IT Director

1. JOB DESCRIPTION

The Senior IT Operations Manager serves as the organization’s primary internal technology leader, responsible for the strategy, governance, and day-to-day oversight of all IT operations. This role owns the full technology stack from the network edge through cloud-hosted infrastructure and end-user devices, ensuring systems are secure, reliable, and aligned with business objectives. The Senior IT Operations Manager directly manages a small internal IT team and maintains a close working relationship with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to deliver comprehensive infrastructure support, monitoring, and maintenance across on-premises and Azure-hosted environments. This position requires a technically strong, operationally experienced leader who can balance hands-on technical engagement with vendor management, strategic planning, and executive-level communication.

1. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

IT Operations Leadership

• Own overall IT operations strategy and execution, ensuring all systems, services, and infrastructure meet organizational availability, performance, and security requirements.
• Directly supervise and develop 1–3 internal IT staff; provide day-to-day direction, conduct performance reviews, and support professional development.
• Define, document, and enforce IT policies, standards, and procedures across all operational domains including change management, incident management, and asset lifecycle.
• Serve as the primary internal escalation point for critical IT incidents; lead root cause analysis and drive remediation to prevent recurrence.
• Maintain and regularly test business continuity and disaster recovery plans for all critical systems.
• Develop and manage the IT operations budget, including forecasting for hardware, software, licensing, and managed services contracts.
• Report regularly to senior leadership on IT operational health, project status, risk posture, and technology roadmap.

• Work closely with executives and their business units to discover automation and development opportunities that can simplify business processes.

Managed Service Provider (MSP) Oversight

• Serve as the primary liaison and contract owner for the organization’s MSP relationship; manage SLAs, escalations, and ongoing service delivery performance.
• Review and approve MSP-delivered changes to infrastructure, ensuring work aligns with organizational standards and change management processes.
• Collaborate with the MSP to plan and execute infrastructure projects including upgrades, migrations, and expansions.
• Conduct regular service reviews with MSP leadership to evaluate performance, address gaps, and align on upcoming initiatives.
• Ensure MSP staff operate within the organization’s security policies, access control standards, and compliance requirements.

Azure & Cloud Infrastructure

• Provide architectural oversight and operational governance for the organization’s Azure environment, including Virtual Machines, Virtual Networks, storage, identity (Entra ID / Azure AD), and security services.
• Guide and review cloud infrastructure design decisions, ensuring environments are optimized for cost, performance, resilience, and security.
• Oversee Azure DevOps, monitoring tooling, and automation pipelines in partnership with the MSP and internal staff.
• Manage Azure cost governance through tagging, reserved instances, right-sizing, and regular spend reviews.
• Ensure hybrid connectivity between Azure and on-premises environments (VPN, ExpressRoute, AD sync) is properly maintained and documented.
• Oversee Microsoft 365 / Office 365 services including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, and endpoint management through Intune.

Network & Physical Infrastructure

• Maintain oversight of the full network stack from the edge (firewalls, WAN, SD-WAN) through core switching, Wi-Fi, and LAN infrastructure.
• Ensure physical server, storage, and data center or co-location environments are properly maintained, documented, and under appropriate support contracts.
• Oversee patch management and vulnerability remediation across all network and infrastructure components.
• Review and approve firewall rules, network segmentation changes, and perimeter security configurations.

End User Computing & Service Desk

• Oversee end-user computing standards including desktop/laptop imaging, software deployment, mobile device management, and hardware lifecycle.
• Ensure the service desk (internal and/or MSP-provided) operates efficiently, with strong ticket hygiene, SLA adherence, and user satisfaction.
• Champion user technology experience by driving consistent onboarding/offboarding procedures, access provisioning, and endpoint security policies.

Security & Compliance

• Partner with leadership and any security or compliance functions to ensure IT operations align with applicable regulatory requirements (e.g., SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FFIEC as applicable).
• Oversee identity and access management, MFA enforcement, privileged access controls, and periodic access reviews.
• Coordinate with the MSP and any third-party security vendors on vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security incident response.
• Maintain and regularly test the organization’s incident response plan, backup integrity, and DR runbooks.

Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence

• Oversee data warehouse operations and manage relationships with providers (SQL, Snowflake, etc).
• Ensure that reporting and analytics align with the expectations of Executive Management, utilizing tools like Power BI, SSRS, and other third-party analytics platforms.

1. EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE

The ideal candidate would possess:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in IT infrastructure, systems administration, or IT operations; minimum 4 years in a management, lead, or senior technical role.
• Demonstrated experience managing or overseeing a Managed Service Provider relationship in an enterprise or mid-market environment.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Azure, including IaaS/PaaS services, Azure networking, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals: routing, switching, firewalls, VLANs, VPNs, DNS, DHCP, and WAN technologies.
• Experience with endpoint management platforms (Intune, SCCM, or equivalent) and service desk tooling (ConnectWise, ServiceNow, or similar).
• Demonstrated ability to manage IT budgets, vendor contracts, and technology roadmaps.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; able to translate technical concepts for executive and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organizational and project management skills; able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously across varying timelines.
• Experience with regulatory or compliance frameworks applicable to financial services, healthcare, or similar regulated industries is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.

Certifications (preferred):

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert
• ITIL Foundation or higher
• CompTIA Network+, Security+, or equivalent
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent a plus