CIO aligns strategy, systems, culture, and people to prepare the firm for human–AI collaboration, digital labor, and the next generation of professional services work. The CIO leads modernization, security, governance, and enablement efforts that allow every team member to succeed in a digitally mature, AI-enabled environment. The CIO is accountable to the firm’s Core Values and plays a critical role in positioning Dean Dorton as a Frontier Firm that responsibly leverages emerging technologies while maintaining trust, quality, and humanity in how work gets done. This role may not be for you: You prefer maintaining the status quo over leading transformation, or if you are uncomfortable, navigating ambiguity, rapid technological change, and enterprise-wide impact. This role requires comfort with executive-level decision making, long-term strategy, and guiding people through meaningful change. If you prefer narrowly scoped technical roles without responsibility for culture, governance, and firmwide outcomes, this position may not be the right fit. This role may be for you: You are energized by shaping the future of work and see technology, AI, and digital enablement as strategic business levers rather than support functions. You are a clear communicator who can translate complex concepts into meaningful action, build trust across diverse stakeholders, and lead both systems and people through transformation. If you thrive at the intersection of innovation, discipline, and service, this role offers a unique opportunity to define the firm’s next chapter.

Requirements

• Minimum of ten years of senior or executive-level IT leadership experience; professional services, multi-office, or global organizations preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise digital transformation, system modernization, and AI adoption at scale.
• Deep expertise in cybersecurity, cloud architecture, data governance, automation, and emerging AI technologies.
• Proven ability to design and implement human–AI hybrid operating models.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization.
• High curiosity, adaptability, and alignment with the firm’s Core Values

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year enterprise technology strategy aligned with the firm’s Vision for the Future and long-term growth trajectory.
• Lead the evolution of the firm’s application ecosystem, infrastructure, cloud environment, and enterprise architecture to ensure scalability, security, and resilience.
• Oversee cybersecurity, data governance, and incident response across all offices and the global practice footprint.
• Establish and enforce ethical AI governance, including policies related to transparency, data boundaries, fairness, and responsible use.
• Architect and operationalize human–AI hybrid workflows, agent-driven processes, and intelligent automation at scale.
• Direct system reliability, uptime, integration, and performance across all internal and client-facing platforms.
• Manage vendor relationships, contracts, and technology procurement with business discipline and ROI accountability.
• Serve as the unifying technology strategist across service lines, offices, and functional teams.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for executive leadership and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Lead firmwide digital and AI transformation with empathy, clarity, and psychological safety.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
• Build trust by clearly communicating the purpose, value, and impact of technology and AI initiatives.
• Navigate organizational change thoughtfully, ensuring changes are intentional, well-communicated, supported by training, and reinforced through leadership modeling.
• Benchmark against peer firms, AI-native organizations, and emerging Frontier Firms to inform strategy and innovation.
• Lead, mentor, and scale the Internal Technology team into a proactive, strategic business partner to the firm.
• Partner with HR and Operations to redesign onboarding, learning pathways, and workforce enablement for AI-supported work.
• Lead a multi-year AI literacy strategy to prepare team members to effectively design, prompt, manage, and evaluate AI agents.
• Support firmwide operational effectiveness by reducing friction, redundancy, and rework through better systems and integrations.
• Steward technology budgets with transparency, discipline, and measurable outcomes.
• Contribute to firm leadership discussions related to growth, risk, innovation, and long-term strategy.
• Model firm values and serve as a culture carrier for excellence, accountability, and collaboration.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed