Head of IT - Skatteguiden

Payne Talent; København; On-site; DKK 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Payne Talent in Copenhagen is seeking a Head of IT to own our IT operation end-to-end, with a strong focus on AI-native automation and secure data handling. You will architect and run the IT function, shaping identity, endpoints, network, and security controls across the organisation.

You'll lead automations, manage vendor relationships, and collaborate with DevOps and security teams to scale IT while protecting personal data and maintaining compliance.

Qualifications

• You think AI-first.
• You learn with AI, and judge what it gives you.
• Automation excites you.
• Solid hands-on IT experience across infrastructure, endpoints, identity and security, including working knowledge of Microsoft Entra, Intune and Microsoft 365, and of managing MacBook fleets alongside Windows.
• Solid networking skills: design, run, secure and monitor an office network: firewall, switches and Wi‑Fi.
• Experience somewhere security isn't an afterthought.
• A security mindset that knows when to push back and when to keep things simple.
• Comfortable with hands-on end-user support.

Responsibilities

• Own IT end-to-end including identity, endpoints, network and security controls.
• Define and enforce security policy and compliance.
• Lead automation initiatives across IT operations.
• Collaborate with DevOps and engineering teams on AI integration and platform work.
• Provide hands-on end-user support and issue resolution.

Skills

AI-first mindset

Automation experience

Hands-on IT experience

End-user support

Networking basics

Tools

Microsoft Entra

Intune

Microsoft 365

MacBook fleet management

Job description

Over one million Danes use Skatteguiden to understand and optimise their taxes. We automate tax tracking, surface deductions people didn't know they had, and give users the insight they need to make better financial decisions. All connected directly to the Danish tax authority. We're an independent company of around 65 people based in Copenhagen, with a 4.7-star rating and a simple mission: make financial insight accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford an accountant.

We're looking for a Head of IT who wants to build something most companies are still only talking about: AI-native IT operations. You'll own our IT function end-to-end, with the mandate, the tools, and the backing to automate as much as you can. If automating IT operations excites you, and you want room to see how far it can go, this is for you.

What you'll build

Most IT functions run on people working through admin consoles and ticket queues. We want ours to run on systems: agents, pipelines and automations that do the work, with you as their architect. Often that means connecting systems yourself: using AI to integrate one tool with another, in a way that's secure and keeps personal data where it belongs.

A few pictures of where this could lead. Which become real, and how, is your call:

• Your team is the agents you build. They handle onboarding, access, devices and support. You decide what they do alone, what needs a human, and how that changes as they earn trust.
• IT you just ask. "Maria starts Monday as a data analyst" becomes an identity, licences, groups, an enrolled laptop and Slack access. Within policy, fully logged, and nobody opened an admin console.
• No standing access for people or agents. Access is granted when it's needed, justified, logged and removed automatically. Least privilege maintains itself instead of waiting for a quarterly review.
• Every agent governed like a colleague. AI is spreading across every team here. Each agent, in engineering and beyond, gets an identity, a scope and a lifecycle, managed as rigorously as people.

What makes this hard is also what makes it worth doing. Our users trust us with their tax and financial data, and that trust is the business. So security and privacy aren't a layer on top of this work; they're the design brief.

An agent with admin rights is a new attack surface, so its permissions must be scoped, time-bound, auditable and visible to our 24/7 security monitoring. AI must never become a path for personal data to leave our control: what a model sees, where it runs and what it retains are decisions you make and defend. And when an agent is unsure, it stops and asks a human.

We plan to grow from 65 to 100+ people over the next few years, and IT has to keep pace. Automation has helped IT scale for years, but AI changes how much of the work it can take on. That combination, not hiring, is the main lever we want to use.

What you'll own

You’ll own IT end-to-end:

• Identity and access: provisioning, access rights, least privilege and licence management
• Endpoints: a fleet of mostly MacBooks, with some Windows, managed via MDM.
• Hardware: laptops, screens, peripherals and meeting-room equipment, from buying and setting up workstations for new joiners to fixing what breaks
• Network: firewall, switches and access points
• Security controls: turning security requirements into practical configurations, and supporting our compliance work
• Day‑to‑day operations: onboarding, offboarding, Microsoft 365, Slack and hands‑on support. When a laptop won’t charge, or a VPN acts up, you’re the person people turn to.
• Documentation and vendors: so things don’t live only in your head, and so agents have the context they need

Beyond IT itself, every team here uses AI, and agents need identities, scoped access, managed devices and the right knowledge to work with. You’ll work closely with our DevOps platform team on how engineers work with agents. You’ll also help define how AI is set up across the company, including how agents get the context they need without seeing more than the person they act for.

