What PE & VC firms need to know:

• IT is now a strategic partner, not a support function. The most competitive firms treat IT as a co-pilot in analytics, AI, and decision-making – not just the team that keeps systems running.
• AI and data require new infrastructure and governance. Modern deal-making depends on secure, well-structured data environments that enable automation, insight, and compliance.
• The IT Director role has evolved into Head of Enablement. Firms need leaders who understand cloud, data, MLOps, and AI, and who can translate between technical and investment teams.
• Governance is a differentiator. Strong oversight of data access, model risk, and bias detection protects both performance and reputation.
• Hiring the right IT leader accelerates firm growth. A strategically minded IT Director helps firms move faster, scale smarter, and unlock new sources of value across the investment lifecycle.

As an IT Recruiter who has been helping companies identify the best “Director of IT” candidates for 15 years, I have seen the role of the IT Director in private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms slowly, but profoundly, transform over the past few years. Once primarily seen as the team that kept email flowing, desktops updated, and networks secure, IT leadership in small to mid-sized firms is now required to co-pilot strategic initiatives with analytics and investment teams, enable AI-driven workflows, and architect the technical foundations that make modern deal-making possible.

Below I unpack that shift: what changed, why it matters for firms, what skills IT Directors now need, and actionable steps firms can take to get the most from their IT/Analytics partnerships.

Drivers of the Director of IT Evolution

1. Data is the new deal currency.

PE and VC firms are relying on richer data sets.  Portfolio performance, alternative data, product telemetry, customer signals are all key to underwrite and manage investments. That moves IT’s domain from maintaining systems to building pipelines and environments that make high-quality data usable.

2. AI moved from R&D to production.

Where AI used to live in isolated pilots, it’s now embedded in sourcing, diligence, portfolio monitoring, and operational value-creation playbooks. Production-grade AI needs governance, infrastructure, compute, and integration…which are all now IT’s responsibilities.

3. Cloud and platform maturity unlocked new capabilities.

Firms have migrated many services to cloud providers and adopted MLOps, data lakes/warehouses, and containerized deployments, creating opportunities (and needs) for IT to enable scalable analytics.

4. Security & compliance stakes rose.

As firms ingest sensitive company data and deploy models that can leak insights, IT must balance agility with controls for privacy, access policies, model auditability, which elevates them to strategic guardians rather than reactive firefighters.

5. Smaller firms aspire to institutional-grade tech.

Competitive pressures mean even small funds need polished data/AI capabilities. IT Directors are now being looked at to deliver differentiation through technical maturity.

So What is Technology Enablement?

Technology enablement refers to the strategic use of technology, data, and digital infrastructure to accelerate how an organization operates and makes decisions. In private equity and venture capital firms, that means building the systems, integrations, and governance that allow investment and operations teams to access insights in real time, automate workflows, and deploy AI responsibly. For IT Directors, this shift moves the role from managing support systems to architecting the platforms that enable smarter, faster, and more scalable investing setting the stage for the transformation described below.

How the Day-to-Day Has Changed for Directors of IT

From ticket queues to product roadmaps.

Instead of being measured on ticket resolution, IT leaders are measured on uptime of analytics platforms, time-to-market for data products, and enablement metrics for investment teams.

Partnership with analytics & data science teams.

IT’s wheelhouse has now expanded to co-designing data schemas, approving MLOps pipelines, and overseeing model deployments.  They are also being asked to help analysts move from Excel proofs-of-concept to repeatable, productionized workflows.

Platform thinking vs. point solutions.

Rather than purchasing isolated tools for each group, IT Director roles are more strategic in their thinking as firms move to more consolidated platforms for their data lake, data warehouse, governance, and model serving solutions that will best scale across sourcing, diligence, and portfolio ops.

Responsible AI & governance gatekeepers.

With this ability for anyone in the firm to rapidly access myriads of documentation and information, the IT Director’s role is increasingly focused on access controls, logging, and monitoring that support explainability, bias detection, and regulatory scrutiny.

New Skills and Mindsets to Look for in a Director of IT

Fluency with data & MLOps.

The days of having a solid IT Director that understands SQL are over.  The new job specs and needs coming out require someone with a deeper knowledge (and maybe a MS in Analytics) of Snowflake, Cloud strategics, LLM and AI solutions, in addition to knowing model lifecycle, feature stores, model registries, and deployment strategies.

Cloud economics & cost governance.

While it has been moving this way for a decade, an increased role of the IT Director is the ability to optimize cloud spend, negotiate with vendors, and implement chargeback/showback models.

Risk & compliance acumen for AI.

The IT Director role is becoming less of “give analytics what they want” and more of companies looking for someone to partner and help to build governance frameworks that address data privacy, model risk, and audit trails.

Cross-functional communication.

While the role of a Head of IT has always had an element of communication back to the organization, these conversations are more focused on translating technical tradeoffs to investment partners, and conversely, translating lofty and cutting edge business needs and ideas into technical requirements.

Governance: The Unsung Pillar of Technology Enablement

As AI decisions influence and automate investment choices, governance is non-negotiable. IT Directors lead or co-own:

• Access control: Role-based access to sensitive datasets and models.
• Versioning & reproducibility: Keeping historical artifacts to understand model-driven decisions.
• Monitoring & logging: Drift detection, performance degradation, and security logs.
• Ethics & bias checks: Monitoring models for unfair treatment or systemic bias that could misdirect investment theses.

The Strategic Payoff of Technology Enablement within the Role of IT Director

When firms hire an IT Director or CTO who can partner effectively with analytics teams and earn a “seat at the table” in firm-wide decisions, the results are clear: faster deal sourcing, deeper diligence insights, earlier detection of portfolio risks, and more scalable operational improvements. IT stops being just a cost center and becomes a multiplier of investment value.

The evolution of the IT Director role in PE and VC isn’t just about managing laptops, cell phones, or conference room AV. Leading firms now treat IT as a strategic partner in analytics and AI, helping guide investments in platforms, governance, and talent. This shift brings speed, repeatability, and a competitive edge.

If your IT team is still focused mainly on incident tickets, it’s time to rethink talent and start a roadmap toward technology enablement.

Building the Next Generation of IT Leadership

The firms that win in the next decade of private equity and venture capital will be those that recognize IT as a driver of value creation – not just a cost center. As technology, data, and AI reshape how investments are sourced and managed, the need for visionary IT leadership has never been greater.

At Hudson Gate Partners, we help PE and VC firms identify and hire IT and enablement leaders who can bridge the gap between technology and strategy. Whether your firm is modernizing its infrastructure, building data and analytics capabilities, or defining its AI roadmap, we connect you with the talent that can make it happen.

Start a conversation to see how the right IT leadership can move your firm from maintenance to momentum.