Director of Information Technology (Hotel Pre‑Opening)

About the role

The Director of Information Technology will lead the strategy, installation, deployment, security and ongoing management of all technology infrastructure for a luxury hotel during its pre‑opening phase and into full operations.

Key responsibilities

• Oversee the full lifecycle of IT setup, including hardware installation, software configuration, system integration and testing before launch.
• Deploy core hospitality systems such as Opera PMS, Oracle Simphony POS, revenue management, electronic keycard access, guest Wi‑Fi, PABX/telephony and IPTV.
• Design and implement high‑availability network architectures (Cisco networking, Microsoft Server, VLANs, firewalls) and establish 24/7 support operations.
• Implement cybersecurity protocols, role‑based access controls, data backup, disaster recovery and ensure compliance with PCI‑DSS and Bahrain data protection laws.
• Manage vendor SLAs, software licences, warranties and both OpEx and CapEx budgets for hardware and technology acquisitions.
• Recruit, onboard and train the IT support team, set up help‑desk workflows and deliver staff training on core systems and security awareness.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Network Engineering or a related field.
• 3–5+ years in an IT leadership role within a luxury hotel environment, preferably with pre‑opening experience.
• Familiarity with Middle‑East/GCC telecom standards and Bahrain data privacy regulations.
• Business fluency in English; conversational Arabic is an advantage.

Required skills

• Opera PMS, Oracle Simphony POS, guest Wi‑Fi management, IPTV, PABX.
• Cisco switches/routers, enterprise firewalls, VLAN structuring.
• Server virtualization (Hyper‑V, VMware), Microsoft Server, Active Directory.
• PCI‑DSS compliance, data backup and disaster recovery planning.