How you'll work

This is a hands‑on role with real ownership. You'll make the plans, set the priorities, weigh the trade-offs, and then do the work.

The big platform choices are made at company level. We're Microsoft‑centred: hosting is moving to Azure, and Entra ID is our identity provider. One stack gives us one identity plane and one automation surface, all visible to our security monitoring. If you have good arguments for doing something differently, we want to hear them. Everything below that is yours: the tools, the vendors, the priorities and how it's built.

You’ll report to our CTO. He won’t manage IT; you will, and he's your sparring partner on direction. You’ll own the IT budget, and decisions here are fast: if a tool will help, a lean procurement process gets it in place without committees.

You’ll work directly with our Head of Security & Privacy, Legal Counsel, Engineering and the rest of the business, with no one brokering it for you.

Where you'll start

You’ll take ownership of a recently insourced IT function, with the opportunity to shape its foundations. You’ll assess what's there and decide what to keep, change or improve, so the foundations everything else builds on are yours.

From there, the arc is roughly this:

1. Solid foundations: make the setup yours, and strong enough to build on.
2. Automate the everyday: support, onboarding and access are the first and most obvious targets.
3. Scale: agents across the company, and IT that keeps up with growth by building first.

Who we're looking for

We're open to the exact background. What matters most is how you work: you think AI-first, you have a solid IT foundation, and you use AI to go deep on whatever comes next, with the judgment to know when its answers are right.

Must-have

• You think AI-first. You use AI in your daily work and reach for it first. You've built automations or integrations with AI, ideally ones that use AI themselves, and you can show us examples.
• You learn with AI, and judge what it gives you. When you meet a technology you don't know, you use AI to get up to speed, and you know enough to tell when its suggestion is right, wrong or risky.
• Automation excites you. You see a repeated task as something to automate, and you enjoy finding out how far automation and AI can take IT.
• Solid hands‑on IT experience across infrastructure, endpoints, identity and security, including working knowledge of Microsoft Entra, Intune and Microsoft 365, and of managing MacBook fleets alongside Windows.
• Solid networking skills You can design, run, secure and monitor an office network: firewall, switches and Wi‑Fi.
• Experience somewhere security isn't an afterthought. Finance or fintech is a good example.
• A security mindset that knows when to push back and when to keep things simple. You find solutions that protect without getting in people's way.
• Comfortable with hands‑on end‑user support. When someone's laptop isn't charging or their VPN is playing up, you're the person they turn to. You don't consider it beneath you, and you're good at it, even while you work to make most of it disappear.

Nice-to-have

• A software engineering mindset: you treat configuration as code, use version control and review changes before they ship
• Familiarity with security frameworks such as ISO 27001

Why join us

• Define what AI‑native IT looks like. Few companies have figured it out yet. You'll get to figure it out here, with full ownership and room to experiment.
• AI without a meter. The best AI models for the job, like everyone here, with no cap on token spend. We care about using tokens well, not about limiting them.
• A product that matters. More than one million Danes use what we build to understand their finances.
• Small and solid. Independent and profitable, with no VC pressure and no layers between a decision and its outcome.
• Good people. We take the work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. The culture is professional, informal and genuinely collaborative.

Practical details

Location

Copenhagen. We're an office‑first company, and it's a deliberate choice. We're moving fast, we have big ambitions, and we genuinely believe that being physically together is one of the things that makes that possible. Things move quicker when you can turn your chair and talk to someone. We want to be upfront about this so you know what to expect.

And if we're asking people to be in the office, we want it to be worth their while. We're a five‑minute walk from Rådhuspladsen, stocked with everything from fruit to fizzy drinks to afternoon snacks, and lunch is at Claus Meyer's canteen just across the street, proper food, not an afterthought. If you're putting in a long day, dinner is covered too.

Salary: Competitive and based on your experience.

Reporting to: CTO

Start date: As soon as possible, ideally December 1st