VP of IT Success | Seattle, WA

Are you interested in working for a company that is the leader in design and manufacturing of custom marketing products? Are you passionate about delivering impactful product solutions to help your customers tell their story? Do you enjoy transforming technology teams, and being on the forefront of delivering superior customer service? If so, read on. 

Our client is looking for a VP of Technology in Seattle, reporting to the CEO. This is a new position based on the growth goals of the company. You will be developing the company’s technology vision and building a roadmap that will shape the business goals by driving technology transformation, maximizing use of the existing technology ecosystem, and managing IT Operations. 

Currently our client is outsourcing most of its technology functions. You will lead the transformation of the technology function by assessing needs and building a scalable team with local and off-shore resources.. You will lead the design, development, and implementation of current and new technologies to increase the efficiency of business operations and solve challenges to better serve customers while increasing value. You will drive ongoing implementation and confirmation of key business applications, including the company’s ERP (Epicor), MES, and CRM systems, along with building and maintaining the company’s data warehouse to support all business intelligence activities and analytics. You will develop and implement the company’s global information technology and network infrastructure to ensure exceptional stability and superior security. Your experience, skill and execution of your strategic technology roadmap will be key in driving alignment and performance across the organization to achieve the business goals and objectives. 


Fast forward a year, what will you have achieved? 

You have built the strategic technology roadmap and resource plan. You have mapped the current network infrastructure, identified operational security and/or service risks. You have developed risk mitigation and network optimization plans. In addition, you will have mapped and documented the ERP quote-to-cash cycle and CRM workflow along with all the SDK tools/connections. The data warehouse structure and schema will have been reviewed and documented. The current architecture will have been assessed; correction actions will have been implemented along with a long-term strategy. You will have created trustworthy reporting using Power BI and SSRS platforms. Your data governance plan has been implemented. You understand the current resources including the IT outsourced/technology partners and have built a resource plan to fill any gaps. Technology is in-house where appropriate, and you have identified additional resource needs by location, working to hire the right talent. You have developed an ERP strategy to optimize effectiveness by location. You have made the overall organization more efficient. You have demonstrated exceptional follow-up and communication skills and provided proactive solutions. You have increased technology adoption by translating appropriately to the business team. You hare a respected and sought-after leader and mentor. You are happy. 


How will you get there?

30 days:

Meet the leadership team

Meet the technology partners

Review critical business systems, start to learn the entire technology ecosystem

Understand and document pain points & opportunities

Build relationships with the China & European teams

90 days:

Understand the entire technology ecosystem

Complete a gap assessment

Partner with vendors to understand the systems

Conduct Business Process Review of ERP system (Epicor)

Assess the current resources


6 months:

Provide total cost of ownership for the software and network infrastructure plan vs. the current state

Understand the technology debt and begin to build a sustainable technology business plan

Improve usage and adoption of current technology (ERP,CRM, & core systems)

Complete technology roadmap

Identify & build your team, including roles and locations (local vs. offshore)


What you will need:

Successfully built and managed distributed/offshore teams

Effectively implemented CRM, ERP, and/or MES systems

Experience growing companies to $100M+

Demonstrated ability to design and implement comprehensive, scalable IT governance frameworks and cyber security protocols and procedures to manage risk

Direct, hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining data warehouses to enable and support BI activities and analytics

Demonstrated experience managing cloud networking infrastructure/service providers such as AWS

Knowledge of IOT solutions, wireless capabilities, and other applicable manufacturing distribution and field engineering solutions

Demonstrated understanding of data analysis, IT budgeting, and developing business cases to facilitate investment decisions

SSRS, Power BI and/or other database reporting services experience

ERP applications, CRM applications and Manufacturing Execution Systems experience. Epicor ERP, Dynamics CRM, SharePoint a +

Experience driving technological advancement to achieve “industry 4.0” for organizations with vertically integrated manufacturing operations

Excellent communication, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills

Headquartered in Seattle, our client is a high energy, highly collaborative product design and manufacturing company with operations in the US, Asia, and Europe. Our experience and capabilities make us the leader in supporting the beer and beverage industry with the most innovative and unique marketing products available. 

Our client is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Kim Frost