Senior Director, IT

Madrona Venture Labs; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 189,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Unlimited paid time off

Parental leave

Equity options

Job summary

Madrona Venture Labs is seeking a Director of IT to drive our technological vision, ensuring scalable and secure systems. The position requires a strategic leader with over 12 years in IT, specializing in cloud computing, DevOps practices, and cybersecurity. You will oversee IT operations, budgets, and ensure compliance while collaborating with various departments to enhance business processes. This role is based in San Carlos, CA, and includes competitive compensation and an innovative work culture.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of IT experience, with 8+ years in a managerial role.
• Experience managing DevOps, driving IaC, automation, CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with regulatory standards (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement IT strategies that align with organizational goals.
• Lead IT operations across infrastructure, hardware, networking, and systems management.
• Ensure data security, compliance, incident response, and disaster recovery.

Skills

Cloud computing (AWS, Azure)

IT architecture

Project management

Cybersecurity

DevOps practices

Collaboration between development and operations

Education

Bachelor's degree in information technology or related field

Job description

Location

San Carlos, Seattle

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

On-site

Department

G&A

Compensation

• $189K – $252K; Offers Equity; Offers Bonus

The hiring pay range for this position is based on skills, education, and experience relevant to the role. New hires are typically hired into the low to midpoint of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job‑related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

Benefits include medical, vision, and dental insurance, group and supplemental life insurance, 401(k) retirement plan, responsible (unlimited) paid time off, parental leave, and more. Other components of total compensation include a competitive options grant at the time of hire (with potential for additional grants).

About Nautilus

At Nautilus, we have a big and important mission: improve the health of millions by unleashing the potential of the proteome to accelerate drug development and enable a new world of precision and personalized medicine. We are developing a single‑molecule protein analysis platform of unprecedented sensitivity, scale, and ease of use that we believe will democratize access to the proteome – one of the most dynamic and valuable sources of biological insight. To accomplish this, we are pursuing hard scientific problems with an entrepreneurial mindset and creating a world‑class team of builders, innovators, and dreamers across a wide range of disciplines.

Role Overview

As the Director of IT, you will drive the technological vision of our company, ensuring our systems are scalable, secure, and innovative. This role requires a forward‑thinking leader who thrives in a fast‑paced environment. This position will report to the Senior Director of Software Engineering and IT, and can be located in Seattle, WA or San Carlos, CA.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement IT strategies that align with organizational goals.
• Lead IT operations across infrastructure, hardware, networking, and systems management, ensuring reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Ensure data security, compliance, incident response, and disaster recovery protocols are in place.
• Oversee IT budgets, vendor relationships, and procurement processes to ensure cost‑effective and value‑driven technology investments.
• Provide regular updates to senior leadership on IT budget performance, risk posture, cybersecurity initiatives, and strategic priorities.
• Identify and implement emerging technologies to improve business processes.
• Implement AI strategy for increased organizational efficiency, decision‑making, and operational outcomes.
• Collaborate with software, operations, and legal teams to define and enforce enterprise‑wide data governance policies and practices.
• Partner with engineering, operations, finance, and software teams to enable technology‑driven commercialization efforts.
• Drive the selection, integration, and management of business systems (ERP, HRIS, PLM, CRM, etc.) crucial to operations and commercialization efforts.
• Play an integral role in product definition, requirements specification, and execution.
• Champion DevOps practices driving infrastructure‑as‑code (IaC), automation, continuous integration, and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Inspire, mentor, and grow high‑performing IT teams, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Set and communicate clear team priorities, ensuring alignment with company strategy and responsiveness to evolving business needs.
• Build and reinforce scalable, actionable processes that empower teams to make informed decisions and deliver consistent results.
• Foster collaboration between development and operations teams to streamline deployment processes and improve system reliability.
• Navigate and lead teams through change, leveraging competitive insights and innovative thinking to adapt and thrive in dynamic environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, information systems, computer science, or a related field.
• 12+ years of IT experience, with 8+ years in a managerial role.
• Expertise in cloud computing (preferably AWS and Azure), network design and infrastructure, and enterprise software.
• Experience managing DevOps, driving IaC, automation, CI/CD pipelines, and collaboration between development and operations teams.
• Experience deploying security and SaaS tools across organizations.
• Proven experience deploying commercial products.
• Deep understanding of IT architecture and cybersecurity.
• Strong familiarity with software development practices.
• Strong leadership and project management skills.
• Experience with regulatory standards across data privacy, security, financial data management (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOX, ISO27001, etc.).
• Requires bimonthly travel between office locations.

Team Culture

• We are curious go‑getters: this is a team of life‑long learners who aren’t afraid to tackle the big challenges, and we embrace the journey.
• We are detail‑oriented: we do great science by working smart & with diligence where we learn from our trials and mistakes.
• We are easy to work with: we want our workplace to be one where everyone can share their perspective and be treated with respect and kindness.