Head of IT

What are we looking for?

We are looking to add an experienced, senior IT manager/engineer to our operations team at Valstro. In this role, you would be responsible for creating a manageable, scalable, highly secure and cost-efficient internal IT service that fully embraces a modern, cloud-based infrastructure to underpin our dynamic FinTech business.

Additionally, you would contribute to the design and operation of a highly secure, cloud-based, production IT environment for use by our customers.

Specifically, success will require owning the selection and ongoing management of partnerships with key suppliers/consultants in this space.

The position requires a talented, driven leader with solid, hands-on knowledge of IT systems and cybersecurity concepts within a cloud ecosystem (such as Azure & AWS). The ideal candidate has extensive experience supporting an enterprise, cloud-based environment for a predominantly product engineering user-base and has a focus and passion around ensuring the highest levels of cybersecurity.

Who are we?

Valstro is a newly formed FinTech partnership working to deliver next-gen, cloud-first, trading solutions to global, multi-asset class institutional clients. You may call us a startup or a "baby enterprise." Regardless of the term you prefer, we are a "people-first" company: all the value that we plan to bring to clients comes from the efforts of a collaborative, motivated and well-supported team.

The applications that we are building are highly modular, well-tested, well-documented, and internally discoverable - all of which are, we believe, the not-so-secret sauce that will enable us to scale the product and the business.

Our overarching business goal is to shake up an industry that is overdue for tech-driven disruption as we expand our capabilities and reach, pushing established industry practices forward in every respect. We are tackling these challenges because we believe that our customers deserve better, and if that vision appeals to you, then read on.

Requirements

What will you be doing?

• Build-out our Information Technology capability with a strong focus on ensuring the highest levels of cybersecurity based on cloud-based systems.
• Select and manage external IT service providers as required to efficiently complement and scale our in-house capability.

• Hire and develop exceptional IT staff through selection, training & coaching, communicating job expectations and appraising performance.
• Design, develop, implement and coordinate systems, policies and procedures to minimally be SOC-2 compliant (including security measures for the protection of computer systems, networks and information).
• Act in alignment with departmental needs and business requirements to contribute to organizational policy, specifically around cybersecurity.
• Identify problematic areas and implement timely pragmatic and strategic solutions.
• Audit systems and assess their outcomes, including SOC-2 audit.

• In conjunction with Finance, handle annual budget and ensure cost effectiveness.
• In conjunction with Product and Engineering, contribute to the design and implementation of a highly secure production environment for customer usage.
• Support Product in responding to customer enquiries and meetings focused on cybersecurity.
• Ensure that the business is well informed and well positioned to deal with the latest security incidents and vulnerabilities that potentially threaten its operations and those of its customers.
• Write comprehensive reports including assessment-based findings, outcomes and propositions for security incidents and system security enhancement.

What you need to bring

A good portion of the following:

• Proven working experience as an IT manager or IT security engineer with keen understanding of cybersecurity concepts and design.
• Excellent knowledge of technical management, information analysis and of computer and/or network hardware/software systems design.

• Experience preparing for, coordinating and executing SOC-2 audits, penetration testing and red team exercises.
• Experience defining, drafting, implementing, and maintaining written IT and security policies.
• Thorough understanding of the latest security principles, techniques, and protocols.
• Hands on experience in SIEM including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, anti-virus software, authentication systems, log management, content filtering, etc.
• Hands-on experience with compute, network, security and other resources/services in a cloud environment.

• Ability to work in a highly collaborative environment alongside similarly talented and driven individuals.
• Ability to manage and mentor personnel to reach their full potential.
• Problem solving skills and ability to work under pressure.
• Degree in Computer Science, MIS or similar field.

Benefits

Valstro was founded during the COVID-19 Pandemic and has been operating on a "remote-first" basis ever since. That said, as the world starts to return to normal, another of our core values is that there is just no substitute for in-person collaboration when it comes to certain kinds of knowledge work. We recently moved into a physical office in Midtown NYC that is a key part of our goal of moving from fully remote work to a hybrid arrangement.

Valstro offers an excellent benefits package with top-tier health insurance, 401k plans and highly competitive overall compensation.

Regardless of where you are sitting, Valstro is a wonderful place to work. Leadership brings a genuine wealth of experience and industry knowledge, and for a young company, we humbly believe that we have our product/market fit very carefully dialed in. As we move to execute and deliver the vision to clients, the Engineering team will need client-obsessed, delivery-focused high performers (with a healthy dose of humility, of course) that we can help grow into the FinTech leaders of the future. If this excites you, we would love to chat.