IT Lead

Albacore Inc.; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Albacore Inc. seeks an IT Lead to build and own the IT function from the ground up. You will establish systems, security practices, and processes to scale with the company, and you’ll be hands-on with devices, onboarding, IAM, networking, and SaaS administration.

You’ll work strategically while solving day-to-day IT problems, owning IT from security tooling to vendor management, and aligning with engineering and leadership on defense-industry security requirements.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in IT, systems administration, or related field.
• Experience building IT systems in startup/high-growth environments.
• Strong IAM/SSO/MFA and lifecycle management experience.

Responsibilities

• Build and own IT infrastructure, policies, and processes.
• Manage employee IT including devices, onboarding, and offboarding.
• Handle identity and access across systems (SSO, MFA, provisioning).
• Administer core SaaS platforms and licensing processes.
• Design secure networking (Wi‑Fi, VPN, firewalls, segmentation) and security controls.
• Oversee MDM, endpoint security, encryption, patching, backups.
• Evaluate IT vendors/tools as the company grows.
• Partner with engineering/ops to support tech needs and security/compliance (CMMC/NIST 800-171).
• Identify opportunities to automate IT workflows and improve user experience.

Skills

IT leadership

IAM & SSO

MS 365 / Google Workspace

MDM & endpoint security

Networking fundamentals

Security tooling

Vendor management

Automation scripting

Job description

The Role

Albacore is looking for an IT Lead to build and own our IT function from the ground up. As our first dedicated IT hire, you'll establish the systems, infrastructure, security practices, and processes that support our team today and scale with us as we grow.

This is a highly hands-on role. You'll own everything from employee devices and onboarding to identity and access management, networking, SaaS administration, security tooling, and IT vendors. We're looking for someone who can think strategically about how our IT environment should operate while also being comfortable jumping in and solving day-to-day technical problems.

What You'll Do

• Build and own Albacore's IT infrastructure, systems, policies, and processes.
• Own employee IT, including laptops, hardware procurement, device management, troubleshooting, and onboarding/offboarding.
• Manage identity and access across company systems, including SSO, MFA, permissions, and user provisioning.
• Administer core SaaS platforms and implement scalable processes for application and license management.
• Design and maintain secure office networking, Wi-Fi, firewalls, VPNs, and network segmentation.
• Implement and manage MDM, endpoint security, encryption, patching, backups, and other security controls.
• Evaluate and manage IT vendors, tools, and hardware as the company grows.
• Partner with engineering, operations, and leadership to support technology needs across the organization.
• Help build an IT environment capable of meeting defense industry security and compliance requirements, including CMMC and NIST 800-171.
• Identify opportunities to automate IT workflows and continuously improve how employees interact with internal technology.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in IT, systems administration, infrastructure, or a related field.
• Experience owning or building IT systems in a startup, high-growth company, or similarly hands‑on environment.
• Strong experience with identity and access management, SSO, MFA, and employee lifecycle management.
• Experience administering Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and modern SaaS environments.
• Hands‑on experience with MDM, endpoint management, and endpoint security.
• Strong networking fundamentals, including Wi‑Fi, VLANs, VPNs, firewalls, DNS, and DHCP.
• Ability to independently evaluate technology, make decisions, and implement solutions.
• Comfortable being both the owner of the function and the person doing the work.

Nice to Have

• Experience building an IT function from scratch.
• Experience in defense, aerospace, robotics, manufacturing, or another security‑conscious environment.
• Familiarity with CMMC, NIST 800-171, CUI, ITAR, or government security requirements.
• Experience with GCC High, Azure Government, AWS GovCloud, or similar environments.
• Scripting or automation experience with Python, Bash, PowerShell, or APIs.

We're looking for a builder who wants significant ownership. You'll have the opportunity to define how IT operates at Albacore from the beginning and build the foundation that supports the company as we scale.