Company: Vintage Hospitality Group, LLC
Brand: FORD’S GARAGE Restaurants
Headquarters: Tampa, FL
Join One of the Fastest-Growing Full-Service Restaurant Brands in America!
At Ford's Garage, we're not just building restaurants—we're building an iconic brand. As the official restaurant licensee of Ford Motor Company, Ford's Garage delivers a unique dining experience inspired by America's love affair with automobiles, great food, and genuine hospitality.
We're seeking a passionate individual who thrives on implementing and maintaining complex technology infrastructure while creating a restaurant environment that delivers high-quality experiences. If you’re looking for a fast-paced and high-energy position with an emerging national restaurant brand, this is the opportunity for you.
Position Summary
The Senior Director of IT is the senior-most technology leader in the organization, accountable for technology operations, security, and vendor relationships across restaurants and the corporate office. This role executes the company's technology strategy and roadmap, owns the IT budget and the internal IT team, and serves as the primary technology voice to the executive team and franchise community. The ideal candidate is hospitality-first: they understand that technology exists to improve the guest and operator experience, grow revenue, and control cost.
Key Responsibilities
- Execute the company's technology strategy and roadmap as set with executive leadership and the fractional CTO/strategic advisor; own delivery, sequencing, and results
- Lead, hire, and develop the internal IT team; set priorities, manage performance, and build a service-oriented culture
- Manage the annual IT operating and capital budgets, including new restaurant opening (NRO) technology packages and refresh cycles
- Own all major technology vendor relationships: POS, back office, network MSP, help desk provider, loyalty/CRM, online ordering, and payment processing
- Serve as executive sponsor for all technology projects, including POS migrations, back-office standardization, and network refreshes
- Own the organization's security posture end to end: PCI DSS compliance, incident response, endpoint protection, phishing defense, backup verification, security awareness campaigns, and audit/access review programs
- Direct security control implementation across restaurant and corporate environments, delegating execution to the administrator team and vendors while retaining accountability
- Establish and report on IT KPIs: system uptime, help desk SLA performance, project delivery, and cost per restaurant
- Support franchise development with technology standards, opening playbooks, and franchisee technology governance
- Evaluate emerging technology (AI, data platforms, kitchen automation) and translate it into practical business cases
- Represent technology at leadership meetings, franchise advisory councils, and franchisee summits
Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive IT experience with 5+ years in a leadership role
- Multi-unit restaurant or hospitality experience strongly preferred; franchise environment experience is a significant plus
- Direct experience with restaurant POS platforms (Toast, NCR Aloha, PAR Brink, Qu, or similar), back-office systems (Restaurant365, Crunchtime, or similar), and online ordering/loyalty ecosystems
- Working knowledge of PCI DSS requirements and restaurant network architecture
- Proven vendor management and contract negotiation experience
- Strong executive communication skills; able to translate technical topics for operators and franchisees
- Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience; relevant certifications (CISSP, ITIL, PMP) are a plus
Success Measures (First 12 Months)
- Technology roadmap approved by leadership and communicated to the franchise community
- Help desk SLA attainment at or above 95%
- PCI compliance validated across all corporate locations with a franchise compliance program in place
- Partner with leadership to define and implement a pay-at-the-table payment solution across all locations, owning execution timelines, vendor coordination, and rollout success
- Establish brand-wide cybersecurity protocols and standards, and serve as the accountable owner for implementation across all restaurant locations
- IT budget delivered within 3% of plan
