Director of IT

About the role

Bridger is at an inflection point. We're the global leader in aerial methane detection trusted by the largest energy companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66 - and we're moving from a world-class LiDAR measurement company into growth-stage, science-backed data company. Our corporate IT needs are growing in stride. We're moving to a cloud-native footprint: AWS for our product platform and Azure plus M365 for back office. We need a Director of IT to own our platform, mature our security and compliance posture for global customers, and run a team that punches above its weight while embracing AI-assisted automation.

You will report directly to the CTO and lead a small team of support, security, and cloud administrators, while staying close enough to the technology to architect the Azure and Entra environment, debug a tricky Intune deployment, and sit across from a supermajor's vendor security team during an audit.

What you'll own

• Corporate IT strategy and execution across Azure, M365, Entra ID, Intune, and the supporting endpoint and network stack as well as a shrinking on-prem footprint.
• Identity and access. Building out Entra ID as the source of truth, rolling out conditional access, and getting SSO coverage across the SaaS portfolio.
• Security and compliance. SOC2 Type II and a path to ISO27001. You'll own IT audits, build out our SIEM and monitoring capability, and partner with the company on shared controls.
• Customer trust. When a supermajor's security team sends a 400-question vendor assessment or asks for an on-site audit, you're the person who handles it.
• The IT team. Hiring, leveling, and growing them as the company scales. Setting the bar for what "great" looks like in a small IT org and automating anything that gets in the way.
• Vendor relationships and budget. MSPs, software contracts, hardware lifecycle, and the decision on build versus buy.
• Operating with data. Running the team on metrics: ticket resolution time, time-to-provision, audit response time, percentage of automated workflows. Using those numbers to make staffing decisions, vendor decisions, and prioritization calls.
• Automation and AI-assisted operations. Building out LLM-powered ticket triage, agentic onboarding workflows, and automation across the IT stack. We expect this team to scale leverage faster than headcount.
• Cross-functional partnership with Software on shared infrastructure concerns (identity federation, security tooling, developer environments) without owning production AWS.

Qualifications

• Managed corporate IT through a similar transition. You should be able to talk concretely about what you migrated, what you killed, and what surprised you.
• Built a Microsoft cloud stack. Not just managed it, architected it: Entra ID, Intune, Defender, M365, etc
• Owned SOC2. ISO27001 is a plus. You know what auditors look for and what's theater.
• Faced customer audits and vendor security questionnaires as a regular part of the job.
• Managed a small team and used data to make the case for the next hire when you needed one.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, or equivalent experience. We care more about what you've shipped than where you went to school.
• Experience at a company selling into oil and gas, energy, or a similar enterprise vertical.
• SIEM implementation experience (Sentinel, or migration to Sentinel from something else).
• Background that balances IT and security; we don't need a dedicated CISO yet, but this role will play an important role in securing our enterprise.

What success looks like in year one

Additional Information

• Full-time, salaried. Compensation is competitive for the stage and will be discussed early. Comprehensive health, dental, vision, 401k with match, and meaningful PTO.
• Bozeman-based is preferred. Remote is open for the right candidate, with the expectation of regular travel to Bozeman (roughly quarterly).
• Bridger does not sponsor work visas. US work authorization required.
• Bridger Photonics is an Equal Opportunity Employer.