Vice President-IT

ECHO Incorporated is an industry leader in developing and manufacturing high-performance, professional-grade, handheld outdoor power equipment. With distributors and thousands of dealers across North and South America, ECHO is constantly anticipating the future of the outdoor power equipment industry and the need for environmental sustainability. Working for ECHO means joining a team of people who are committed to collaboration, innovation, creativity, and high-quality products that make us a globally competitive brand.

ECHO is hiring a Vice President of Information Technology!  The Vice President of Information Technology is a strategic enterprise leader responsible for defining and executing ECHO’s technology vision in support of business growth, operational excellence, cybersecurity, and manufacturing transformation.

This role partners with executive leadership and functional leaders to modernize the digital ecosystem, strengthen IT and operational technology capabilities, enable data-driven decision-making, and deliver scalable, secure, and reliable technology solutions across the organization.

The Vice President of IT will lead the IT function through change, build strong business partnerships, develop a high-performing team, and ensure technology investments create measurable value for employees, customers, manufacturing operations, and the enterprise. The anticipated starting salary for this role is $245,000. Actual compensation will be commensurate with experience, qualifications, and the scope of expertise the candidate brings to the organization.

This is a hybrid position, offering the opportunity to work remotely one day per week while maintaining an on-site presence at our Lake Zurich facility.

Duties/Responsibilities: 

• Define and execute an enterprise IT strategy aligned to business priorities, manufacturing operations, growth objectives, and the company’s long-term strategic plan.
• Modernize core technology platforms, including ERP, business applications, infrastructure, cloud services, data platforms, integrations, and collaboration tools.
• Establish and maintain a strong cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance program that protects enterprise systems, manufacturing environments, data, intellectual property, and business continuity.
• Advance the company’s data and analytics capabilities by improving data quality, governance, reporting, integration, and access to actionable business insights.
• Evaluate and responsibly deploy emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning, advanced analytics, digital workflows, and process automation where they create measurable business value.
• Develop and manage the IT portfolio, budget, vendor partnerships, service levels, and technology roadmap to ensure resources are prioritized, governed, and aligned to enterprise value.
• Drive operational excellence by improving system reliability, performance, scalability, disaster recovery, incident response, and technology support for employees and business operations.
• Partner with leaders across the organization to redesign processes, improve digital adoption, enhance user experience, and enable secure, efficient, and standardized ways of working.
• Build, coach, and develop a high-performing IT organization with the technical capability, business acumen, change leadership, and service mindset needed to support a modern manufacturing enterprise.

Job Experience/Skills: 

• Executive-level technology leadership with the ability to translate business strategy into practical technology roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise applications, ERP platforms, infrastructure, cloud services, networking, cybersecurity, data management, integration architecture, and IT service delivery.
• Experience supporting manufacturing environments, including plant-floor systems, operational technology, production support, supply chain processes, and business continuity requirements.
• Demonstrated success leading ERP implementations, upgrades, integrations, process standardization, and business application modernization.
• Ability to lead cybersecurity strategy, risk governance, disaster recovery, incident response, vendor risk management, and regulatory or customer-driven compliance requirements.
• Strong data literacy with experience improving data quality, reporting, analytics, master data governance, and decision-support capabilities.
• Familiarity with smart manufacturing, automation, AI-enabled tools, IoT, digital workflows, and emerging technologies that improve productivity, quality, speed, and resilience.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, capital planning, technology investments, vendor contracts, and ROI-based decision-making.
• Must have excellent communication skills, listening skills and executive presence to build clarity and collaboration with stakeholders.
• Must have strong change leadership skills to lead through organizational changes and technology implementations.
• Strong organizational leadership with the ability to build talent, develop future leaders, and foster a service-oriented, accountable, and business-focused IT culture.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Manufacturing industry experience in a complex, multi-site, distribution, or production environment.
• Experience with Infor XA, IBM i/AS400 environments, or modernization of legacy manufacturing systems.
• Experience leading cloud migration, ERP transformation, cybersecurity maturity programs, data platform modernization, or IT/OT integration initiatives.
• Professional certifications or training in cybersecurity, cloud, project management, IT service management, data governance, or enterprise architecture preferred.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field required.
• Master’s degree, MBA, or relevant executive technology leadership education preferred.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

We are an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants.

E-Verification:

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.