IT Lead

Distyl AI • San Francisco, CA

3d • $170,000 - $220,000 • Onsite

About The Position

As Head of IT, you will build and lead Distyl's global IT organization during a period of rapid growth. Reporting to executive leadership, you will own the strategy, systems, security controls, compliance programs, and operational processes that enable Distyl to scale from approximately 180 employees today to 500+ employees globally.

This is a highly hands-on leadership role. You will lead a small but growing team, personally execute critical initiatives, and establish the foundations of a world-class IT organization capable of supporting enterprise customers, international expansion, and increasingly sophisticated security and compliance requirements.

Distyl operates a highly customer-facing, forward-deployed model, partnering directly with Fortune 50 enterprises to deploy AI systems in complex and highly regulated environments. Our employees regularly work within customer environments and handle sensitive enterprise data, creating unique challenges around endpoint security, compliance, access governance, secure collaboration, and customer security requirements.

You will oversee employee technology, identity and access management, endpoint security, corporate networking, SaaS governance, office technology, compliance programs, and corporate security operations across the United States and international markets. You will play a critical role in supporting our NYC and San Francisco hubs while helping establish and scale Distyl's international footprint.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth, exceptional operational discipline, proven experience building IT organizations in high-growth technology companies, and the ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience leading IT, corporate technology, or security operations as a company scales from 100-1000 employees
• Demonstrated track record of successfully prioritizing and executing competing initiatives in fast-growing environments with limited resources.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to partner effectively with executives, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders..
• Proven experience hiring, developing, and leading high-performing IT, security operations, or corporate technology teams.
• Deep expertise in identity and access management, endpoint management, SaaS governance, networking, and corporate security.
• Experience leading compliance programs such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, GDPR, HIPAA, and other modern compliance frameworks
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic planning with hands-on execution.

Nice To Haves

• Experience building IT organizations from an early-stage or growth-stage startup environment
• Experience supporting globally distributed teams and international office expansion
• Experience operating in highly regulated environments or serving Fortune 500 customers
• Hands-on experience with Okta, Kandji, Google Workspace, Tailscale, endpoint security tooling, and modern SaaS governance platforms
• Experience supporting AI, software, cloud-native, or enterprise technology companies

Responsibilities

• Build and lead Distyl's IT organization, including hiring, coaching, and developing a high-performing team
• Establish a culture of operational excellence, accountability, responsiveness, and attention to detail across the IT organization
• Define the long-term IT strategy, operating model, budget, and roadmap
• Build an IT organization capable of supporting a global workforce of 500+ employees
• Develop strong relationships with stakeholders across Engineering, Security, Legal, Finance, People, and Operations
• Establish and maintain strong controls across identity, devices, networks, SaaS platforms, emerging AI technologies, and corporate infrastructure
• Lead initiatives to improve endpoint security, access governance, device compliance, and network security
• Establish governance around corporate and customer data, including data handling standards, secure transfer mechanisms, retention policies, and access controls
• Develop and maintain business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response capabilities for corporate technology systems and employee operations
• Own corporate compliance programs, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, GDPR, HIPAA, and future certifications required to support US and international markets
• Support customer security assessments, vendor reviews, due diligence requests, audits, and enterprise compliance requirements
• Deliver a world-class employee technology experience across office and remote environments
• Establish and continuously improve self-service employee support, knowledge management, and ITSM processes to reduce friction and improve responsiveness
• Establish and continuously improve processes for software procurement, vendor management, license optimization, and lifecycle management. In particular for a growing collection of AI tools and emerging technologies
• Drive automation of employee lifecycle management and access governance
• Establish standards and controls that balance security, employee productivity, and operational efficiency
• Oversee office technology, networking, AV systems, and employee support across NYC, SF, remote, and international locations
• Support the expansion and operation of Distyl's international offices and global workforce
• Personally lead critical technical and operational initiatives while the team scales
• Identify and eliminate manual operational work through automation, self-service tooling, and AI-powered workflows, building an IT organization that scales efficiently
• Serve as the escalation point for complex IT, security, and compliance issues
• Maintain deep familiarity with the systems and controls underpinning Distyl's IT environment
• Balance strategic planning and leadership responsibilities with hands-on execution of high-priority projects

Benefits

• 100% covered medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents
• 401(k) with additional perks (e.g., commuter benefits, in‑office lunch)
• Access to state‑of‑the‑art models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real‑world business problems
• Ownership of high‑impact projects across top enterprises
• A mission‑driven, fast‑moving culture that prizes curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence

What This Job Offers

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