Associate Director, IT

Stellaromics is seeking an Associate Director, Information Technology to own and build out IT at the company. This is a hands-on, build-it role: you will personally administer systems, manage our storage and compute footprint, run our security program, and hold our vendors accountable, while simultaneously establishing the policies, procedures, and controls a company at our stage needs in order to grow, pass customer and investor diligence, and protect its intellectual property.

Today IT at Stellaromics is a mix of cloud services, lab-attached instrumentation, on-premise and cloud storage, and outsourced support. Your first job is to bring order to it. Your second is to turn it into a durable, documented, secure operation with a roadmap and a budget behind it. You will not have a large team at the outset, so you must be comfortable doing the work yourself; you will, however, be expected to lead across R&D, Manufacturing, Commercial, Finance, HR, and Legal to get policy adopted.

This role is onsite at our Boston headquarters. Regular onsite presence is required to support lab instrumentation, network and server infrastructure, and hands-on user and equipment needs.

Large-Scale Data Storage & Infrastructure

·       Own the storage estate end to end. Administer and scale on-premise and cloud storage supporting multi-terabyte imaging and sequencing datasets, including file/object storage, NAS/SAN, high-throughput instrument capture, and archive tiers.

·       Design and enforce data lifecycle management. Build tiering, retention, and archival policies that keep hot data fast and cold data cheap, in partnership with R&D and Computational Biology on what actually needs to stay online.

·       Guarantee recoverability. Own backup, replication, and disaster recovery: define RPO/RTO by data class, implement immutable/offline copies, and test restores on a documented schedule rather than assuming they work.

·       Support research compute. Partner with Computational Biology on compute and pipeline infrastructure (HPC and/or cloud), including capacity planning, data transfer performance, and instrument-to-storage-to-analysis data flow.

·       Manage networking and core infrastructure. LAN/WLAN, switching, firewalls, VPN and remote access, server room/data closet, UPS, and lab network segmentation.

·       Forecast and control storage cost. Model growth in TB and dollars, report it to Finance, and drive optimization; this is one of the fastest-growing line items in the company.

Cyber Security & Risk Management

·       Run the security program. Own day-to-day security operations: endpoint protection/EDR, patch and vulnerability management, email security, logging and alerting, and incident response.

·       Harden identity and access. Administer SSO/MFA and conditional access (e.g., Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace), enforce least privilege, and implement joiner/mover/leaver access reviews and privileged access controls.

·       Protect intellectual property. Implement practical data protection, classification, and egress controls appropriate to a company whose core asset is its scientific and engineering IP.

·       Adopt a recognized framework. Map our controls to NIST CSF, CIS Controls, ISO 27001, or SOC 2 as appropriate, close the gaps in priority order, and maintain the evidence.

·       Own incident readiness. Write and rehearse the incident response and business continuity plans, including tabletop exercises and post-incident reviews.

·       Manage third-party and vendor risk. Security review of new vendors, contract security terms, and periodic reassessment of critical suppliers.

·       Build the human layer. Deliver security awareness training, phishing simulation, and onboarding education that people actually retain.

·       Support diligence and audit. Serve as the IT/security point of contact for customer security questionnaires, insurance, investor and partner diligence, and any applicable regulatory or quality requirements (e.g., HIPAA, GxP/21 CFR Part 11, export control) as the business requires.

IT Vendor & Supplier Management

·       Own the vendor portfolio. Manage MSPs, cloud providers, hardware and software suppliers, telecom/ISP, and specialty scientific IT vendors, including scope, SLAs, escalation, and performance reviews.

·       Negotiate and rationalize. Lead selection, RFP, renewal, and negotiation cycles; consolidate overlapping tools and eliminate shelfware.

·       Manage the IT budget. Build and own the IT operating and capital budget, track spend against forecast, and provide Finance with clean, defensible numbers.

·       Hold partners accountable. Convert vendor promises into measured SLAs and hold providers to them; know when to insource and when to outsource.

·       Manage software asset and license compliance. Maintain an accurate inventory of licenses, subscriptions, entitlements, and renewal dates.

