Head of IT

Cowboy Space•San Carlos, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Cowboy Space Corp. is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our satellites operate in Low Earth Orbit to collect sunlight and enable a new class of capabilities—from transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), to powering on-orbit compute, to delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data. By rethinking how energy and data are generated and distributed in space, we’re unlocking entirely new ways to operate both in orbit and on Earth. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), Cowboy Space Corp. is backed by leading investors and built by a team from top aerospace and defense organizations. We’re moving quickly to solve complex technical challenges and build a new category of space infrastructure. The Head of IT will define and execute the company’s IT strategy across corporate systems, engineering infrastructure, mission operations support, cybersecurity, and compliance. This leader will ensure our IT architecture supports secure satellite development, ground segment operations, regulatory requirements, and rapid global scaling. This is a highly cross-functional leadership role, reporting to the COO/CLO but partnering with Engineering, Security, Finance, and People teams to build resilient, secure, and scalable systems in a highly regulated environment. This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role in a rapidly scaling hardware company, and is in-person at our San Carlos, CA HQ.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive IT leadership experience
Experience scaling IT in a high-growth startup or technology company from early architecture to defense-level compliance
Deep expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Strong background in cybersecurity and compliance
Experience supporting engineering organizations (DevOps, high-performance compute, secure SDLC)
Proven ability to build teams and operate strategically and tactically
Experience in defense or other regulated industries; familiarity with export controls (ITAR/EAR)
U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Nice To Haves

Experience preparing for or maintaining SOC 2 / ISO 27001 audits

Responsibilities

Define and execute the company-wide IT roadmap aligned with business and mission objectives
Build and lead a high-performing IT team (infrastructure, applications, support, security)
Develop IT governance, policies, and standards
Manage IT budget planning and vendor relationships
Design and operate secure and scalable hybrid infrastructure
Support high-performance compute environments for satellite design, simulation and testing
Ensure high availability for mission-critical systems and operations
Implement disaster recovery and business continuity planning
Own enterprise cybersecurity strategy across corporate, production, and mission environments
Implement zero-trust architecture and endpoint security
Ensure compliance with relevant frameworks (e.g. ITAR/EAR)
Oversee ERP, HRIS, collaboration, identity management, and productivity tools
Support scaling processes across Finance, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing
Drive automation and process optimization initiatives
Partner with software and hardware engineering to support secure development environments
Ensure secure data pipelines for satellite telemetry and payload data
Manage MSPs, cloud providers, and security vendors; negotiate enterprise contracts and SLAs
Serve as executive point-of-contact for IT-related audits and due diligence