Head of Technology
$225,000–$225,000 year
On-siteNorthbrook, Illinois, United States
Job Summary
Define and communicate the firm's technology roadmap aligned with business priorities, owning planning, budgeting, vendor relationships, and procurement decisions. Own cybersecurity strategy, standards, and controls across infrastructure, applications, data, identity, and cloud environments while assessing risks and prioritizing remediation. Lead the IT Manager and IT Associate to foster a culture grounded in clear communication, accountability, and continuous improvement. Develop and execute the enterprise-wide AI strategy by assessing internal needs, guiding LLM integrations, training employees, and evaluating vendor features against security and data governance standards. Manage technology stack evaluations and build-versus-buy decisions to ensure capabilities are scalable and secure. Requires five days per week onsite in Northbrook.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive experience in technology roles
- at least five years in a leadership, strategic development and people management capacity
- Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop individuals across varying experience levels
- leadership style that builds trust and brings out the best in others
- Hands-on software development experience
- production code contributions
- proficiency in at least one modern web stack such as JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or Node.js
- Practical knowledge of AI tools and LLM-based applications
- ability to assess how these systems work
- ability to identify where they create value
- ability to identify where they introduce risk
- Experience overseeing IT infrastructure
- Experience overseeing cloud environments
- Experience overseeing cybersecurity fundamentals
- Experience overseeing system reliability
- Experience overseeing technology operations
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- ability to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders
- ability to create practical documentation that teams will use
- Track record of managing technology budgets
- Track record of managing vendor relationships
- Track record of managing procurement processes
- Track record of managing cross-functional technology initiatives
- Cedar Pine requires five days per week onsite in Northbrook for this role
Desired Qualifications
- Develop and lead Cedar Pine's enterprise-wide AI strategy
- assessing internal needs
- identifying opportunities to embed AI into workflows
- setting priorities for practical adoption across the firm
- Provide technical guidance and quality oversight for AI-enabled development
- including LLM integrations
- workflow automation
- agentic tools where appropriate
- Train and support employees in the effective, responsible use of AI
- maintaining ongoing education as AI capabilities, tools, and risks evolve
- Advise firm leadership on the AI and emerging technology landscape
- including relevant opportunities
- limitations
- business value
- and implementation risks
- Evaluate AI features introduced by existing platforms and third-party vendors before adoption
- ensuring they meet Cedar Pine's standards for security, privacy, and data governance
- Lead, coach, and develop the IT Manager
- through clear expectations
- regular feedback
- and a genuine investment in continued professional growth
- Support the IT Associate's development
- in partnership with the IT Manager
- reinforcing a cohesive and well-functioning IT team
- Foster a team culture grounded in clear communication
- accountability
- continuous improvement
- intellectual curiosity
- and pragmatic problem-solving
- Evaluate and make recommendations on technology stack
- frameworks, tools, and third-party integrations
- for new and existing projects
- Maintain sufficient technical fluency
- to assess quality
- identify risks
- guide architectural tradeoffs
- and make credible build-versus-buy decisions
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