VP Information Technology

Ajinomoto Foods North America•Ontario, CA

About The Position

The Vice President of Information Technology (VP IT) oversees the strategic planning, implementation, and management of the organization's IT infrastructure and systems. This role is responsible for aligning technology initiatives with business goals, ensuring cybersecurity, managing IT budgets, leading IT teams, and driving innovation to improve operational efficiency and support organizational growth. The VP IT collaborates with other executives to develop technology strategies, oversees IT projects, and ensures compliance with industry standards and regulations.

Requirements

4 Year / Bachelors Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field required
12+ years of progressive IT experience
7+ years leading multiple disciplines (governance, delivery, operations, infrastructure, and/or security) in a complex, multi-site environment.
Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into a governed, multi-year portfolio and deliver measurable outcomes through disciplined prioritization, financial management, and execution rigor.
Broad technical leadership across infrastructure and cloud services, cybersecurity and risk management, IT service management, and business applications
Executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to influence across functions, present to senior leaders, and build alignment on priorities, risk, and investment trade-offs.
Track record of leading technology transformation, improving service performance, and maturing governance, controls, and operating rhythms in a customer-focused IT organization.
Experience with IT budgeting, forecasting, vendor/contract management, and managed-services performance oversight, including driving cost optimization and service quality.
Proven ability to lead through senior leaders and build a high-performing management team through coaching, performance management, and succession planning.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree and/or relevant executive education preferred.
experience supporting 24x7 operational environments (e.g., plants/warehouses) preferred.

Responsibilities

Drive execution of the enterprise IT operating plan aligned to our long-term Road Map through the IT leadership team, ensuring technology capabilities support safety, quality, service, growth, and cost performance.
Partner with the CIO and business leadership to refine strategy, set investment priorities, and run the portfolio governance needed to translate direction into executable roadmaps for IT leaders.
Establish and sustain, through IT leaders, a customer-focused engagement and demand-management model (intake, prioritization transparency, communications, and satisfaction measures) to improve trust, alignment, and service outcomes across corporate and plant stakeholders.
Ensure IT leaders convert business priorities into funded roadmaps and delivered outcomes, driving adoption and value realization (e.g., productivity, cycle time, uptime, and decision-quality improvements).
Ensure IT governance, standards, and policy lifecycle are defined and followed through the IT leadership team to strengthen security, compliance, audit readiness, and scalable delivery; maintain clear risk decisioning and escalation paths and an operating cadence for controls, reviews, and remediation.
Ensure adherence to enterprise technology standards and reference architectures (e.g., cloud, network, endpoint, identity, integration), including a clear process for exceptions, so solutions are scalable, supportable, cost-effective, and secure by design.
Ensure KPIs/SLAs are defined, reviewed, and acted on (e.g., availability, incident response, project delivery, security posture), using governance forums to drive continuous improvement and provide clear, executive-ready reporting.
Ensure end-to-end IT service performance through disciplined ITSM practices (incident/problem/change management) and strong service ownership by IT leaders, including infrastructure reliability, application support, and cybersecurity controls—delivering availability, resilience, and a strong end-user experience.
Ensure disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities are defined, tested on a regular cadence, and improved through responsible leaders, with clear recovery objectives and measurable readiness for critical services.
Provide executive oversight of cybersecurity program execution and risk posture through the security leader, ensuring prioritized remediation, transparent reporting, and alignment with enterprise risk management.
Coordinate the IT leadership team’s operating rhythm (priorities, dependencies, and escalation) to ensure consistent execution of CIO direction across planning & governance, delivery & operations, infrastructure, and cybersecurity.
Ensure strong IT financial stewardship through leaders, including budgeting, forecasting, and vendor/sourcing strategy; optimize the sourcing and managed-services model, manage provider performance, and deliver cost, risk, and service-quality outcomes.
Develop and coach a high-performing IT leadership team, strengthening capabilities in governance, delivery, operations, infrastructure, and security through succession planning, talent development, and performance management.
Enable IT leaders to partner with functional and plant stakeholders to plan and deliver changes, improve processes, and execute organizational change so solutions are adopted and sustained.