By bringing together next-gen technology and the finest live data available, Genius Sports is enabling a new era of sports for fans worldwide, delivering experiences that are more immersive, interactive and personalized than ever before. Learn more at geniussports.com
About the role: VP, Business Technology
Genius Sports is transforming how enterprise technology is built and experienced across the business. As VP, Business Technology, you will own the platforms and tools that power how our people work, every day. Reporting to the CIO, you will lead a team responsible for the business systems, collaboration platforms, AI and productivity tooling, end-user technology services, and the internal platform engineering capability that will underpin how automation is built and scaled across Genius Sports.
This is a hands-on engineering and leadership role. You will shape the strategy, own the vendor relationships, and drive the shift from a traditional IT function to a proactive platform engineering team that builds the automation infrastructure the business runs on. You bring real engineering depth alongside the commercial and stakeholder instincts the role demands.
Key Responsibilities
Own the Business Systems Portfolio
- Lead the strategy, roadmap, and day-to-day operations for Genius Sports' core business systems, including Salesforce, Atlassian (Jira and Confluence), Zendesk, and Microsoft 365.
- Define the integration architecture between business systems and enterprise platforms, ensuring data flows cleanly between tools without creating operational debt.
- Manage vendor relationships in close partnership with Strategic Sourcing.
- Own the Workday integration layer, working with HR and Finance system owners to ensure data integrity and operational reliability across connected platforms. Position the team as a trusted integration partner as broader Workday ownership evolves.
Build and Own the Internal Platform Engineering Capability
- Architect and build the internal automation platform that will underpin how Genius Sports automates workflows, integrates systems, and delivers self-service capabilities across the business. This is not a buy-only function: you will be building.
- Own the IaC and DevOps practices for the Business Technology estate, using Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code standards to ensure platform environments are version-controlled, auditable, and scalable.
- Lead the design and deployment of agentic automation workflows, including integrations built on MCP Servers, AWS Bedrock, Zapier, and API-layer connectors that reduce manual process overhead across business functions.
- Partner with Engineering and Data teams to ensure the internal platform is built to the same standards as product engineering: proper source control, code review, deployment pipelines, and documentation.
- Drive the team’s evolution from reactive IT support to proactive platform engineering, embedding engineering culture, practices, and accountability into how the function operates.
Drive AI and Productivity Tooling Adoption
- Own the strategy and governance for enterprise AI and productivity tools, including Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, ensuring deployment aligns with the company's AI governance framework.
- Work with the CIO and functional leads to evaluate, pilot, and scale AI tools that deliver measurable productivity gains across the business.
- Ensure tooling decisions follow the principle of right tool for the right job, with clear boundaries between governed stack platforms and generative AI use cases.
- Track adoption, usage, and ROI across the AI and productivity portfolio, providing regular reporting to ETS leadership.
Run Collaboration and Communication Platforms
- Own the operational health and strategic direction of Slack and Microsoft 365 (including Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive), ensuring these platforms are performant, well-governed, and fit for a hybrid, global workforce.
- Partner with IT and Security to enforce appropriate data controls, retention policies, and access governance across collaboration tools.
- Drive adoption and best-practice usage of collaboration platforms, working with internal communications and people teams where relevant.
Oversee End-User Technology and IT Operations
- Own the end-user compute function: laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and the service desk experience that supports Genius Sports employees globally.
- Maintain accountability for office networks, on-site infrastructure, and the reliability of workplace technology across Genius Sports locations.
- Ensure Active Directory and identity and access management (IAM) platforms are well-governed, current, and aligned to security policy, working closely with Cybersecurity on access controls and lifecycle management.
- Set the bar for device management standards, endpoint configuration, and IT onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring consistency and security across the estate.
Lead and Develop the Team
- Build and lead a high-performing team of business systems, platform, tooling, and IT operations specialists, setting clear goals, developing capability, and holding the bar on quality.
- Create a team culture that balances operational reliability with a forward-looking mindset, ensuring the team is equally trusted to keep the lights on and to drive change.
- Partner closely with Data and Analytics and Cybersecurity to deliver joined-up technology outcomes for the business.
Shape the Enterprise Technology Roadmap
- Contribute to the ETS transformation roadmap, with particular ownership of rationalizing the tool estate, building the internal automation platform, and embedding engineering-grade practices into how the Business Technology team delivers.
- Lead the evaluation and selection of new tools and platforms, and where building is the right answer, own the architecture and delivery. Bring a commercially rigorous and technically grounded approach to build vs buy decisions, with the engineering credibility to execute either path.
- Provide ExCo-ready reporting on portfolio health, investment priorities, and risk across the business systems and productivity estate.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance
- Ensure business systems and productivity platforms meet audit, compliance, and data protection requirements, including SOX-relevant controls where applicable.
- Maintain clear documentation of system ownership, integration dependencies, and change management processes across the portfolio.
- Contribute to the ETS risk register, ensuring visibility of platform risks and remediation timelines at the right governance levels.
Qualifications
- Proven experience leading an enterprise technology or business systems function in a fast-moving, commercially driven organization, with direct accountability for both strategic platforms and operational IT delivery. You have an engineering background and have built things, not just managed vendors.
- Deep familiarity with the tools in scope: Salesforce, Atlassian, Zendesk, Microsoft 365, Slack, and AI productivity platforms. You do not need to have run all of them simultaneously, but you need to know how they fit together.
- A track record of translating business requirements into technology decisions, and technology investments into measurable business outcomes.
- Strong commercial instincts. You understand vendor dynamics, know how to negotiate, and do not let the portfolio sprawl.
- Experience managing cross-functional stakeholders at senior level, including Finance, HR, Sales, and Operations leaders who have strong opinions about the tools they use.
- Solid grounding in identity and access management, endpoint management, and IT operations governance, enough to set standards and hold a team accountable. Alongside this, hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms (AWS or Azure), and API-layer integration. You can work in code, review it, and build teams that ship it.
- Clear, direct communicator who can present to ExCo and board audiences without jargon and with a sharp focus on business impact.
- Hands-on experience deploying AI and automation tooling in production, including agentic workflows, MCP Servers, or API-integrated AI platforms. A grounded view of where generative AI adds measurable value in an enterprise context, and the governance instincts to deploy it responsibly.
- Experience operating within a SOX-compliant or similarly governed environment is an advantage.
We enjoy an ‘office-first’ culture and maximize opportunities to collaborate, connect and learn together. Our hybrid working models differ depending on your role and location. Occasional travel may be required.
As well as a competitive salary and range of benefits, we’re committed to supporting employee wellbeing and helping you grow your skills, experience and career. Learn more about how rewarding life at Genius can be at Reward | Genius Sports.
One team, being brave, driving change
We strive to create an inclusive working environment, where everyone feels a sense of belonging and the ability to make a difference. Learn more about our values and culture at Culture | Genius Sports.
Let us know when you apply if you need any assistance during the recruiting process due to a disability.
