Position: IT Operating Partner – Office of the CIO
Location: Remote (EST or CST)
Company Overview
With over $8 billion of assets under management, our client has been focused on opportunities in the middle market for over two decades. Investing in both middle-market private equity and credit, they have deep experience across a broad range of industries where they successfully partnered with business leaders to make good companies better. Company employs its unique culture and capabilities to make transformative investments where they support meaningful improvements in strategy, growth and operations.
The Role – Operating Partner – Office of the CIO
This position will be reporting to the Senior Operating Partner and Leader of the Office of the CIO, and be accountable to the firm’s leadership team, as well as portfolio company CIO’s and CEOs.
The IT Operating Partner will serve as a trusted advisor to the portfolio company IT teams. He/she will work closely with portfolio companies, deal team members, and will collaborate with the Senior Operating Partner.in defining the IT strategy and recommending best practices for each Portfolio company as needed. They will play a critical role in driving value creation within the portfolio companies related to IT. They will serve as a player/coach, depending on the situation and type of IT leadership in-place at the PortCo.
This executive will be responsible for shadowing IT Due Diligence, aligning the technology road-map with the VCP, defining the cyber-security road-map and adoption plans to the strategic goals and objectives of the Portfolio company. The executive must be proactive and “out in front” to identify, communicate, and address how evolving market dynamics, innovation, efficiency, compliance and security will impact the specific portfolio company’s technology resources and processes.
Ideal candidate must be a Technology Leader with a business mind set. Have expertise in forming the right set of questions that helps in understanding the current state of the participating companies. Solution oriented and a firm believer that a solution is only as good as its adoption. They must possess high EQ, excellent influencing skills, desire and ability to roll-up their sleeves and jump in – to help, guide, coach, or do.
Job Responsibilities
· Lead fast-paced technology due diligence engagements for private equity portfolio companies.
· Evaluate technology strategy, organization, business applications, infrastructure and controls as they relate to the operations of the business and the proposed investments.
· Strong understanding of all major IT areas such as ERP, CRM, Applications & Automation, Security, Infrastructure including Cloud, Digital strategy and support environment.
· Serve as a trusted advisor to portfolio companies, building strong relationships and providing strategic guidance on technology solutions.
· Demonstrate both analytic and big picture capabilities in problem solving approaches.
· Develop technology strategy and planning deliverables for varied industries and preferably industrial sector.
· Ability to assess and optimize portfolio technology organizations, ensuring consistent and precise execution. Anticipate technology requirements of the business and ensure appropriate strategy, resources and teams are in place.
· Asses a tech organization and team, as well as identify gaps
· Help portfolio companies recruit, hire, develop and train top IT talent with a blend of technology and business support competencies.
· Help lead teams to generate a vision, establish direction and motivate members, create an atmosphere of trust, the leveraging of diverse views.
· Produce high quality value driven diligence reports or supplement 3rd party reports with experienced insight.
· Work with portfolio companies to define and drive a clear understanding of fundamentals such as resilience, security, modernization, agility.
· Strong understanding in IT risk management. Ability to guide with a potential mitigation strategy. Possess good understanding of data privacy and compliance.
· Define objective and develop key performance indicators to measure performance across the organization.
· Establish strong relationship with stakeholders within the organization and portfolio companies.
· The individual must be comfortable with effectively balancing priorities and optimizing portfolio company resources, specific to each entity.
· Strong communicating skills with ability to interact effectively with the CEO, CFO and C-level executives and collaborations across organizational boundaries, as well as the BOD and Deal Teams.
· Foster a healthy and balanced partnership with portfolio company IT teams, external vendors and partners, together operating as a key strategic resource.
· Assist in leading IT Leader Councils and Cyber Security Councils across portfolio companies.
· Be able to call “balls and strikes” when projects are not progressing as planned.
· Stay up to date with latest technology trends and able to adopt best practices and technologies that can enhance business operations and continuously build upon competitive edge. Desire to improve the efficiency and execution of the team.
Qualifications and Experience:
· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field, Master’s degree preferred
· Seasoned technology executive with 10-15 years’ experience in senior IT leadership roles.
· An ideal candidate should have experience as a CIO or IT Strategy leader in mid or large corporate environments, Consulting experience an asset..
· Must have demonstrated the ability to lead an effective IT organization, anticipate all IT and information security needs, and ensure reliable delivery of all IT services
· Exposure to private equity, hedge fund investing, asset management, investment banking or similar would be an asset
· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams
· Excellent influencing and relationship managements skills
· Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a keen attention to detail
A highly collaborative style of working is critical to the success of this role. Must be pro-active and possess a let’s do it attitude.
Travel: Position requires fair amount of travel within the United States.
Requirements:
The successful candidate must balance thoughtful planning with a bias towards action and sense of urgency as it relates to daily execution. This person will be a highly intelligent and seasoned technology executive with wide perspective, logical thinking, vision, tact and the ability to quickly gain the confidence and respect of the various CEOs/Presidents and other senior firm members. It is imperative that the IT Operating Partner be professionally engaging, likable, and approachable while still holding to uncompromised service goals and technology leadership. A key will be to balance assertiveness with humility.
Maturity, sound judgment, good instincts, high integrity, loyalty, poise, refined communications skills, an eye for details and the ability to motivate and challenge others are characteristics of vital importance.
