Director of IT & Automation
US$140,000 – US$150,000 / yr base salary
Posted 7 Oct 2026
Advertised as “Director of IT & Automation - Appen”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 8+ yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- Remote
- Contract
- Full-time
| Base salary | US$140,000 – US$150,000 / yr |
|---|---|
| Cash bonus | US$28,000 – US$30,000 |
| Total comp | US$168,000 – US$180,000 |
About the Role
Appen is looking for a Director of IT & Automation to lead our IT function and help shape how a modern, AI-native company operates.
This is a senior leadership role combining technical depth, operational judgement and people leadership. You will work closely with the CPTO and senior leaders across the business to align technology, risk, service and investment priorities.
You will build and lead a high-performing team across IT support, enterprise technology and automation, hiring technically strong, proactive people who use AI to improve how they work and creating a culture of ownership, continuous improvement and practical problem-solving.
We want someone who sees AI as a genuine lever for changing how IT operates, not simply another tool to add to the stack. You should be comfortable moving between strategy and execution, getting into the technical detail when a problem requires it.
What You'll Own
IT Leadership & Operations
- Set the IT roadmap across enterprise technology, support, security and automation.
- Lead IT support, endpoint management and major incident response.
- Shape the IT operating model and team as Appen grows.
Enterprise Technology
- Own the health, configuration and integration of Appen's core enterprise technology environment.
- Provide technical leadership across Microsoft 365, including administration, identity, access and security.
- Oversee our broader enterprise technology environment, including Salesforce, Workday, Atlassian, AWS, Databricks and Anthropic, ensuring platforms are well integrated, governed and fit for purpose.
Security & Governance
- Own IT's role in SOC 2 and ISO 27001, including controls, audit readiness, evidence and remediation.
- Maintain appropriate security, access and endpoint controls across the IT environment.
- Identify technology and operational risks before they become incidents.
- Establish practical governance for AI use across IT, balancing adoption with security, privacy and compliance.
AI & Automation
- Make AI and automation core tools for improving IT operations and employee experience.
- Identify opportunities to eliminate manual work and apply AI, automation, agents and self-service to areas such as help desk triage, onboarding, provisioning, IT administration and vendor management.
- Use tools such as Claude, Cowork, agents and AI-enabled workflows to build and improve solutions.