Vice President, Information Technology

Impassioned by the goal of delivering high-performance products to both the professional athlete and the recreational cyclist, Cycling Sports Group encompasses several powerhouse Cycling brands, including Cannondale, GT, Charge, and Fabric. Cycling Sports Group is proud to present a truly unique and powerful portfolio of cycling brands to the market, continually striving to evolve through the very best products and service available today.

Wilton, CT

Cycling Sports Group

<strong>At Dorel Sports, innovation and product is at the heart of what we do. Every project, every meeting, every moment is an opportunity to create the perfect ride for millions of consumers around the world. From a Sunday family ride to the Tour de France, Dorel Sports employees are helping people find the perfect ride.</strong><br /><br /><strong>Walking the Talk.</strong><br /><br /><strong>Health insurance and a retirement savings plan is just the beginning for our employees. Our culture is as fun and lively as the lifestyle brands we represent.</strong><br /><br /><strong>STAY WELL.</strong> https://www.dorelsports.com/

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Full Time

Overview: <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Based in Wilton, Connecticut, the VP IT role will be responsible for leading the segment&rsquo;s global IT organization and collaborating with the global leadership team on the achievement of key strategic priorities, including digital transformation and driving operational efficiency. The VP IT will oversee a core staff of approximately 24 full-time employees and 20 off-shore consultants split across three key areas; infrastructure, SAP/ERP, and digital technology.</p> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong><br /><br /></strong></p>
Responsibilities: <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Strategy and Planning</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Translate business into enterprise technology strategy; establish team goals, objectives and success measures.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Lead the development of the IT road-map and ensure integration with the enterprise's strategic planning.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Maintain current on new technologies and platforms and provides direction on what emerging technologies should be introduced, integrated and assimilated within the enterprise to ensure IT capabilities respond to the needs of the enterprise's business strategy.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Collaborate with executive leadership and business partners to define, develop and prioritize execution of IT strategy.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Lead IT related policy development; drive the development of enterprise technology standards, governance processes and performance metrics to ensure IT delivers value.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Develop and determine capital investment parameters, priorities and risks for enterprise-wide IT initiatives to maximize the return on investment.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Develop annual expense and capital budget; manage budget and prioritize capital investments.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Approve PC and other technology-related expenses to assure maximum efficiencies and minimal duplication of resources and effort.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Leadership / Management</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Lead the IT team and its business partners in effective execution of IT strategy and roadmap.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Communicate and provide an on-going scorecard of ITs performance against business objectives. Build strong and transparent relationships with all departments and their leaders across the enterprise, instilling a detailed understanding of their issues, challenges and opportunities across the I.T. team.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Establish a vision for the integration of digital applications in support of the business and work with various stakeholders to make digital capabilities and information widely available to support sound decision making and to enable growth.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Partner with the leadership team in the development of the IT sourcing strategy and provide oversight for strategic vendor and partner relationship management.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Maintain oversight of all IT projects, ensuring that commitments are properly planned, staffed, monitored and reported.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Lead change, collaborate, build partnerships and achieve tangible results by engaging and aligning with a wide range of stakeholders.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>IT Organizations Performance</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Establish metrics for managing IT effectiveness and for measuring the impact of IT on the business.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Establish appropriate service levels and the processes to ensure that KPIs are met.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Establish and enforce IT policies, processes, portfolio management, development standards and methodologies.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Monitor the industry for developments in IT operations; evaluate and implement relevant tools and service management frameworks.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Review, recommend, and oversee all partners, vendors and managed service agreements for computing, telecommunications, IT services, and equipment.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Provide technology support and strategy for Service Desk, E-mail, Network Operations, Disaster Recovery/Backups, etc.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Support Sarbanes-Oxley, and ensure the appropriate controls are in place.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Risk Management</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Establish a comprehensive information security program to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of relevant data as well as the protection of enterprise wide IT assets.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Develop a comprehensive understanding of the organizations operational requirements and establish plans to mitigate cybersecurity risks.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Accountable for protecting the privacy of team member and customer information.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Identify and protects against reasonably anticipated threats to the security or integrity of the information.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Ensures compliance by the workforce.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Lead the design and implementation of IT disaster recovery and business continuity plans.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Team Development</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Collaborate with the team to develop and implement systems, processes and the workforce capable of achieving the objectives of the business.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Build a knowledgeable, effective and trusted technology organization combining strong technical competency with effective consulting and customer service skills.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Develop and maintain a plan that provides for succession and continuity in the most critical IT management positions.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Enhances the capabilities of IT by leveraging a multitude of resources, both internally and externally.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Ensure that the organization has strong systems analysis and project management skills, and the ability to execute business-critical projects.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Create a culture of transparency, collaboration, accountability and commitment to excellence, across the I.T. team.</li> </ul>
Requirements: <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Leadership and strong interpersonal skills. </strong>The ideal candidate will be a highly energetic person, charismatic, and must have a positive attitude. This individual should be a doer, with an exceptionally strong work ethic that transmits to other team members. He/she should be a good communicator, able to articulate objectives within the regional management team, while also being able to control emotions during stressful moments and helping his/her teams overcome challenges with perseverance and diligence. It will be important to demonstrate an ability to both take on and hold others accountable.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Strong ability to deliver results</strong> as evidenced by the capability, determination and tenacity to move major changes forward, injecting a sense of urgency and focus, while consistently thinking of the bottom-line impact. This includes setting stretch targets and moving teams forward to deliver on them successfully.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Collaboration and influencing skills</strong> as illustrated by success at building relationships across an organization to mobilize resources as needed to achieve objectives. The individual would know how to build and sustain internal and external relationships and have the gravitas and credibility to interface at a senior level across the organization. As this role requires extensive interaction with internal leaders who may not be deeply versed in IT, the candidate must have strong communication skills to articulate complex technical issues and solutions in straightforward ways.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Strategic Orientation</strong> as demonstrated by the ability to add value to the corporate wide planning process. He/she raises relevant strategic issues for corporate or business strategy beyond his/her own area and influences the shaping of that strategy. In prior roles, this individual would have ideally been instrumental in helping build an organization through active participation in the definition of the business strategies, and not just an implementer of such strategies.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Minimum Requirements:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Bachelor&rsquo;s degree in related technical/business area required. Master&rsquo;s degree preferred.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">15 years of technology experience, 10 years of experience in progressively responsible leadership IT roles, 5 years of experience in a senior leader role.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Demonstrated experience and leadership in managing a team of professionals to meet the strategic business needs.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Experience leading infrastructure and operations technical services for all IT technology domains, including PCs, networks, telecommunications, servers, security, help desk, etc.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Experience leveraging emerging technologies, including digital to support the achievement of evolving business strategies.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with leaders to develop and execute plans</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Superior relationship management skills: ability to influence and engage direct and indirect reports and peers, as well as effectively operate within a matrix organization.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Polished and persuasive communicator.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Builder of strong technology vendor partnerships, able to manage multiple vendor relationships ensuring best performance and strong financial return.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of business and information technology, mobile application development, website/CRM development, computer software, computer hardware, SAP ERP, etc., as they relate to the organization.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Advanced technical skills across infrastructure, digital, and ERP development.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">SAP knowledge a must</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;"><strong>Physical Demands:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Must be able to sit for extended periods of time.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Must be able to use a computer keyboard and view a monitor for extended periods of time.</li> <li style="margin: 8px 0px 0px;">Must be able to travel globally for business needs.</li> </ul>