Associate Director Information Technology - Biotech/Pharma

Our Mission:

Dash accelerates drug development. By fusing advanced automation-native lab workflows and integrated software into a unified platform, we provide the biopharma industry with the high-velocity, high-quality, data-driven development solutions required to get life-saving therapies to patients faster. Dash seeks to continuously improve industry KPIs and materially reduce the time and cost to bring a drug to market. 

Company Summary:

We are building the infrastructure for modern drug development. We are moving beyond the manual, fragmented processes of traditional service providers by taking a technology-first approach to bioanalysis. Our platform is tech-enabled, automated, and GLP-compliant with the goal to industrialize the scientific workflows that act as bottlenecks in the industry. We deliver next-generation preclinical and clinical bioanalysis results with unprecedented speed and precision.

We are a team of builders operating at the intersection of biology, hardware, and code. This is an environment for scientists and engineers who are tired of the status quo and are ready to apply their skills to solve hard problems at scale. We don't just run assays, we architect the systems that will define the future of drug development.

We are a place where employees are stretched to do the best work of their career. We are looking for engineers, scientists, and biotechnicians who want to make an impact on the world and leverage their skills in an innovative way.

Job Description

We are seeking an Associate Director of Information Technology to lead Dash's IT function. You will set the strategy for the technology Dash runs on, decide how it is built and supported, and be accountable to the CEO and leadership team for the reliability, security, and compliance of our IT environment: the workstations, networks, and identity infrastructure that connect our employees and our instruments. This is a senior leadership role without direct reports. You will lead through our MSP and vendor partners and through influence across the business, operating at the director level on strategy, budget, governance, and risk while remaining hands-on in the work that matters most.

The reason this matters more here than at a typical company of our size is that Dash is a tech-first bioanalytical CRO, and the coupling between our lab instruments and the Windows workstations that control them is tight. When a workstation drifts out of its qualified state, a study is affected. When identity provisioning breaks, a scientist cannot get to the data they generated. The systems in this role's scope are not conveniences; they are part of how the science gets done and how the record of that science holds up under inspection.

Our IT landscape is currently supported in significant part by an outsourced managed service provider (MSP). As our first full-time IT leader, you will be the single accountable owner for IT at Dash. You will manage the MSP as your execution arm, own the IT roadmap, budget, and vendor portfolio, and set the standards, metrics, and processes that let a lean IT function keep pace with lab expansion, new customers, and increasing regulatory scrutiny. There is no internal IT team today and none is planned in the near term, so success in this role means getting outsized leverage from partners, automation, and strong cross-functional relationships.

Operating in a GxP-regulated environment shapes all of this. Deep familiarity with 21 CFR Part 11 and related expectations for change control, documentation, computerized system validation, and data integrity is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. You will define how IT meets those expectations, partner with Quality to govern them, and represent IT confidently in regulatory inspections and customer audits.

