Vice President of IT

Company

American Promotional Events, Inc.-East d/b/a TNT Fireworks

Reports To

Senior Vice President, IT & Operations

Location

Florence, Alabama

The Opportunity

TNT Fireworks is seeking a Vice President of Information Technology to lead the company's technology organization and play a central role in a broader business transformation initiative supporting national retail, wholesale, and distribution operations.

The mandate extends well beyond maintaining existing systems. The VP will evaluate the current technology environment, identify opportunities to simplify and modernize the architecture, and establish a technology roadmap aligned with TNT's long-term growth and operating strategy.

A major near-term priority will be evaluating TNT's core enterprise platform. The company currently operates JD Edwards EnterpriseOne in a stable hybrid environment, but business processes have evolved beyond portions of the existing configuration, creating customizations, manual processes, and workarounds. The VP will work across Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, and other functional leaders to determine whether TNT should optimize and extend its current JDE environment or transition to a new ERP platform, develop the business case and roadmap, and lead execution of the chosen strategy.

The VP will also help define and lead TNT's enterprise approach to artificial intelligence, identifying practical opportunities to improve productivity, decision-making, automation and operating performance while establishing the data foundation, governance and security required for responsible adoption.

The role carries executive responsibility for cybersecurity, infrastructure, enterprise applications, data and reporting, technology vendors, end-user support and business continuity. TNT operates a highly seasonal business whose technology footprint expands significantly during peak periods. The successful executive must modernize technology while protecting business continuity, security, and operating performance during the company's most critical revenue periods.

Key Responsibilities

Technology Strategy & Business Transformation

·  Develop and execute an enterprise technology strategy aligned with TNT's business priorities, growth, and operational requirements.

·  Assess the current technology architecture and establish a practical modernization roadmap.

·  Develop and lead TNT's enterprise AI strategy, identifying practical opportunities to apply AI across the business to improve productivity, decision-making, automation and operational performance.

·  Partner with functional leaders to identify and prioritize AI use cases, establish appropriate governance, and translate emerging capabilities into measurable business value.

·  Lead evaluation and modernization of TNT's core enterprise systems, including the potential optimization, expansion or replacement of the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne environment.

·  Evaluate ERP and broader technology modernization decisions with consideration for data readiness, integration capabilities and TNT's ability to leverage AI and emerging technologies over the long term.

·  Partner with functional leaders to distinguish technology limitations from process, configuration and organizational issues.

·  Build business cases, investment priorities and implementation roadmaps for major technology and AI initiatives.

·  Lead large-scale technology programs from evaluation and selection through implementation, adoption and measurable business impact.

Leadership & Organizational Development

·  Lead and develop three specialized managers spanning software and applications, network/infrastructure/security, and JD Edwards technical administration and end-user support.

·  Build leadership capability and technical depth within the technology organization.

·  Create strong alignment between technology functions that must operate as an integrated team.

·  Build bench strength in critical areas including enterprise applications, JD Edwards technical knowledge, and cybersecurity.

·  Serve as a trusted technology partner to TNT's senior leadership and functional executives.

Cybersecurity & Business Continuity

·  Maintain executive ownership of TNT's cybersecurity posture, risk management and incident preparedness.

·  Drive continuous improvement across identity and access management, endpoint and network protection, vulnerability management, monitoring, backup integrity and security awareness.

·  Maintain effective incident response, disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities, including readiness during peak operating periods.

·  Ensure controls support PCI-DSS obligations and applicable privacy and compliance requirements.

·  Address the security challenges created by rapid seasonal expansion, including onboarding and offboarding, field devices, access management and credential hygiene.

·  Communicate technology and cybersecurity risk clearly to executive leadership.

ERP, Enterprise Systems, Infrastructure & Data

·  Lead the cross-functional evaluation of TNT's ERP direction, including requirements definition, fit-gap analysis, platform and partner evaluation, business case development and executive recommendation.

·  Evaluate JD Edwards remediation, upgrade or extension against potential migration to another ERP platform with equal rigor.

·  Own execution of the selected ERP strategy, including governance, implementation partner management, budget, schedule and risk.

·  Ensure reliability, scalability and performance across corporate, distribution and seasonal retail environments.

·  Establish appropriate architecture across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

·  Improve enterprise data quality, reporting capabilities and access to reliable business information.

·  Maintain disciplined governance around system changes, integrations, customization, QA and technology lifecycle management.

Innovation, AI & Emerging Technology

·  Establish a disciplined enterprise approach to evaluating and adopting AI and other emerging technologies for practical business applications.

·  Partner across functions to identify high-value AI opportunities in areas such as productivity, analytics, workflow automation, decision support and customer or operational processes.

·  Drive adoption through training, experimentation, change management and measurement of actual business value.

·  Develop governance around acceptable use, data handling, security, privacy, model/tool review and ongoing oversight of AI and emerging technologies.

·  Ensure the underlying data environment, integrations, and business processes support responsible and effective AI adoption.

