Global Director, Technical Operations (IT)

Recently named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies and AdAge’s A-List Awards Social Media/Influencer Agency of the Year, Whalar is a global creator commerce company that enables creators, brands, and the world’s leading social platforms to work better together to drive business growth for all.

We help brands stay culturally relevant through strategic creator relationships that deliver entertaining and must-see content at scale. We are differentiated by our unique capabilities, including comprehensive creator talent management, brand partnership expertise, proprietary technology, and a dedicated Web3 innovation practice.  Our team includes over 300 diverse storytellers, creatives, data, and technology specialists across North America, Europe, APAC, and MENA.

We power the Creator Economy. We are Whalar

As a global remote-first organization the Global Director of Technical Operations (IT) will have the crucial role of formulating the right worldwide strategic direction, vision, and long-term roadmap for information technologies. In addition to overseeing and managing our exceptional IT team, this individual will take charge of serving our 300 end users across our global organization, spanning countries such as the US, UK, Spain, Germany, and Estonia. 

This role is tied to our Tallinn Office but can be remote and sit anywhere in Estonia territory. We are also open to candidates who are EU citizens and want to relocate to Estonia.

• Globally oversee all technology operations, define technology objectives, and provide technical leadership from an infrastructure, design, and planning perspective.
• Lead the team and take part in hiring, managing, and developing the IT team
• Devise and establish IT policies and systems to support the implementation of strategies.
• Inspect the use of technological equipment and software to ensure functionality, efficiency, and security.
• Identify the need for upgrades, configurations, or new systems and report to upper management
• Responsible for controlling and managing  IT’s budget.
• Assist in building relationships with vendors and creating cost-efficient contracts

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Must have experience managing IT globally/ across multiple countries.
• 10+ years of overall IT experience and 5+ years or more of IT management experience
• Must be willing to work overplaying 3-4 hours with EST Timezone (US) 2-3x a week. 
• Must have strong project planning/management skills and demonstrated ability to architect, design, implement, and operate IT solutions.
• In-depth knowledge of Information Technology principles, theories, and concepts to lead functional area(s) and provide modern solutions.
• Extensive knowledge of IT business technologies, IT operations, IT engineering, systems management, and service management processes.
• Broad technical knowledge to arbitrate and translate among all levels of technical, administrative, field, and business operations.
• Experience partnering with Software Engineering and Product teams to ensure scalable implementations of cloud platforms.
• Experience partnering with Security Teams to ensure IT services and assets are hardened, monitored, and managed appropriately for a high risk environment.
• Ability to lead, develop, empower, and mentor multiple levels of staff and management, performing functions across multiple disciplines.
• Ability to work across and lead distributed teams.
• Good communicator that is able to present and influence credibly and effectively to all levels of an organization, especially to key business partners and executives.

Our people are our superpower. At Whalar, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are at the core of who we are. We are deeply committed to reflecting on the unique journeys, authentic voices, and perspectives of our people, our creators, and the communities they represent. Our hope is to impact accessibility beyond compliance and help break societal stigmas and stereotypes.  We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for everything creator, we want to meet you, and we encourage you to apply.

Whalar is a remote-first working environment, providing our employees with the flexibility to be their most creative and successful versions of themselves. Whalar is located across 18 states in the US and 6 countries including offices in London and Malaga, Spain. Whalar provides flexible benefits and collaborative work environments/experiences, empowering employees to work productively in a setting that best and uniquely suits their needs.

• Company-wide yearly bonus
• 25 days of PTO + Sick days + Winter break
• Monthly phone/internet reimbursement
• Professional development stipend
• Home office allowance 
• 16 weeks of paid maternity/paternity leave
• Calm App subscription (Add up to 4 dependents)
• Fwrd personal development App subscription
• Volunteer Days
• Social Programs
• 4.5 day work week

Whalar provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Equal opportunity extends to all aspects of the employment relationship, including hiring, promotions, training, working conditions, compensation, and benefits.