If you’re looking for a purpose and not just a job, join the Smoothie King team and turn your purpose into a fulfilling passion! We're not just the pioneers of the nutritional smoothie; we're the champions of inspiring people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. With over 1300 stores and counting, we’ve grown to become the largest nutritional smoothie bar in the nation, with a simple recipe for success: Hire the best people, use the best ingredients, and blend with a purpose. At Smoothie King, we're serious about our clean ingredients and passionate about our guests' health and wellness journeys—but that doesn't mean we don't know how to have a good time. Here, you'll find work that's equal parts challenging and rewarding, all within a culture that's as amazing as our smoothies. We're committed to continuous improvement, achieving our goals, and fostering a supportive and collaborative environment where every team member can thrive. Overview As a dynamic, rapidly growing company, we are looking for a purpose-driven and dedicated talent to join our IT team. The Vice President of IT Operations leads the strategic planning, development, and execution of IT operations to ensure the reliability, security, and scalability of Smoothie King’s technology ecosystem. This role oversees IT support services, enterprise systems, infrastructure, and cybersecurity, ensuring seamless operations across corporate and franchise locations. As a key member of the senior IT leadership team, the VP collaborates closely with the CIO to drive technology transformation, enhance IT processes, and ensure technology strategies align with business objectives. This position plays a pivotal role in fostering a high-performing, guest-centric IT organization that supports growth, operational efficiency, and innovation. IT Support Services: Lead the IT Support Services team to ensure high-quality service delivery and support for all corporate and store systems to include point-of-sale (POS), digital sales, speed-of-service, and back-office tools. Provide executive oversight for strategic vendor relationships with outsourced IT support, ensuring they meet contractual service levels and performance expectations. Define, implement, and manage IT service management (ITSM) best practices, including incident management, problem resolution, and service request fulfillment. Drive the adoption of (and commitment towards) service improvements, automation and self-service solutions through a programmatic approach to continuous improvement. Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate service effectiveness, drive accountability, and continuously enhance IT support operations. Data Engineering: Lead data engineering and enterprise systems functions, ensuring smooth integration and performance of business-critical applications. Drive innovation in data analytics and business intelligence, enabling real-time insights for decision-making. Collaborate with business leaders to define data governance strategies, ensuring data accuracy, consistency, security and compliance. Lead the evolution of Smoothie King’s technology transformation, optimizing enterprise technology systems for scalability and agility. Infrastructure, Networks & Security: Provide leadership and direct the design, implementation, and maintenance of IT infrastructure including data center, cloud services, and network architecture. Ensure robust cybersecurity strategies and practices to protect brand and guest data, mitigating risks of cyber threats and breaches. Develop formal risk analysis and assessment programs for new and existing IT systems. Establish, maintain and enforce IT security policies, procedures and controls to assure compliance with applicable regulatory and legal requirements. Develop and maintain business continuity and disaster recovery plans, ensuring IT resiliency and minimal downtime. Promote corporate wide IS security programs and prioritize and implement security initiatives to protect the business and brand while allowing for speed and flexibility of enterprise objectives Strategic Leadership & Collaboration: Lead, mentor, and develop direct reports, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth. Advise the CIO and represent IT in executive discussions, championing technology investments, innovation, and contributing to IT strategic planning and budgeting. Build strong partnerships across IT and business teams to ensure the alignment of technology solutions with company objectives. Drive vendor management and strategic partnerships to optimize IT solutions and service levels. Develop and manage the P&L to ensure that it's consistent with the overall strategic objectives of IT and the enterprise and is within plan. Create a culture of continuous cost optimization. Establish and manage capital budgets and plans for investing in technology solutions required to support business objectives. Serve on the IT planning committee; drive the development and adoption of enterprise technology standards, governance processes, and performance metrics. Responsibilities Proven experience leading IT operations at an enterprise level, with expertise in IT support, infrastructure, data engineering, and cybersecurity. Demonstrated ability to develop and execute IT strategies that enhance operational efficiency and guest experience. Deep understanding of enterprise architecture, IT governance, and data management. Expertise in cybersecurity frameworks, risk management, and compliance. In-depth understanding of PCI, Identity Theft and other security industry frameworks Firm understanding of Cloud computing, storage and networking. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions. Exceptional leadership and people management skills, with a passion for talent development. Proven ability to prioritize and lead effectively in a dynamic, high-growth environment. Promote the culture, values, and mission of Smoothie King. Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or a related field required; master’s degree preferred. 10+ years of experience in IT leadership roles, including IT operations, infrastructure, and enterprise systems. Experience working across numerous IT infrastructure technologies and platforms, including internally hosted, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models. Solid experience and capabilities in the areas of infrastructure architecture, design, and technology management in the following areas: Data Center, Network, Storage, Server, Database, Middleware, and Desktop. Experience in the food service and franchise industry required. Experience leading large-scale deployments of computer software, hardware, and services. Personal passion for health and fitness is a plus. What We Offer Join our team and enjoy an unusually fun work environment with an upbeat atmosphere and great team members. It is our purpose to maintain an environment our team members can brag about, where our focus and belief are built on our core values: We Are Better Together, We Keep Evolving, We Live Our Mission, We Do the Right Thing, and We Focus and Finish. With our core values at the forefront of every decision we make, it allows for collaboration, passion, and a no-limits mindset when it comes to your future! We keep our team happy with our great benefits package, free smoothies, flexible work schedules, office lunches and parties, monthly fitness challenges, free gym access, and more fun activities to make Smoothie King a happy and healthy place to work. Our Mission Inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Our Vision To be an integral part of every health and fitness journey. At Smoothie King, when we say inspire people, we mean everyone. We champion a diverse and inclusive workforce that is representative of the guests we serve. We blend the unique members of our organization, celebrating what is both common and different to grow better together and Rule the Day. The foundation of our diversity efforts is closely tied to our core values, which includes “We Are Better Together” and “We Do the Right Thing”. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, or medical condition or disability. If you are a person with a disability and you need assistance in applying for a position with Smoothie King, please call our Human Resources Department at 214-935-8900 and direct assistance will be provided.