VP of IT and Security

Karbon; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Time Off

Company-paid medical

Dental & Vision

401(k)

Flexible Spending Account

Parental leave

Work-from-home stipend

Job summary

Karbon, a leading AI-powered practice management platform for accounting firms, seeks a VP of IT & Security to own Internal IT, Security, and Governance, Risk & Compliance. You will set strategy, lead a small SecOps team, and migrate IT from MSP to an in-house function.

You will report to the CEO, collaborating with Engineering, Finance, and Legal, and build scalable processes, incident response plans, SOC 2 readiness, and disaster recovery while balancing business risk and product velocity.

Qualifications

• 12 years in IT and security with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.

Responsibilities

• Own the day-to-day running of Karbon’s device fleet and internal systems.

Skills

Strategy execution

Strong communicator

Commercial awareness

Ambiguity tolerance

Collaborative by default

Tools

Okta/Entra

MDM/Endpoint Management

Jamf Protect

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Azure/AWS/GCP

Google Workspace

Netskope

Job description

About Karbon

Karbon is the global leader in AI-powered practice management software for accounting firms. We provide an award-winning cloud platform that helps tens of thousands of accounting professionals work more efficiently and collaboratively every day. With customers in 40 countries, we have grown into a globally distributed team across the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines. We are well-funded, ranked #1 on G2, growing rapidly, and have a people-first culture that is recognized with Great Place To Work® certification and on Fortune magazine’s Best Small Workplaces™ List.

About The Role

This is a foundational leadership role at Karbon.

As VP of IT & Security, you will own the following areas:

• Internal IT – Identity & Access, devices and configuration
• Security – Corporate & Application
• Governance, Risk & Compliance
• Enterprise incident response, business continuity, and disaster recovery

You are a player-coach. You’ll set strategy and own the roadmap, but you’re comfortable rolling up your sleeves, analyzing logs, writing and tweaking policies, configuring tools, running a vendor evaluation, or sitting in a SOC 2 evidence review.

You’ll report directly to the CEO and work closely with Engineering, Finance, Legal, and the broader executive team.

You will lead, on day one, an existing small SecOps team that will report to you.

This role doesn’t exist yet in its current form. You’ll be building something meaningful from the ground up and leading the migration of our IT function from our MSP to an in-house team.

What You’ll Own

Internal IT

• Own the day-to-day running of Karbon’s device fleet and internal systems.
• Establish and manage IT service delivery and support, including helpdesk operations, incident and problem management, and SLAs as we migrate away from our MSP to an internal function.
• Own identity and access management (Okta) including device provisioning and employee onboarding and offboarding.
• Manage endpoint management (MDM) and device policies across our global fleet of pc’s and mac’s.
• Build and manage vendor relationships, including contracts, renewals, and performance.
• Identify opportunities to optimize licence costs.

Security

• Define, maintain, and champion Karbon’s strategy, policies, and standards across the organisation.
• Own the internal security tooling stack including EDR, SIEM, email security.
• Lead the Application Security team.
• Develop and maintain Karbon’s information security policies and risk management framework.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Maintain Karbon’s Risk Register and own Karbon’s SOC 2 program end to end: audit readiness, control design, and auditor relationships, coordinating with internal teams and external partners as control owners for evidence collection.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert on compliance requirements for customer, partner, and enterprise sales conversations.

Enterprise Incident Response, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

• Own and maintain the incident response plan and playbooks
• Define incident severity, escalation paths, and communication protocols, coordinating legal, insurance, and regulatory notification obligations during significant events.
• Own business continuity plans and backup strategy.

What We’re Looking For

Experience

• 12 years in IT and security with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record managing or building an internal IT function – experience having transitioned from an MSP model is a strong advantage.
• Hands-on operational & security experience and able to assist teams when required.
• Deep familiarity with compliance frameworks such as SOC 2.
• Experience in a B2B SaaS environment is strongly preferred.

Technologies

• Identity & Access Management (Okta & Entra preferred)
• Mobile Device Management / Endpoint Management
• EDR solutions such as Jamf Protect & Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
• At least one major cloud platform either Azure, AWS or GCP
• Office Productivity Platform – Google Workspace (preferred) or O365
• Netskope Experience highly regarded

Skills And Approach

• You can move between strategy and execution without losing momentum in either direction.
• Strong communicator able to translate technical concepts into business language for a CEO, board, or enterprise customer.
• Commercially aware – you understand how security and compliance decisions affect sales, customer trust, and product velocity.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and building in environments where process is still being defined.
• Collaborative by default, with the confidence to hold the line when it matters.

Why This Role, Why Now

Karbon is at an inflection point. We’re growing, our customer base includes some of the world’s largest accounting firms, and enterprise trust is a competitive differentiator for us. This role exists because we’re ready to own our IT and security function at the level our customers and our ambitions demand.

You’ll have a seat at the table, real scope, and the support of a CEO who understands why this matters.

Why work at Karbon?

• Gain global experience across Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Canada
• Strong benefits package including:
• Flexible Time Off with an encouraged 4 weeks use per year
• Company paid medical for you and eligible spouse/partner and dependents
• Paid dental and vision and eligible spouse/partner and dependents
• 401(k) with company matching
• Flexible Spending Account
• Up to 8 weeks paid parental leave
• Work-from-home stipend
• Work with (and learn from) an experienced, high-performing team
• A collaborative, team-oriented culture that embraces diversity, invests in development and provides consistent feedback
• Be part of a fast-growing company that firmly believes in promoting high performers from within

The estimated base salary range for this role is: : $220,000 USD – $245,000 USD

Please be aware that Karbon will only contact you via email from our domain, karbonhq.com. If you receive an email from any other domain, please do not click any of those links.

We recruit and reward people based on capability and performance. We don’t discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, lifestyle, age, educational background, national origin, religion, physical or cognitive ability, and other diversity dimensions that may hinder inclusion in the organization.

Generally, if you are a good person, we want to talk to you.

If there are any adjustments or accommodations that we can make to assist you during the recruitment process, and your journey at Karbon, contact us at [e-mail] for a confidential discussion.