Head of IT

Head of IT Location: London (preferred) or San Francisco - ability to go to the office at least 3 times per week Reports to: SVP of Engineering Team: You'll manage an IT Operations Engineer, with scope to grow the team as needs scale The Opportunity We're looking for a Head of IT to build and lead IT Operations as a strategic function at Sanity. This isn't a keep-the-lights-on role. We need someone who sees IT, compliance, and procurement as levers for competitive advantage—someone who will proactively drive initiatives that help the entire company move faster. You'll own the systems and processes that enable our team members in Oslo, London, San Francisco, and across North America and Europe to do their best work. You'll turn compliance from a necessary burden into a genuine asset that accelerates enterprise sales. You'll approach procurement not as cost management, but as a way to level up every team by getting them the right tools and partnerships. The right person will be obsessed with using AI and automation to build operations that scale. We're a 240-person company that should feel like it has world-class operational infrastructure while staying stage-appropriate. Manual processes should keep you up at night. What You'll Own IT Operations Build AI-powered workflows that make onboarding, offboarding, and day-to-day IT support nearly invisible Design self-service systems that scale with the company without requiring proportional headcount growth Own the device lifecycle with automation-first thinking: provisioning, deployment, recovery, and secure disposal Manage identity and access across our SaaS stack with security and usability in balance Create operational infrastructure that makes a 240-person company feel like it has Fortune 500 support Procurement & Vendor Management Act as a sparring partner to teams in selecting tools—a center of excellence that helps identify, evaluate, and adopt the right solutions Multiply procurement effectiveness across the company: structured processes, faster decisions, better vendor outcomes, reduced friction Build vendor relationships that give us startup agility with enterprise-grade capabilities Own AI tool strategy and spending (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), moving us from credit card chaos to strategic partnerships Compliance & Security Transform compliance from a checkbox exercise into a sales accelerator that wins enterprise deals Own and execute our SOC 2 certification end-to-end with efficient, automated evidence gathering Turn RFI and security questionnaire responses into a competitive advantage—fast, thorough, repeatable Proactively manage sub-processor documentation, particularly for AI tools, so new capabilities don't create sales friction Build a security posture that enterprise customers trust and that doesn't slow down internal teams Strategic Leadership Define and drive the IT Operations roadmap as a peer to other company leaders Build an IT operations strategy that scales from 200 to 500+ employees without linear headcount growth Partner with SRE and Engineering to create a cohesive infrastructure and tooling experience Measure and communicate the impact of operational improvements on company velocity What We're Looking For Experience 7+ years in IT, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership role Hands-on experience managing IT for a distributed, global team (200-500 people) Able to manage and procure upwards of 50+ vendors, owning a budget in the 7 digits Track record implementing and maintaining compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) Experience with enterprise sales support in a B2B SaaS company—you've answered RFIs and security questionnaires Proven ability to reduce IT operational burden through automation Technical Skills Deep knowledge of modern SaaS administration (Google Workspace, Okta/SSO, MDM solutions) Experience with IT service management and ticketing systems Understanding of cloud infrastructure basics (GCP strongly preferred, AWS/Azure an asset) Familiarity with security tools: endpoint protection, vulnerability management, SIEM Comfort with scripting and automation (Python, Bash, or similar) Nice to Have Experience with AI tooling administration (API key management, spending controls, sub-processor documentation) Familiarity with service catalog tools like Backstage Experience supporting engineering-heavy organizations What Success Looks Like First 30 days: Map the current operational landscape, tooling, and pain points across all departments Review and improve onboarding/offboarding processes for employees and consultants Build relationships with stakeholders in Engineering, Sales, Finance, and People Prepare and execute on SOC 2 Type 2 audit First 90 days: Establish enterprise agreements with key AI vendors, ending ad-hoc spending Deliver quick automation wins that demonstrate what's possible Audit compliance posture and create a roadmap for turning it into a sales asset First year: Operational infrastructure scale