Director, IT

Description

Denali Ingredients is a Wisconsin-based food ingredients manufacturer serving ice cream, frozen dessert, bakery, confection, and foodservice markets. Majority-owned by Orkla Food Ingredients, Denali works with colleagues across North America and Europe. We are investing in people, processes, and technology to support growth and reliable operations.

The Director, IT leads Denali’s technology function and is accountable for dependable day-to-day IT service, enterprise business systems, and a practical technology roadmap. This leader combines strong ERP and Microsoft Dynamics 365 expertise with working knowledge of infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, and service management. The role leads the dedicated networking resource and coordinates internal staff and external partners to resolve issues, manage risk, and deliver improvements. It also evaluates appropriate uses of AI agents and automation with clear controls and measurable business value.

The Director partners with Finance, Commercial, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, business process owners, and Orkla technology and governance teams. During Project Unite, the role supports D365 go-live and stabilization, then owns the local IT operating model and continuous improvement in alignment with enterprise standards.

Our culture values Integrity, ownership, collaboration, trust, respect, accountability, and continuous improvement. We are looking for leaders who care about serving customers, supporting teammates, solving problems, and helping the business improve every day.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as management deems necessary. 

IT leadership and service delivery:

• Own IT priorities, budgets, vendor relationships, technology standards, and a multi-year roadmap aligned with business needs and Orkla governance.
• Lead and develop dedicated networking resources and any assigned IT support staff; set expectations, assign work, remove obstacles, and monitor service quality.
• Oversee the ticketing system, including intake, triage, assignment, escalation, resolution, documentation, and communication with users. Set service targets and review trends, backlogs, recurring incidents, and user feedback.
• Maintain clear support ownership across internal teams, global IT, implementation partners, and managed service providers; coordinate major incident response and follow through on root causes.
• Oversee endpoint, identity, access, backup, recovery, security, and infrastructure practices in partnership with specialists and enterprise teams. Maintain appropriate controls, documentation, and continuity plans.

ERP and enterprise business systems

• Lead local IT ownership of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and related ERP capabilities, including integrations, environments, access, releases, enhancements, support, and long-term platform health.
• Partner with business process owners on D365 requirements, workflows, master data, reporting, controls, and adoption across Finance, Commercial, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality.
• Support Project Unite testing, data validation, cutover, training transition, go-live, and stabilization; establish a sustainable support and enhancement process afterward.
• Prioritize system changes by business value, risk, and capacity; coordinate solution design, testing, change control, and communication with global governance and implementation partners.
• Oversee connections among ERP, reporting, CRM, warehouse, EDI, and other business systems so data and operational handoffs remain reliable.

Networking and infrastructure oversight

• Provide informed oversight of plant and office connectivity, wireless networks, firewalls, remote access, and vendor-supplied infrastructure while the dedicated networking resource performs specialized administration and troubleshooting.
• Review network health, lifecycle, security, documentation, and escalation plans; ensure outages and changes are coordinated with operations and enterprise IT.

AI agents and automation

• Identify focused opportunities for AI agents, Copilot, Power Platform, and workflow automation in support, reporting, and business processes.
• Evaluate use cases with business owners; pilot and monitor solutions with attention to data access, privacy, security, human review, accuracy, and ongoing ownership.
• Measure results and scale useful solutions in line with company and enterprise policies.

Requirements

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Eight or more years of progressive IT and enterprise systems experience, including leadership of ERP implementation, support, or improvement; experience managing staff, vendors, and cross-functional priorities.
• Hands-on functional and technical familiarity with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management or comparable enterprise ERP, including integrations, access, release management, and business process design.
• Working knowledge of networking, infrastructure, identity and access, cybersecurity, backup and recovery, and the ability to direct specialists and assess operational risk.
• Experience running a service desk or ticket management process, including prioritization, escalation, service metrics, and recurring issue reduction.
• Ability to evaluate AI agent and automation opportunities, understand their limitations and controls, and work with business teams to implement practical solutions.
• Strong communication, change management, judgment, and ability to work across business functions and global teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in food ingredients, manufacturing, distribution, or consumer packaged goods.
• Dynamics 365 certification or significant implementation experience; familiarity with Power BI, Power Platform, Copilot, or Microsoft cloud services.
• Experience with IT service management practices, vendor governance, and regulated or production critical environments.

What Success Looks Like:

• Employees receive responsive, consistent support and can see the status and resolution of their requests.
• D365 and connected systems support stable operations, trusted data, and prioritized business improvements after go-live.
• Network and infrastructure issues are anticipated, escalated, and resolved with clear ownership.
• Useful AI and automation pilots show value while meeting security and governance expectations.

Ensure Workplace Safety:  

• Actively demonstrate and drive behaviors that result in zero accidents and injuries. Demonstrate that our employees are the most important asset under our care by making their safety the number one priority.   

Leadership Profile:

• High ownership, high bias for action. Strong sense of urgency to have impact NOW.
• Structured thinker who brings clarity amid ambiguity.
• Excellent communicator, both verbally and through presentations. Able to develop compelling stories /      cases around initiatives with a track record of motivating stakeholders toward desired outcomes /      decisions.
• Collaborative,      credible operator who can build strong relationships, challenge constructively, and move teams forward.
• Growth-minded with discipline—ambitious but commercially grounded.

Language Skills: 

• Ability to speak, read, and comprehend English. Interpret documents such as safety rules, production schedules, purchase orders, maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
• Ability to write/query reports, procedure manuals, and correspondence. 
• Ability to communicate effectively with customers, vendors and other employees of the organization without assistance. 

Mathematical Skills:

• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. · Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent. 

Reasoning Ability:

• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Ability to interpret a variety of specifications and information furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Carry out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. 
• Responsibilities include training employees; assigning and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

 The IT Manager (or, if not able, a qualified designee) will be the backup to this position. 

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or touch objects, tools, or controls. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds, carrying and moving parts, materials, and product. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus. 

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Denali Ingredients is an equal opportunity employer that continues to build a culture of inclusion, belonging and equity through our commitment to attracting and retaining diverse talent from all backgrounds, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant and believe in fairness and providing a level playing field for all. We foster a culture that thrives on diverse perspectives and contributions to ignite creativity and innovation to fuel our business and enhance the employee and customer experience.

Denali Ingredients is in New Berlin, Wisconsin. We are customer-centric, fun and engaging. Beyond making ice cream treats tastier, Denali provides a fast-paced stimulating international environment, which will stretch your abilities and channel your talents. We also offer competitive compensation, industry-leading benefits, training, mentoring and growth opportunities. Join a team that makes the world a sweeter place!

The above statements reflect the general details necessary to describe the principal functions of the occupation described and shall not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be inherent in the occupation.