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IT Director - Modernization

Location: 5000 Kansas Avenue Kansas City, KS 66106

Work Model: Hybrid

Department: Information Technology

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AWG is seeking a Director of Information Technology to lead our Modernization Development and Support team. This strategic role is responsible for the vision and execution of IT projects that transform our business operations. You will oversee the applications that support internal and external customers, leveraging your business acumen and critical thinking to build a team that delivers impactful solutions across the enterprise.

The Director provides strategic and operational leadership to deliver optimized services and support for assigned IT functions, including: 

• Application Modernization

• Data and Metrics Strategy to measure application efficiency and support performance

• 24x7 support & stability

The Director is accountable for leading teams that manage a portfolio of applications, specifically transitioning legacy applications to an Azure environment executing applications in a Java Spring Boot framework. The IT Director is responsible for the overall growth and development of 20-30 IT professionals and enhancing departmental leadership capability and talent pipeline. 

Core Responsibilities

Develop & Drive Strategy (25%) 

• Formulate and execute a multi-year modernization roadmap, aligning the transition from legacy systems to Azure/Java Spring Boot within the broader scope of organization business goals and initiatives.

• Define the architectural and technical vision for the cloud-native environment, driving the adoption of microservices, modern CI/CD patterns, and data migration strategies. 

• Act as a strategic advisor to executive leadership, translating complex technical modernization milestones, risks, and dependencies into business-oriented updates.

Deliver Reliable Solutions & Technology (25%)

• Direct team leaders and contributors to ensure predictable, high-quality delivery of modernized applications. 

• Establish standards across the software development lifecycle (SDLC), ensuring robust testing frameworks, automated deployments, and code quality in the new Java ecosystem. 

• Mitigate delivery risk by identifying technical debt, data integrity gaps, and legacy dependencies early, ensuring zero disruption to core business operations during cutovers.

Operational Support & Service Management (25%)

• Own the operational stability and performance of transitioned applications and Azure's cloud environment and develop teammates to recognize and resolve issues.

• Implement robust ITIL-aligned service management practices to handle incident, problem, and change management effectively across hybrid environments. 

• Define and monitor strict SLAs for system uptime, application performance, and cloud resource utilization, driving a culture of continuous operational improvement.

Financial & Performance Management (25%)

• Manage departmental capital and operational budgets. 

• Manage vendor relationships and statements of work (SOWs), effectively leveraging onshore, offshore, and third-party system integrators to maximize ROI and delivery velocity. 

• Optimize total cost of ownership (TCO) in Azure, driving practices to ensure the new Java Spring Boot applications are architected for cost-efficiency.

Requirements 

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, related technical degree and/or equivalent technical expertise or experience

• 10+ years of proven progressive performance in IT, with strong Development and Solution Delivery foundation.

• 5+ years management experience, including business relationship management and vendor/contract management

• Proven track record of transitioning legacy applications to modern cloud-native architectures.

• Technical literacy in Microsoft Azure ecosystem and modern services architecture utilizing Jave and Spring Boot.

• Demonstrated experience in vendor management and strategic resource planning

• Stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to bidirectionally translate technical roadmaps and business value.

Key Competencies

• Change Leadership. Inspire, guide, and drive organizational and cultural change.

• Manage Ambiguity. Comfort operating in complex, highly critical environments with limited documentation

• Team Development. Build a thoughtful, competent project team that can handle multiple initiatives.

• Optimize Work Processes. Focused on leveraging application modernization to fundamentally improve business processes, efficiency, and system scalability.

• Customer Focus

Preferred

• Modernization Specialization. Specific prior experience overseeing code refactoring, AI development tools (Codex, Claude), services development transitioned from legacy codebase.

• Advanced framework certifications. ITIL or Microsoft Azure specific certifications.

• Industry Experience. Grocery and/or retail wholesale professional experience.

• Advanced degree. MBA or Master's Degree in a relevant technical field.

• Financial management experience. Budget, invoice management, and project cost tracking.

Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the nation's largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1,100 member companies and 3,500 locations throughout 33 states from 9 wholesale division support centers. Consolidated sales for AWG in 2025 were $12.2 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, and pharmaceutical products. For more information, visit AWGinc.com.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance

• Health Savings Account

• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account

• Paid Vacation, Holiday, and Sick Time

• 401(k) with 4% match along with 3 other contributions

• Tuition Reimbursement

• Basic & Supplemental Life and AD&D

• Employee Assistance Program

• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability 

• Wellness Program

• Yearly Holiday Bonus