Sr. Director, Technology Operations & Retail Technology
Planet Fitness, Boston, MA, United States
About Us
Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness is one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the United States by number of members and locations. We have over 2,700+ stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico, Australia, and Spain. 90% of Planet Fitness stores are owned and operated by independent franchisees.
At Planet Fitness, our unique mission has always been to enhance people’s lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment. And we’re proud of the amazing Planet Fitness team that supports our clubs and team members. They are comprised of dynamic, dedicated, and talented individuals who represent our values of integrity, transparency, passion, respect, and excellence (while having fun!) in everything they do.
Joining the PF family means being part of a company that cares about bettering the health and wellbeing of our communities. It means being a part of a supportive, engaging workforce with an inclusive culture that values diversity and creates an environment where everyone can feel they belong. It means encouraging professional growth and development. It means making true, lasting connections with your co-workers with celebrations, team building activities and engaging corporate events! It means creating a positive impact in our local communities through our Judgement Free Generation® philanthropic initiative. It means being part of a brand that you can be proud of!
For the past 30 years, we’ve helped millions of people in their fitness journey and revolutionized the industry along the way. And we’re just getting started!
Overview The Sr. Director, Technology Operations & Retail Technology is a senior leadership role responsible for the strategic direction, operational excellence, and delivery of two critical technology domains: Technology Operations / Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Retail Technology. This leader ensures the reliability, performance, and innovation of enterprise systems while driving technology capabilities across fitness club locations. The role requires a hands-on, results-oriented executive who thrives in a fast-paced, franchise-oriented environment and can translate complex technology strategy into practical, field-level outcomes.
This role follows a hybrid schedule and requires regular, in-person work at our Hampton, NH office or future Boston, MA office. Our hybrid model is M/T/W in office and TH/F are optional work-from-home. Candidates must reside within commuting distance of our office. Fully remote work is not available for this role.
Responsibilities Technology Operations & SRE This team is responsible for the health, stability, and performance of the organization’s technology infrastructure and platforms. Core functions include infrastructure engineering, system monitoring, incident response, reliability engineering, change management, and operational runbook development. The team operates with an SRE mindset — balancing engineering rigor with operational practicality to deliver measurable uptime and performance targets.
Retail Technology This team manages all technology deployed within fitness club locations, including point-of-sale systems, member check-in and access control, in-club networks, AV and digital signage, and field-level support. The team works closely with club operations, franchisees, and vendors to ensure a seamless, consistent member and staff experience across all locations.
Leadership & Strategy
Lead, mentor, and develop two high-performing teams across Technology Operations/SRE and Retail Technology disciplines.
Define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap aligned to organizational growth, operational scalability, and franchisee experience goals.
Serve as a key technology advisor to the VP of Technology and Executive Leadership Team on operational risk, infrastructure strategy, and retail technology initiatives.
Build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence across both teams.
Technology Operations & SRE
Establish and enforce SLAs, SLOs, and error budgets across critical platforms and services.
Drive incident management maturity including blameless post-mortems, root cause analysis, and systemic remediation.
Oversee infrastructure modernization efforts including cloud adoption, automation, and platform reliability improvements.
Maintain rigorous change management discipline to minimize production risk while enabling delivery velocity.
Partner with Security and Compliance teams to ensure infrastructure meets regulatory and policy requirements.
Retail Technology
Oversee the lifecycle management of all in-club technology including POS, access control, networking, and digital experience systems.
Develop and maintain standardized technology deployment playbooks for new club openings, remodels, and franchisee onboarding.
Partner with club operations leadership and franchisees to understand field-level needs and translate them into scalable technology solutions.
Manage vendor relationships and contracts for retail technology platforms and field support services.
Ensure technology environments in all club locations meet security, compliance, and operational standards.
Cross-Functional & Financial
Own department budgets for both teams, including capital planning, vendor spend, and headcount.
Communicate technology performance, risk, and investment priorities clearly to executive and franchise stakeholders.
Collaborate with product, development, and security teams to ensure seamless delivery of technology initiatives.