Key Responsibilities

• IT Strategy & Leadership: Lead Dash's IT function and serve as the senior technology advisor to the CEO and leadership team. Build and maintain a multi-year IT strategy and 12 to 18 month roadmap aligned with company growth, lab expansion, and customer requirements. Own the IT budget and forecast, including hardware, software, licensing, and services spend, and report regularly to leadership on IT health, risk, metrics, and progress against plan.
• MSP & Vendor Leadership: Lead our outsourced MSP as Dash's IT execution team, and own the broader IT vendor portfolio, including network, security, and key SaaS providers. Define scope, set SLAs and KPIs, run QBRs, lead negotiations and renewals, and drive accountability. Continuously evaluate the outsourced model and adjust scope and partners as the business scales.
• IT Operations & Service Management: Establish the IT operating model for a lean, partner-delivered function, including intake, prioritization, SLAs, runbooks, and an internal knowledge base. Build documentation and automation that keep Dash from depending on any single person or provider.
• GxP Governance & Change Control: In partnership with Quality, define and govern IT's GxP-aligned change control, documentation, and computerized system validation practices. Ensure IT records and controls support data integrity, regulatory inspections, customer audits, and qualification requirements. Represent IT in inspections and audits, and own remediation of IT-related findings.
• Lab Workstation & Instrument Infrastructure: Set the strategy, standards, and lifecycle approach for the Windows machines that drive our lab instruments and robotics. Partner with Science, Automation, and Quality leadership to qualify, patch, and maintain these systems without disturbing their validated state, and to plan infrastructure for new instruments and lab space. Remain hands-on for complex issues and critical changes.
• Cybersecurity & Risk Management: Own the corporate IT security program, including EDR, patch and vulnerability management, email security, backup and restore testing, and security awareness training. Define IT policies and standards, maintain an IT risk register, and lead incident response planning. Lead IT's role in customer security reviews and audits, and mature the program toward recognized frameworks (e.g., NIST CSF, SOC 2) as customer requirements evolve.
• Infrastructure & End-User Computing: Own the direction of the corporate and lab network (segmentation, VPN, redundant ISP, firewalls, wireless), the Mac and Windows fleet and MDM, and SSO and identity infrastructure, including the IdP, SCIM provisioning, and directory sync. Set standards that make provisioning and offboarding fast, complete, and auditable, and lead major initiatives such as identity platform migrations and network expansions.
• Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: Own IT business continuity and disaster recovery planning for corporate and lab systems. Define recovery objectives with business stakeholders, ensure backups and failover are tested on a regular schedule, and keep plans current as the environment grows.
• Productivity & SaaS Portfolio: Own the strategy for Google Workspace, Slack, and the broader productivity and SaaS stack. Manage licensing, configuration, integrations, and SaaS spend, and drive automation of repetitive IT processes.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner closely with Engineering, Science, Automation, Quality, and Operations leaders to align IT priorities with business needs. Collaborate with Engineering on cloud (AWS) and lab data infrastructure where it touches IT systems, identity, and security.

Qualifications

• Experience: 12+ years in IT and infrastructure roles, including at least 5 years leading an IT function or site as the senior IT leader. Experience as the first or founding IT leader at a growing company is a strong plus.
• Strategic & Executive Leadership: Proven ability to own an IT function end to end, including strategy, roadmap, budget, policies, and vendor portfolio. Skilled at advising executive leadership, translating technical risk into business terms, and leading through influence with cross-functional peers and external partners rather than direct authority.
• MSP & Vendor Management: Proven track record managing MSPs and IT vendors, including defining scope, setting SLAs, negotiating contracts, and holding partners accountable to their commitments.
• Industry & Regulatory: Experience in biotech, pharma, or a comparably regulated setting governed by GMP, GLP, or GCP requirements. Working knowledge of 21 CFR Part 11, data integrity principles, and computerized system validation (e.g., GAMP 5). Experience leading IT through regulatory inspections or customer audits.
• Technical Depth: Strong technical credibility across the IT stack, with deep Windows workstation expertise required and not substitutable. Experience with mixed Mac and Windows fleets, modern MDM, SSO and identity platforms (Entra experience directly relevant), and segmented networks, VPN, and firewalls. This remains a hands-on role, so you should be comfortable doing the work yourself when it matters most.
• Lab or Instrument Systems: Experience supporting instrument-attached or otherwise specialized workstations is strongly preferred. Comparable experience with production systems where downtime and configuration drift carry real consequences will also be considered.
• Security & Risk: Experience owning a corporate security program, including EDR, patching, vulnerability management, backup and recovery, incident response, and IT policy. Familiarity with frameworks such as NIST CSF or SOC 2, and experience leading responses to customer security questionnaires and audits.
• Cloud: Familiarity with AWS sufficient to partner effectively with Engineering on infrastructure, identity, and security.
• Operating Style: Pragmatic, organized, and biased toward action. A builder who sets direction, gets results through partners, and improves the systems they inherit, while staying close enough to the work to make sound technical calls.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in a technical field preferred; equivalent experience considered. Certifications in security, networking, IT service management, or project management (e.g., CISSP, ITIL, PMP) are welcome but not required.

What We Offer:

• Opportunity to work at the forefront of bioanalytical innovation.
• Collaborative and inclusive company culture.
• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Direct access to industry veterans and a supportive environment for professional growth.