Vice President Information Technology

JOIN US AND "CREATE YOUR VISION"

ABOUT US

S&S Activewear is a leading North American, tech-enabled specialty distributor of imprintable apparel, including t-shirts, fleece, athletic wear, headwear, workwear, scrubs and accessories. We pride ourselves on being the “critical link” that enables our 100 brand partners such as Adidas, Columbia and Gildan to reach our hyper-fragmented base of customers, comprised of apparel decorators, eRetailers and promotional products distributors that embellish apparel items for diverse end consumer use cases (e.g., everyday wear, concerts, fitness attire, life events, team sports, etc.). At S&S, we differentiate in the market through a customer service focus, strategic product portfolio, world-class distribution infrastructure, a collaborative growth culture and a relentless focus on technology and innovation.

Our success has compounded since the Company’s humble beginnings in 1988 as a regional t-shirt distributor to a leading, multi-billion-dollar value-added distribution platform that drives market penetration for our suppliers while enabling growth, operations and fulfillment for a diverse range of customers across channels and business sizes. We strive to be the apparel distributor of choice while inspiring and fostering growth for customers, employees and suppliers through our core values of service, deep relationships, innovation, continuous improvement and accountability.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The VP of Information Technology & Infrastructure is responsible for developing and executing the Company's global IT strategy. The individual will be leading the strategic and tactical technological direction for the company, ensuring the delivery of focused systems that will enable the growth of the company while driving down costs and identifying new technologies and assessing possibilities for improving systems as the Company continues its global expansion. This role will require an executive who can form a strategic vision for a unified and integrated IT department and bring it into reality in a timely manner. Additionally, this leader will oversee the governance and optimization of the company's application portfolio across individual business lines and internal groups, ensuring seamless integration, scalability, vendor relationships, software licensing, procurement processes and alignment with business objectives. The ideal candidate will be a leader who is able to operate in a global working environment, provide direct guidance to the IT team, and be a strategic partner to the company's executive staff and functional leaders.

Monday-Friday, Full-Time, Exempt

Salary Range - $240,000.00 - $300,000.00 based on experience

Location - Bolingbrook, IL (Hybrid Available)

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Systems Administration - Ensure the health of the organization as it relates to IT infrastructure management, business continuity (high availability, disaster recovery), hardware and software lifecycle management, and capacity planning. Partners with VP of Software Engineering to ensure requirements are accounted for in software platform.
• Compliance & Continuity - Ensures compliance with government regulations (e.g., GDPR), payment processing (PCI) and customer requirements related to data security while maintaining balance with operational practicality. Develops and implements business continuity protocols to minimize disruption to business operations in the event of emergencies or data loss.
• Cyber Security - manages the company's Cyber Security, Data Privacy and Data Loss Prevention programs including policy management, employee training, software, and an overall posture around defense in depth. Works closely with VP of Software Engineering to ensure SDLC includes appropriate security protocols.
• Application Portfolio Management – Provide strategic oversight and governance for all enterprise applications managed within individual business lines and internal groups, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives, security standards, and scalability requirements. Partner with department leaders to evaluate business needs, optimize application usage, and drive continuous improvement in system performance. Collaborate with the VP of Software Engineering to ensure seamless integration across platforms, standardization of technology stacks, and modernization of legacy applications. Establish policies for application lifecycle management, including vendor selection, contract negotiations, upgrades, decommissioning, and data governance, while maintaining a focus on user experience, cost efficiency, and operational resilience.
• Application Portfolio Management – Provide strategic oversight and governance for all enterprise applications managed within individual business lines and internal groups, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives, security standards, and scalability requirements. Partner with department leaders to evaluate business needs, optimize application usage, and drive continuous improvement in system performance. Collaborate with the VP of Software Engineering to ensure seamless integration across platforms, standardization of technology stacks, and modernization of legacy applications. Establish policies for application lifecycle management, including vendor selection, contract negotiations, upgrades, decommissioning, and data governance, while maintaining a focus on user experience, cost efficiency, and operational resilience.
• IT Support - Strengthen the IT Support team and organize policies around issue reporting and handling, to include metrics around internal / external satisfaction with the company’s IT Support
• Systems Integrations - Oversee integrations with vendors and technical partners, ensuring data security, scalability, and service availability (e.g., Payroll or Finance Systems)
• Innovation - Support future progress of the business by determining business requirements for IT and proposing new technical solutions that align with corporate objectives
• Planning - develop expense forecasts and the annual operating budget for the IT team, programs, and support systems to include Capex budget for IT hardware and those systems that can be capitalized
• Strategy - Continue to develop and improve the 5-year strategic plan for IT hardware and resource planning that aligns with the company's growth objectives and overall strategic plan. Partners with VP of Software Engineering to align IT infrastructure plans with software requirements.
• Communication - Develop and maintain effective relationships across departments and maintain clear communication with the Senior Executive Team, cross-functional team leaders, and third-party providers
• Establishes efficiency/efficacy standards, providing recommendations to improve the IT infrastructure
• Oversee the deployment of company-wide technology standards spanning both applications and infrastructure
• Maintain a detailed understanding of IT operational performance and ongoing development progress by playing a leading role in problem resolution
• Analyzes IT infrastructure and systems performance to assess operating costs, productivity levels, upgrade requirements, and other metrics and needs
• Facilitates IT security audits or investigations
• Supports financial audits or investigations

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Bachelors in programming, computer science, computer engineering, or a related field required
• 15 years' experience managing IT (systems or software background)
• Experience with network administration and support; vendor management required
• Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills that include strong decision-making skills
• Experience in end-to-end business processes
• Experience developing metrics / policies for hardware, software, and storage
• Experience with infrastructure capacity planning (servers and physical office requirements)
• Coordinating IT activities to ensure data availability and network services, minimizing downtime
• Proactive, self-starting, intrinsically motivated and requires little direction before action
• Proven experience recruiting, coaching, mentoring, and developing a team
• Adapt quickly to changing priorities and conditions and cope effectively with complexity and change
• Strong leadership, influencing, vendor management, project management, negotiation, organization, and planning skills
• Analytical competency to process and structure qualitative and quantitative data with the ability to help others understand it and make informed business decisions

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or listen.

Working Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Equal Opportunity Employer

S&S Activewear welcomes people of all backgrounds and experiences and are committed to creating a diverse culture and supporting human growth. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. We conduct business without regard to sex, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, national origin, citizenship status, age, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, military