IT Policy, Procedure & Governance

·       Build the policy set from the ground up. Author, socialize, and maintain policies covering acceptable use, access control, data classification and retention, change management, asset management, remote work and BYOD, AI tool usage, incident response, and business continuity.

·       Write the procedures behind the policies. Standard operating procedures, runbooks, onboarding/offboarding checklists, and system documentation, so the operation does not live in one person’s head.

·       Establish IT service management. Stand up a practical ticketing/request process, service catalog, and metrics for responsiveness and resolution.

·       Implement change and configuration control. Introduce lightweight but real change management for production and lab-critical systems.

·       Drive adoption, not just publication. Partner with HR, Legal, and functional leaders to train, enforce, and periodically review policy; a policy nobody follows is not a control.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Business Partnership

·       Translate business strategy into IT priorities. Work with the executive team to build a multi-year IT roadmap covering data storage, AI enablement, and security, and sequence it against company milestones and budget.

·       Partner deeply with R&D and Manufacturing. Support scientific computing, lab instrument integration, LIMS/ELN platforms, and quality/manufacturing systems in a way that accelerates rather than obstructs the science.

·       Enable the commercial and back-office functions. Support the CRM, ERP, finance, and HR system landscape and the integrations between them.

·       Enable AI responsibly. Help the business adopt AI tooling with sensible guardrails around data handling, IP protection, access, and cost.

·       Communicate up and across. Present risk, cost, and roadmap trade-offs clearly to non-technical executives and to the board when asked.

·       Build the team over time. Define the IT org as the company scales, and hire, onboard, and develop staff and contractors as headcount is approved.

General

·       Additional responsibilities may be assigned by management.

·       10+ years of progressive IT experience, including 3+ years managing IT operations, infrastructure, or security with direct accountability for outcomes.

·       2+ years of IT experience in biopharma, biotech, genomics, or another life sciences environment, including exposure to regulated or GxP-aligned systems and scientific data.

·       Demonstrated hands-on ownership of large-scale data storage (multi-terabyte to petabyte-scale environments), including capacity planning, tiering, backup, and disaster recovery.

·       Strong, practical cyber security experience: identity and access management, endpoint security, vulnerability management, and incident response.

·       Track record authoring and implementing IT policies, procedures, and controls in an environment where they did not previously exist, or were immature.

·       Proven IT vendor and budget management, including contract negotiation, SLA management, and spend accountability.

·       Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing without direct authority; credible with both scientists/engineers and executives.

·       Solid working knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), core networking, virtualization, and modern endpoint and identity management (macOS and Windows).

·       Comfortable being the most hands-on person in the room, and equally comfortable presenting a roadmap and budget to leadership.

·       Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

·       Familiarity with research computing and scientific data: HPC or cloud pipelines, imaging or sequencing data at scale, LIMS/ELN platforms (e.g., Benchling), and instrument-attached workstations.

·       Experience achieving or maintaining SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or GxP/21 CFR Part 11 compliance, or supporting customer and investor security diligence.

·       Startup or high-growth experience, with comfort with ambiguity, limited resources, and rapid change.

·       Experience standing up governance for AI/ML tooling and data usage.

·       Relevant certifications (CISSP, CISM, CCSP, AWS/Azure certifications, ITIL) are a plus but not required.

·       Ability to work onsite full time in Boston, MA, with regular onsite presence required to support lab, network, and server infrastructure.

·       Occasional after-hours or weekend work for maintenance windows, migrations, and incident response.

·       Ability to lift and install IT and network equipment (up to approximately 40 lbs) and work in server rooms and laboratory environments.

·       Occasional travel to additional company sites, vendors, or conferences as needed.

• Innovative Technology: Be part of a company at the cutting edge of spatial biology and genomics, revolutionizing the way researchers understand biology.
• Impactful Role: You will have a significant impact on the department and the future of the company.
• Collaborative Environment: Work with a talented, passionate team in a culture that values creativity, innovation, and teamwork.
• Career Growth: As a high-growth company, we offer significant opportunities for professional development and career advancement.