Technology Leader, Factory IT & Infrastructure

freeformfuturecorp; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Freeform, based in Hawthorne, CA, is seeking a Head of IT to own the technology infrastructure behind its AI-native manufacturing platform. You will report to the CEO and drive uptime, security, and compliance across data centers, cloud, networks, and corporate IT.

This hands‑on leadership role requires building a repeatable blueprint for factory data centers, managing petabyte‑scale data, Kubernetes and virtualization, and leading an IT team as Freeform scales globally.

Qualifications

• 12+ years enterprise IT and infrastructure experience, including 2+ years leading IT or infrastructure teams, with current hands‑on technical skills.
• Data center infrastructure experience across compute, storage, and networking.
• Strong knowledge of both on‑premises and cloud infrastructure.
• Hands‑on experience with Kubernetes, on‑prem and in the cloud.
• Deep expertise in Linux‑based infrastructure.
• A track record of owning an IT budget, setting strategy, and managing vendors, with experience reporting to senior executives.

Responsibilities

• Set the IT and infrastructure strategy and roadmap, tied to Freeform's factory expansion, and present it to the executive team.
• Architect, build, and commission the infrastructure and dedicated data center for our new facility, including power, cooling, compute, storage, network, and edge‑compute on the factory floor, as a repeatable blueprint for future factories.
• Own storage and compute for petabyte‑scale physics and process data, including high‑bandwidth interconnects.
• Own the Kubernetes and virtualization platforms, on‑prem and in the cloud.
• Own network architecture across all sites, including segmentation between corporate, server, OT, and guest zones.
• Build and run the security program: controls, monitoring, incident response, audits, and vulnerability management.
• Own compliance with NIST 800‑171, CMMC, and ITAR, and serve as the point of accountability for IT‑related audits and customer security reviews.
• Ensure high availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity for systems that drive production.
• Run corporate IT alongside engineering infrastructure, including identity and access, endpoints, and collaboration tools.
• Own the IT budget and make the build‑vs‑buy and on‑prem‑vs‑cloud calls that keep infrastructure cost‑efficient as we scale.
• Select and manage vendors, hardware suppliers, and cloud providers, and set IT policies, standards, and change management.
• Report on availability, risk, and security posture to executive leadership.
• Stay hands‑on: review designs, make architecture calls, and build and troubleshoot alongside the team.
• Lead and mentor the IT team, and plan, hire, and build the organization as Freeform scales, setting its priorities and a culture of ownership and continuous improvement

Skills

Enterprise IT leadership

Data center infra

Kubernetes

Linux infrastructure

Budget management

Vendor management

Executive reporting

Security/compliance awareness

Education

Degree in CS or computer engineering

Tools

InfiniBand

Job description

Freeform, based in Hawthorne, CA, is seeking a Head of IT to own the technology infrastructure behind its AI-native manufacturing platform. You will report to the CEO and drive uptime, security, and compliance across data centers, cloud, networks, and corporate IT.

This hands‑on leadership role requires building a repeatable blueprint for factory data centers, managing petabyte‑scale data, Kubernetes and virtualization, and leading an IT team as Freeform scales globally.