Director of Information Technology, Openings and Transitions

Auberge Collection•Bethesda, MD

7d•$165,000 - $185,000•Onsite

About The Position

Auberge Collection is seeking a Director of Information Technology, Openings and Transitions to lead technology readiness for new hotel openings, property transitions, major renovations, and high-risk activation programs. This is a role for an unusually strong builder-operator: high judgment, high urgency, high standards, and the ability to bring order to complex opening environments. The strongest candidate will be fluent in modern work practices, including AI tools, automation, dashboards, structured data, and disciplined project controls. They should already be using AI responsibly to move faster, synthesize information, identify risk, improve documentation, and help teams make better decisions. This is not a traditional helpdesk or back-office IT posting. We are looking for a rare operator who can move from strategy to details without losing speed: someone who can translate opening dates, space handovers, operational training, mock service, and cutover milestones into technology required-by dates with clear owners, evidence, risks, and escalation paths.

Requirements

Proven leadership of hotel openings, property transitions, major renovations, or complex multi-system technology activations.
Deep understanding of hospitality technology dependencies across low-voltage infrastructure, networks, cloud/SaaS platforms, hotel systems, payments, interfaces, cybersecurity, and operational training.
Hands-on comfort using AI tools, structured trackers, dashboards, meeting synthesis, decision logs, automation, and practical workflows to produce better, faster, clearer work.
Ability to create order in ambiguous, schedule-constrained environments with construction, vendors, ownership, operations, staffing, and training all moving at once.
Strong vendor management, executive communication, documentation discipline, and escalation judgment.
Comfort traveling frequently during opening-critical windows and working directly with on-property teams.

Responsibilities

Apply, improve, and enforce opening playbooks, readiness gates, system standards, acceptance criteria, documentation, and reporting discipline.
Use approved AI tools and automation to accelerate schedule analysis, meeting synthesis, document review, risk detection, action tracking, UAT preparation, defect burn-down, and executive reporting.
Coordinate network, Wi-Fi, WAN/SD-WAN, ISP, identity, endpoint staging, cloud voice, collaboration, low-voltage backbone, security systems, AV, IPTV/casting, radios, payment devices, and property technology infrastructure.
Drive PMS, POS, payments, spa, reservations, CRM, revenue, finance, procurement, HR/timekeeping, engineering, housekeeping, guest messaging, sales/catering, reporting, interfaces, users, roles, data, and support readiness.
Align technology completion with restaurant, bar, spa, rooms, back-of-house, and front-office training; support mock service, sleep tests, simulations, local super-user preparation, and property handover.
Maintain a single source of truth for readiness, dependencies, decisions, blockers, owner commitments, evidence, open risks, contingency plans, and hypercare status.
Operate with the highest standards for openings, transitions, documentation, technology readiness, vendor accountability, and escalation.
Build and maintain opening control rooms using approved platforms, structured trackers, meeting summaries, action logs, decision logs, readiness dashboards, and AI tools where they improve speed or clarity.
Turn vendor updates, construction schedules, meeting notes, system matrices, and training plans into clear required-by dates, risk flags, owner assignments, and executive-ready summaries.
Create repeatable workflows for status reporting, issue triage, document control, requirements extraction, readiness scoring, UAT planning, defect categorization, and knowledge transfer, using AI and automation where they make the work better.
Protect data governance, privacy, cybersecurity, and approval boundaries when using AI tools; never expose sensitive property, guest, employee, commercial, or security information to unapproved tools.
Continuously improve the opening playbook based on lessons learned from each project, including what worked, what failed, and what should become the standard for the next opening.
Own one integrated technology opening schedule across construction turnover, low-voltage delivery, network readiness, hotel systems, operational training, UAT, cutover, and hypercare.
Convert opening windows, space handover dates, operational training dates, mock service dates, and owner milestones into technology required-by dates.
Define 90-day, 60-day, and 30-day readiness gates with clear acceptance criteria; escalate any drift that threatens operational training, guest readiness, payment readiness, safety, or opening confidence.
Maintain baseline, current forecast, variance, operational impact, recovery path, and decision owner for every major schedule risk.
Run structured weekly, daily, or command-center cadences during opening-critical periods and distressed programs.
Drive completion of IT-dependent construction and low-voltage scope before systems testing, training, mock operations, and handover dates.
Coordinate MDF/IDF readiness, cabling, rack elevations, patching, labeling, circuits, ISP handoff, Wi-Fi surveys, network cutover, endpoint staging, and local support logistics.
Track infrastructure dependencies for POS, PMS, payments, locks, access control, CCTV, AV, IPTV/casting, BMS/GRMS, guest Wi-Fi, staff Wi-Fi, radios, printers, phones, and back-of-house operations.
Confirm that each operational space is technologically ready before training is scheduled in that space, including restaurants, bars, spa, rooms, front office, back office, pools, event areas, and service areas.
Require evidence-based acceptance: as-built documentation, test results, photos where useful, sign-offs, punch lists, defect aging, and named owners for unresolved items.
Lead activation and configuration readiness for the modern hotel technology stack, including PMS, POS, payments, reservations, spa, CRM, revenue, procurement, finance, HR/timekeeping, engineering, housekeeping, guest messaging, sales/catering, reporting, and related interfaces.
Coordinate vendor configuration sessions, data collection, role-based access, user provisioning, testing windows, cutover plans, support model, and training calendars.
Identify which property team members must participate in configuration and training; when those roles are not yet hired, secure interim corporate, vendor, or third-party resources before the schedule is at risk.
Own interface readiness across PMS, POS, payment gateways, key systems, revenue, accounting, CRM, guest messaging, reporting, and operational platforms.
Ensure system design supports data quality, reporting, auditability, privacy, security, and scalable operating standards across the collection.
Back into technology deadlines from the operational training calendar, not only from the opening date.
Confirm that training environments, devices, payment paths, printers, phones, radios, integrations, sample users, sample data, and realistic operational workflows are ready before department training begins.
Coordinate with operations leaders so restaurant, pool bar, spa, rooms, front office, housekeeping, engineering, finance, and back-office teams train on the systems and infrastructure they will actually use.
Prepare local super-users and handover materials so property teams can operate after opening without depending on heroic corporate intervention.
Own cutover, go-live, stabilization, defect burn-down, and hypercare transition from project mode to steady-state support.
Ensure opening plans include secure-by-design network architecture, role-based access, MFA/SSO where applicable, PCI readiness, vendor access controls, endpoint standards, logging, and incident response paths.
Make sure temporary opening workarounds do not become unmanaged operational risk.
Coordinate with security, legal, finance, and operations stakeholders on data handling, payment flows, vendor access, and guest/employee information protection.
Use AI and automation responsibly, with clear human review, approved tools, traceable source information, and controlled access to sensitive data.
Lead vendors and project partners with clear requirements, deadlines, decision logs, acceptance criteria, and escalation paths.
Challenge vague statements such as “six weeks behind” by requiring baseline, impacted scope, operational consequence, recovery options, and decision needs.
Communicate simply and directly with executives, ownership, project teams, property leaders, and vendors.
Build trust by bringing facts, dates, owners, dependencies, and evidence rather than generic status commentary.