Represent technology operations in enterprise risk, audit, and compliance forums as needed.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field; advanced degree a plus
10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience, with at 3 years managing multi-functional teams at the Director level or above preferred
5+ years of demonstrated accountability and experience managing technology budget planning in a publicly traded company
5+ years of experience with vendor management and contract management at a publicly traded company demonstrating experience in contracts exceeding $2MM
Demonstrated experience leading Technology Operations, SRE, or retail infrastructure teams in a high-availability environment
Proven track record managing retail, field, or distributed technology programs — preferably in a franchise, hospitality, or multi-location retail environment
Strong working knowledge of SRE principles, ITIL frameworks, incident and change management, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Excellent executive communication skills with the ability to present complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders and franchise partners
Ability to lead through influence across matrixed teams and franchise structures
Experience in a fitness, wellness, or consumer facing retail industry, a plus
Familiarity with PCI DSS compliance requirements in a retail or point-of-sale environment, preferred
ITIL, SRE, or cloud certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect, Google Cloud Professional)
Experience managing technology through organizational scaling or M&A integration events
Extremely detail-oriented, efficient, and organized with an exceptional ability to establish priorities and objectives
Exceptional presentation and communication skills along with the ability to communicate effectively across all levels of the organization, including executives
Able to establish and maintain effective, collaborative work relationships with diverse individuals, internally and externally
Creative, progressive, thought leadership with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization
Excellent leadership skills including the ability to build teams, motivate, guide, and mentor
Possess a results-driven entrepreneurial mindset, demonstrating initiative and creativity
Demonstrated strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and organizational leadership skills
Exhibits comfort, ease, and flexibility working in an extremely fast-paced ever-changing, deadline-driven environment
Cooperative team player with an upbeat, positive, “can-do” attitude!
Ability to work off-hours and provide on-call support as needed
Perks Planet Fitness cares about you and your well-being. We offer a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees which includes the core medical, dental, vision, life and disability as well as supplemental accident, hospital and critical illness coverage options. In addition, we are proud to offer eligible employees a generous time off program (including volunteer time), childcare reimbursement, paid parental leave, pet care reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, free Black Card membership, learning and development programs and a whole host of engagement activities. We offer a 401(k) Plan with safe harbor employer matching and an employee stock purchase plan. This role is also eligible to participate in an annual corporate bonus incentive program based on company financial and personal performance.
The salary for NH-based and MA-based employees hired into this role will be aligned with the range below. This is a good faith estimate, and the amount of base salary will correspond with a candidate’s professional experience, qualifications and internal equity.
Annual Base Salary Range: $180,000-$250,000
Note to Applicants: We have been made aware of an increasing number of hiring fraud schemes across numerous platforms. Planet Fitness never requires advance payments of any kind for computer equipment or any other purpose at the start of employment. Any request for you to provide payment information during the application process is part of a fraud scheme. Further, we recommend that you do not provide sensitive personal information (SSN, DOB, driver’s license number) as part of the initial application process.
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At Planet Fitness, our unique mission has always been to enhance people’s lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment. And we’re proud of the amazing Planet Fitness team that supports our clubs and team members. They are comprised of dynamic, dedicated, and talented individuals who represent our values of integrity, transparency, passion, respect, and excellence (while having fun!) in everything they do.
Joining the PF family means being part of a company that cares about bettering the health and wellbeing of our communities. It means being a part of a supportive, engaging workforce with an inclusive culture that values diversity and creates an environment where everyone can feel they belong. It means encouraging professional growth and development. It means making true, lasting connections with your co-workers with celebrations, team building activities and engaging corporate events! It means creating a positive impact in our local communities through our Judgement Free Generation® philanthropic initiative. It means being part of a brand that you can be proud of!
For the past 30 years, we’ve helped millions of people in their fitness journey and revolutionized the industry along the way. And we’re just getting started!
Overview The Sr. Director, Technology Operations & Retail Technology is a senior leadership role responsible for the strategic direction, operational excellence, and delivery of two critical technology domains: Technology Operations / Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Retail Technology. This leader ensures the reliability, performance, and innovation of enterprise systems while driving technology capabilities across fitness club locations. The role requires a hands-on, results-oriented executive who thrives in a fast-paced, franchise-oriented environment and can translate complex technology strategy into practical, field-level outcomes.
This role follows a hybrid schedule and requires regular, in-person work at our Hampton, NH office or future Boston, MA office. Our hybrid model is M/T/W in office and TH/F are optional work-from-home. Candidates must reside within commuting distance of our office. Fully remote work is not available for this role.
Responsibilities Technology Operations & SRE This team is responsible for the health, stability, and performance of the organization’s technology infrastructure and platforms. Core functions include infrastructure engineering, system monitoring, incident response, reliability engineering, change management, and operational runbook development. The team operates with an SRE mindset — balancing engineering rigor with operational practicality to deliver measurable uptime and performance targets.
Retail Technology This team manages all technology deployed within fitness club locations, including point-of-sale systems, member check-in and access control, in-club networks, AV and digital signage, and field-level support. The team works closely with club operations, franchisees, and vendors to ensure a seamless, consistent member and staff experience across all locations.
