IT Operations Manager

Responsible for leading the IT Operations function, including the Help Desk and midrange systems teams, and for the day-to-day delivery, performance, and reliability of the company’s end-user, infrastructure, and enterprise platform services. This role owns the vendor and contract portfolio for IT (including software licensing, renewals, and circuit/connectivity services), manages the IT operating budget, supports audit and regulatory engagements, and partners with Security, Network, and Application teams to drive enterprise initiatives, new site build-outs, and modernization—including the responsible adoption of AI-enabled tooling within IT. **Minimum Qualifications:** - Bachelor’s degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience - 8+ years of progressive experience in IT Operations, including infrastructure, end-user services, or enterprise platform administration. - 3+ years in a management or supervisory capacity leading IT teams, including remote staff. - Demonstrated experience managing IT vendor relationships, software licensing, and a multi-line operating budget (including renewal portfolios of 100+ items). - Experience supporting external and internal audits (e.g., PCI, SOC 1/SOC 2, NYDFS, internal financial and operational audits). - Experience coordinating network circuit lifecycles (orders, installs, upgrades, renewals) and working with carriers, contractors, and on-site teams. - Working familiarity with enterprise platform administration across categories such as endpoint/unified endpoint management, secure web gateway / SSE, data classification and DLP, MFA and identity, and conferencing/meeting room systems. - Working familiarity with midrange/legacy enterprise platforms; ability to provide oversight and escalation support (deep hands-on expertise not required). **Licensure, Certification, and/or Registration** - One or more preferred: ITIL v4 (Foundation or higher), PMP or equivalent project management certification, cloud administrator/architect certification (AWS, Azure, or GCP), and/or a current network certification (CCNA-level or equivalent). - Vendor-neutral endpoint management, identity, or service-management certifications a plus. **Primary Job Functions:** **Team Leadership & People Management** - Direct and coordinate the activities of IT Operations staff, including the Help Desk team and midrange systems administrator(s); manage remote team members across multiple locations. - Establish direction, standards, and best practices for the function; provide technical leadership and escalation guidance. - Hire, develop, evaluate, and coach staff; complete performance evaluations and recommend salary adjustments, performance improvement plans, or disciplinary actions as appropriate. - Hold recurring 1:1 and team meetings with the Help Desk Manager and other direct reports; participate in weekly cross-functional meetings, including security. - Review and refine documentation and procedures produced by the team; promote knowledge sharing and continuous improvement. **Service Delivery & Operations** - Develop and maintain policies, procedures, and runbooks for IT Operations, including incident, problem, and change management practices. - Review daily logs, monitoring data, and reports to detect recurring slowdowns, errors, or capacity issues; drive root-cause analysis and remediation. - Meet with internal users and business stakeholders to evaluate service quality, gather requirements, and identify present and future needs. - Manage integrated testing environments as part of the overall change management process. - Coordinate with internal departments and peer IT service groups to assess the impact of hardware, software, or platform changes on operations and end-user service. **Vendor, Financial & Contract Management** - Lead annual budget planning and ongoing budget tracking for IT Operations, including a renewal portfolio of 100+ recurring items. - Negotiate, review, and approve IT contracts…