·  Evaluate AI capabilities embedded within existing and prospective enterprise platforms alongside standalone technology solutions.

Seasonal Readiness

·  Own technology readiness for TNT's major seasonal operating peaks.

·  Coordinate capacity planning, connectivity, device provisioning, support staffing, and change management across the technology organization.

·  Build cybersecurity into seasonal readiness through pre-season hardening, in-season monitoring, and post-season access and device controls.

·  Protect critical operating periods from unnecessary technology change while maintaining appropriate security response capability.

·  Lead post-season reviews that produce measurable year-over-year improvement.

Vendor & Financial Management

·  Own key technology vendor and systems integration relationships.

·  Manage technology operating and capital budgets across TNT's seasonal spend pattern.

·  Negotiate major technology agreements and hold external partners accountable for cost, performance, implementation, and knowledge transfer.

·  Evaluate build, buy and partner decisions based on long-term business requirements.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be an experienced, business-minded technology executive who combines broad IT leadership with the ability to understand how a complex operating business actually works.

This individual will have led meaningful enterprise technology transformation and be equally comfortable working with executive leadership, functional operators, and technical teams. They should bring sound judgment across enterprise applications, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data, cloud environments, and end-user technology, while understanding how those capabilities connect to business performance.

A major priority will be evaluating TNT's future ERP direction. The VP will assess the current JD Edwards EnterpriseOne environment objectively—determining whether the right path is to optimize and extend the existing platform or transition to a new ERP—and then lead the organization through execution of that strategy. Direct JDE experience is valuable, but the more important requirement is having personally led a significant ERP evaluation, modernization, or implementation.

The VP will also be expected to shape TNT's enterprise AI strategy and move the organization from exploration to practical adoption. This includes identifying high-value use cases, ensuring the data and integration environment can support them, establishing appropriate governance and security, and measuring whether AI initiatives produce meaningful business outcomes.

The VP will have executive responsibility for cybersecurity, infrastructure, enterprise applications, data and reporting, technology vendors, end-user support, and business continuity. This person must understand the fundamentals—the technology that needs to work reliably every day—while also identifying opportunities to modernize the environment and introduce emerging capabilities where they create measurable business value.

TNT's highly seasonal operating model adds another dimension to the role. The technology environment must scale rapidly to support geographically distributed retail and operating locations during critical revenue periods. The successful candidate will understand how to balance transformation with reliability, security, and operational continuity.

Required Experience

·  10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience, including meaningful experience leading through managers.

·  Demonstrated ownership of a significant ERP evaluation, modernization, migration, or implementation.

·  Experience leading enterprise technology transformation in a complex operating environment.

·  Broad leadership experience across enterprise applications, infrastructure, cloud, data, cybersecurity and end-user technology.

·  Demonstrated experience evaluating, implementing, or scaling AI and emerging technology initiatives within an enterprise environment, with an emphasis on practical business value, governance, and adoption.

·  Executive-level responsibility for cybersecurity, technology risk, incident preparedness, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

·  Working knowledge of recognized security frameworks and controls, including PCI-DSS in a payment environment.

·  Experience supporting multi-site operations such as retail, distribution, manufacturing, consumer products or similarly complex businesses.

·  Proven ability to partner across Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Sales and other business functions.

·  Experience managing major technology vendors, consultants and systems integrators.

·  Demonstrated ability to translate technology strategy and investment into measurable business and operational outcomes.

·  Strong executive communication, organizational leadership, and stakeholder-management capabilities.

·  Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Experience

·  Direct JD Edwards EnterpriseOne experience, including familiarity with CNC concepts.

·  Technology leadership within retail, distribution, consumer products, or manufacturing.

·  Experience supporting geographically distributed and highly seasonal operations.

·  Experience establishing AI enablement, governance, data classification, or enterprise productivity programs.

·  Experience with POS, EDI, payment systems, logistics technology or similarly integrated operational technology environments.

·  Cloud migration or modernization experience involving core business systems.

·  Experience leading an organization through a cybersecurity incident, audit, or assessment and subsequent remediation.

·  Experience operating within a privately held or entrepreneurial organization undergoing transformation.

·  MBA or relevant technology/security certifications.

Leadership Profile

The right executive will be a business-minded technology operator rather than a technology specialist operating in isolation.

They will understand both sides of the mandate: the transformational work that moves TNT forward—including ERP modernization, AI adoption, and broader digital enablement—and the foundational technology that simply has to work every time the business needs it.

They will be comfortable challenging assumptions and determining whether a business problem requires new technology, better utilization of existing technology, the application of AI or automation, or a change in the underlying process. They will bring enough technical depth to ask the right questions and make sound decisions without feeling the need to personally perform the work their managers and technical teams are responsible for.

This executive will lead through others, develop the three managers currently responsible for key areas of the technology organization, and build greater depth and alignment across applications, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise systems.

Most importantly, this person will have the judgment to determine what TNT needs next, establish executive alignment around that direction, and lead the organization through implementation without compromising the reliability, security, and continuity of the existing business.

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