IT Director Jobs in California

INTRODUCTION

Neurodegenerative diseases are one of the largest medical challenges of our time. Denali Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing breakthrough therapies for neurodegenerative diseases through our deep commitment to degeneration biology and principles of translational medicine. Denali is founded on the collaboration of leading scientists, industry experts, and investors who share the vision that scientific discovery energetically applied to translational medicine is the key to delivering effective therapies to patients.

We invite you to consider an opportunity with Denali to help achieve our goal of delivering meaningful therapeutics to patients.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Denali Therapeutics is recruiting a Director, IT Platforms & End User Services to lead two co-equal areas of the IT organization. Reporting to the Vice President of Information Technology and serving on the IT Leadership Team, this leader owns the strategy, performance, and operating discipline of both subfunctions across enterprise platform and infrastructure services, enterprise AI infrastructure, and end user services across SSF, SLC, and Zurich. This role partners with senior business leaders and IT peer leaders building evidence-based rationale for platform and service investments.

Key Accountabilities/Core Job Responsibilities:

Leadership of Platforms & End User Services

• Serve as a member of the IT Leadership Team, representing the function in strategic planning, portfolio decisions, and architecture and change governance forums
• Own the strategy, performance, and outcomes of both functions, with direct reports leading each function’s delivery and operation
• Engage consistently with all internal customers and business partners as legitimate customers based on business priority and need

Strategic Accountability

• Own the strategy, outcomes, and operating discipline of enterprise infrastructure, enterprise platform services, and enterprise backup and data protection across the multi-site footprint
• Own the strategy and outcomes of End User Services, delivering a consistent and high-quality employee technology experience across SSF, SLC, Zurich, and the US Field workforce
• Partnership in drive software asset management, licensing optimization, vendor performance, platform rationalization, and support operating models to maximize business value and cost efficiency
• Responsible for tracking and reporting metrics to drive measurable improvement over time

IT Service Management & Operational Discipline

• Mature ITIL-aligned service management across the function, including incident, problem, and service level disciplines, with monitoring governance
• Lead a single, unified Change Advisory Board (CAB) process integrating IT, SOX, and GxP change control
• Institutionalize Quarterly Service Reviews (QSRs) as the forum for service health, SLA tracking, compliance, risk, and continuous improvement across all service domains
• Lead disaster recovery and business continuity strategy and execution, including RTO and RPO commitments and recovery validation

Cross-Functional Governance

• Engage substantively with Architecture on platform target state, technology standards, and decisions of architectural significance ensuring operation within architectural standards and contribution of operational experience back into architectural decisions
• Work with Cybersecurity on IAM, vulnerability management and patching, endpoint security, secure platform baselines, and operational execution of security controls across the function
• Collaborate on regulated systems compliance for in-scope systems for SOX IT General Controls and GxP validation, qualification, and periodic review expectations

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams, including full time Managers and individual contributors
• Evolve both functions toward their modern operating models across subfunctions and locations with consistent service delivery quality
• Set clear expectations, performance standards, and accountability across subfunctions, leading through professional managerial clarity and consistency

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience; Graduate degree preferred
• 10+ years of progressive IT leadership experience leading enterprise infrastructure, platforms, IT service management, and IT operations at enterprise scale
• 8+ years leading leaders and multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced, complex environment, including direct accountability for both infrastructure/platforms and end user services functions
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-site end user services with consistent quality of experience across geographies
• Direct experience operating in a regulated life sciences environment with working knowledge of GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, and SOX ITGC requirements
• Demonstrated success implementing and maturing ITIL-aligned service management at enterprise scale, including unified change control across IT, SOX, and GxP

COMPENSATION

• Salary Range: $204,000.00 to $265,000.00. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Denali offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k, healthcare coverage, ESPP and a broad range of other benefits.

This compensation and benefits information is based on Denali’s good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.

Denali is committed to its core company value of unity by creating a diverse and inclusive environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, basis of disability, or any other federal, state, or local protected class.