Director of IT & Systems Architecture

About Synchron

Synchron's vision is to build non-surgical brain-computer interfaces at global scale that protect the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and autonomy. Our first mission is to develop motor decoders that restore the ability of 15 million people with paralysis to interact with the digital world. Our second mission is to develop whole-brain cognitive decoders that enable hundreds of millions of people with cognitive decline to preserve and expand their agency as cognition changes over time.

In pursuing these goals, we aim not only to help humans flourish, but also to drive fundamental discoveries in human intelligence. Our team operates at the intersection of healthcare and technology, translating breakthrough research into real-world, safety-critical systems.

Director of IT & Systems Architecture

Department:
Software

Location:

On-Site - Brooklyn, New York (4 Days in office)

Employment Type:

Full-Time

Experience

Required:

8+ years

About the Role

Synchron is at an inflection point - transitioning from a well-funded clinical-stage company to a commercial-stage neurotechnology leader. To get there, our teams need infrastructure that matches our ambition.

As IT Director & Systems Architect, you'll be the founding architect of Synchron's internal technology environment. You're not inheriting a mature IT org - you're building one. You'll own everything from identity and Zero Trust security to endpoint lifecycle, SaaS operations, and vendor management, supporting engineers, neuroscientists, clinicians, and corporate staff across the U.S. and Australia. We think of this role less as a people manager of a large IT operations team and more as a systems architect: someone who designs elegant, automated, AI-assisted infrastructure that scales without headcount.

At our current stage, that means being genuinely hands-on - writing scripts, building workflows, and getting your hands dirty alongside the tools rather than directing others to do it. This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role where what you build will directly enable the company to reach commercial launch.

Key Responsibilities

What You'll Own

Cloud-First Infrastructure

* Architect and scale a cloud-first IT environment that supports a globally distributed team spanning New York, San Diego, and Australia

* Ensure reliability, uptime, and performance of core internal systems as the company scales from ~100 to commercial launch headcount

* Manage identity and access management systems (Okta, Azure AD/Entra ) and enforce least-privilege principles across the org

Security-First Architecture

* Implement and own Synchron's Zero Trust security architecture - SSO, MFA, endpoint protection, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring

* Lead vulnerability management, incident response planning, and security documentation

* Support the security and regulatory requirements of a medical device company operating in FDA-regulated clinical and commercial environments (SOC 2, HIPAA, and related frameworks)

Endpoint Lifecycle & Workforce Productivity

* Own the full device lifecycle: procurement, provisioning, security hardening, asset tracking, and retirement - across macOS, Windows, and mobile

* Design and automate scalable onboarding and offboarding workflows that give every new hire a frictionless day-one experience

* Be the trusted IT partner for engineers, neuroscientists, and clinical staff with very different working environments and needs

SaaS Ecosystem, Automation & AI-Driven Operations

* Administer and optimize Synchron's core SaaS stack:
Microsoft 365, Slack, identity providers, and endpoint management tools

* Build integrations and agentic workflows that automate repeatable processes end-to-end - reducing manual effort, eliminating toil, and enabling a lean team to operate at outsized scale

* Evaluate, negotiate, and onboard new tools as the company scales; rationalize and sunset redundant vendors - including actively identifying opportunities where custom AI-powered workflows can replace or augment traditional off-the-shelf software

IT Operations, Vendor & Budget Management

* Build and document IT service management processes from the ground up, establishing SLAs that grow with the company

* Manage software and hardware vendors, MSPs, and contracts - optimizing spend while maintaining quality and coverage

* Maintain an accurate asset and contract management system; report on IT spend and ROI to leadership

Technology Environment

The stack you'll inherit, optimize, and grow:

Identity

Okta, Azure AD / Entra

Endpoint Mgmt

JAMF, Intune, MDM platforms

Cloud

AWS, Azure

Collaboration

Microsoft 365, Slack

Security

Crowd Strike, Microsoft Defender, Zscaler

ITSM

Service Now, Fresh Service, Jira Service Management

Required Qualifications

* 8-10+ years of experience building and scaling IT infrastructure in growing organizations

* Demonstrated success in startup or high-growth environments supporting 100+ employees

* Hands-on experience architecting cloud-first environments and managing…