Highgate is a premier real estate investment and hospitality management company widely recognized as an innovator in the industry. Highgate is the dominant player in U.S. gateway markets including New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Honolulu, with a rapidly expanding presence in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Highgate’s portfolio of global properties represents an aggregate asset value exceeding $20B and generates over $5B in cumulative revenues. The company provides expert guidance through all stages of the hospitality property cycle, from planning and development through recapitalization or disposition.  Highgate also has the creativity and bandwidth to develop bespoke hotel brands and utilizes industry leading proprietary revenue management tools that identify and predict evolving market dynamics to drive out performance and maximize asset value. With an executive team consisting of some of the industry’s most experienced hotel management leaders, the company is a trusted partner for top ownership groups and major hotel brands. Highgate maintains corporate offices in London, New York, Dallas, and Seattle. www.highgate.com

Highgate Corporate Offices Irving, TX

The Senior IT Director will be responsible for providing the vision, leadership, planning and management for acquisition, implementation, and support of technology across the corporate environment. This role will collaborate with management and key stakeholders to align the company's information technology with its strategic goals, while also developing the processes and procedures to effectively support business needs. This role contributes significantly to the success of the organization by ensuring the right technology stack for our business, demonstrating the ability to assess what technologies and platforms are necessary to achieve the company’s growth plans, and providing hands-on technical expertise to maintain a secure and stable environment. Responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to, strategy & planning, identifying and deploying solutions, and hands on operational management. This is a hands-on role for someone excited to manage a team and act as an individual contributor.

• Leadership & Strategy
• • Collaborate with the IT leadership and partner with the head of IT security to build and implement a robust Security roadmap.
  • Provide leadership and management to the IT department, ensuring alignment with the overall vision from the SVP of IT.
  • Act as a strategic partner to other departments ensuring a shared understanding of IT processes and support.
  • Lead and mentor the IT team, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
  • Help drive culture change in the corporate environment to sustainable process and procedures.

• IT Operations & Infrastructure
  • Responsible for all aspects of Active directory for the company, its subsidiaries and hotels- including design, setup, and implementation.
  • Responsible for corporate network planning and management.
  • Responsible for successful delivery of all corporate IT projects.
  • Responsible for managing technology systems and processes, developing standard operating procedures, reducing security risks, and ensuring 99.9% or higher system uptime.
  • Responsible for managing the processes, procedures and KPIs that govern our Managed Service Providers.
  • Work with internal applications team on the design and implementation of new applications and services.
  • Responsible for change management for existing applications and services.
  • Responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, and security of the corporate IT infrastructure, cloud services, and enterprise-wide M365 environment.
  • Responsible for the oversight and ongoing management of networking and phone systems, including working with vendors and network providers.
  • Responsible for hardware lifecycle management including acquisition, inventory control, and disposition.
  • Vendor relationship management including developing relationships, ensuring proper service levels, negotiating costs.
  • Provide solution recommendations to SVP of IT based on business requirements, product selection criteria, and cost analysis.
  • Stay abreast of technology changes, effectively communicate with IT and business leadership, and plan roadmap to meet the company’s requirements.
  • Hands-on contribution to management of team’s priorities, project implementation, and ongoing systems management.

• Cybersecurity & Risk Management
  • Conduct regular risk assessments and implement measures to mitigate identified risks.
  • Ownership of ongoing DR and BCP solutions including solution improvements, developing standard operating procedures, and validation of regular test results.

• Day-to-Day Management
  • Promote enterprise wide adoption of corporate systems and help drive standardization.
  • Provide day-to-day supervision of the IT team.
  • Oversee IT budgets, vendor relationships, and contracts to optimize costs and service levels.
  • Act as part of the team providing day to day operational systems management.

• Leadership Experience: A minimum of 10+ years of experience in IT leadership roles. This experience should include managing IT teams and managing Managed Service Providers.
• IT Management: Extensive experience in managing IT infrastructure, including Active Directory, M365, networks, servers, and cloud solutions. This includes responsibility for ensuring system reliability, scalability, and security.
• Vendor Management: Experience in managing relationships with external vendors, including negotiating contracts, managing service levels, and conducting performance reviews. This includes experience in conducting vendor/solution decision analysis.
• Certificates and Licenses: PMP (Project Management Professional), ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), and CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) are beneficial.
• Technical Skills:
  • Extensive expertise with Active Directory, Windows Server, Entra ID, Exchange Online, Teams, backup and disaster recovery processes are required.
  • Strong working knowledge of networking including switches and firewalls
  • Desktop support and desktop management processes
• Interpersonal Skills: Exceptional customer service and the ability to speak to C level in a meaningful way.