Leadership & Strategy
Lead, mentor, and develop two high-performing teams across Technology Operations/SRE and Retail Technology disciplines.
Define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap aligned to organizational growth, operational scalability, and franchisee experience goals.
Serve as a key technology advisor to the VP of Technology and Executive Leadership Team on operational risk, infrastructure strategy, and retail technology initiatives.
Build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence across both teams.
Technology Operations & SRE
Establish and enforce SLAs, SLOs, and error budgets across critical platforms and services.
Drive incident management maturity including blameless post-mortems, root cause analysis, and systemic remediation.
Oversee infrastructure modernization efforts including cloud adoption, automation, and platform reliability improvements.
Maintain rigorous change management discipline to minimize production risk while enabling delivery velocity.
Partner with Security and Compliance teams to ensure infrastructure meets regulatory and policy requirements.
Retail Technology
Oversee the lifecycle management of all in-club technology including POS, access control, networking, and digital experience systems.
Develop and maintain standardized technology deployment playbooks for new club openings, remodels, and franchisee onboarding.
Partner with club operations leadership and franchisees to understand field-level needs and translate them into scalable technology solutions.
Manage vendor relationships and contracts for retail technology platforms and field support services.
Ensure technology environments in all club locations meet security, compliance, and operational standards.
Cross-Functional & Financial
Own department budgets for both teams, including capital planning, vendor spend, and headcount.
Communicate technology performance, risk, and investment priorities clearly to executive and franchise stakeholders.
Collaborate with product, development, and security teams to ensure seamless delivery of technology initiatives.
Represent technology operations in enterprise risk, audit, and compliance forums as needed.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field; advanced degree a plus
10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience, with at 3 years managing multi-functional teams at the Director level or above preferred
5+ years of demonstrated accountability and experience managing technology budget planning in a publicly traded company
5+ years of experience with vendor management and contract management at a publicly traded company demonstrating experience in contracts exceeding $2MM
Demonstrated experience leading Technology Operations, SRE, or retail infrastructure teams in a high-availability environment
Proven track record managing retail, field, or distributed technology programs — preferably in a franchise, hospitality, or multi-location retail environment
Strong working knowledge of SRE principles, ITIL frameworks, incident and change management, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Excellent executive communication skills with the ability to present complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders and franchise partners
Ability to lead through influence across matrixed teams and franchise structures
Experience in a fitness, wellness, or consumer facing retail industry, a plus
Familiarity with PCI DSS compliance requirements in a retail or point-of-sale environment, preferred
ITIL, SRE, or cloud certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect, Google Cloud Professional)
Experience managing technology through organizational scaling or M&A integration events
Extremely detail-oriented, efficient, and organized with an exceptional ability to establish priorities and objectives
Exceptional presentation and communication skills along with the ability to communicate effectively across all levels of the organization, including executives
Able to establish and maintain effective, collaborative work relationships with diverse individuals, internally and externally
Creative, progressive, thought leadership with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization
Excellent leadership skills including the ability to build teams, motivate, guide, and mentor
Possess a results-driven entrepreneurial mindset, demonstrating initiative and creativity
Demonstrated strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and organizational leadership skills
Exhibits comfort, ease, and flexibility working in an extremely fast-paced ever-changing, deadline-driven environment
Cooperative team player with an upbeat, positive, “can-do” attitude!
Ability to work off-hours and provide on-call support as needed
Perks Planet Fitness cares about you and your well-being. We offer a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees which includes the core medical, dental, vision, life and disability as well as supplemental accident, hospital and critical illness coverage options. In addition, we are proud to offer eligible employees a generous time off program (including volunteer time), childcare reimbursement, paid parental leave, pet care reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, free Black Card membership, learning and development programs and a whole host of engagement activities. We offer a 401(k) Plan with safe harbor employer matching and an employee stock purchase plan. This role is also eligible to participate in an annual corporate bonus incentive program based on company financial and personal performance.
The salary for NH-based and MA-based employees hired into this role will be aligned with the range below. This is a good faith estimate, and the amount of base salary will correspond with a candidate’s professional experience, qualifications and internal equity.
Annual Base Salary Range: $180,000-$250,000
Note to Applicants: We have been made aware of an increasing number of hiring fraud schemes across numerous platforms. Planet Fitness never requires advance payments of any kind for computer equipment or any other purpose at the start of employment. Any request for you to provide payment information during the application process is part of a fraud scheme. Further, we recommend that you do not provide sensitive personal information (SSN, DOB, driver’s license number) as part of the initial application process.
#J-18808-Ljbffr