Manager, IT Operations

JOB SUMMARY:

The Manager, IT Operations is responsible for leading the teams that design, operate, and support Trace3’s enterprise network and Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. This role directly manages network architecture and cloud engineering staff across two sub-teams and holds accountability for the availability, performance, security, and cost efficiency of the infrastructure supporting the business.

This position will lead, mentor, and develop a team of senior engineers while remaining personally hands-on in network and Azure design, escalated troubleshooting, and architectural decision-making. In addition to network and cloud, this role owns Microsoft 365 and collaboration platform administration, partnering closely with the Help Desk, Security, and Engineering functions.

SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop engineers covering network architecture and Azure cloud infrastructure.
• Oversee hiring, onboarding, goal setting, performance reviews, career development, and succession planning for team.
• Establish clear ownership, on-call rotations, escalation paths, and workload balance across both sub-teams.
• Set technical standards and hold the team accountable to documentation, change management, and quality expectations.
• Coach senior engineers into technical leadership and broaden bench strength across network and cloud disciplines.
• Conduct regular one-on-ones and team meetings, and represent the team’s work and needs to IT leadership.

Network Architecture & Engineering

• Own the architecture, roadmap, and operational health of the enterprise LAN, WAN, wireless, and data center network.
• Lead the design and implementation of routing, switching, segmentation, and network security architecture across headquarters, regional offices, and data center environments.
• Direct the design and support of SD-WAN, VPN, remote access, and site-to-site connectivity.
• Oversee network firewalls, load balancing, DNS, DHCP, IPAM, NAC, and network access policy in partnership with the Security team.
• Manage hybrid connectivity between on-premises networks and Azure, including ExpressRoute, VPN gateways, virtual networks, and peering.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex network incidents and lead root-cause analysis to permanent resolution.
• Maintain current network documentation, diagrams, standards, and configuration baselines.
• Plan and execute network refresh, capacity, and lifecycle programs, including firmware and end-of-life management.

Azure Cloud Infrastructure & Operations

• Own the operational architecture, governance, and day-to-day support of the Microsoft Azure environment.
• Lead the design and management of Azure subscriptions, management groups, resource organization, tagging, policy, and landing zone standards.
• Oversee Azure compute, storage, networking, backup, disaster recovery, and identity services.
• Direct the use of Infrastructure as Code and automation to make provisioning and configuration repeatable and auditable.
• Manage Entra ID (Azure AD) identity, conditional access, privileged access, and role-based access control in partnership with Security.
• Own Azure cost management, including rightsizing, reserved capacity, budget forecasting, and chargeback reporting.
• Establish monitoring, alerting, logging, and observability standards across Azure workloads.
• Lead cloud migration, modernization, and hybrid infrastructure initiatives from planning through production handoff.
• Ensure backup, replication, business continuity, and disaster recovery capabilities are tested and documented.

Microsoft 365 & Collaboration Platforms

• Own administration and operational support of Microsoft 365, including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive.
• Establish tenant configuration, licensing, governance, retention, and administrative access standards.
• Oversee mail flow, security and compliance policy, and collaboration platform reliability
• Support SharePoint Online site architecture, permissions, and governance in partnership with the Help Desk and business units.
• Evaluate and roll out new Microsoft 365 capabilities, coordinating change communication and user readiness.
• Monitor service health, adoption, and license consumption, and act on tenant advisories and roadmap changes.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Network Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive IT infrastructure experience, including significant depth in enterprise networking.
• Minimum of 3 years of direct people management experience leading technical engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience leading network architecture, including routing, switching, wireless, segmentation, firewalls, VPN, and SD-WAN in a multi-site enterprise.
• Demonstrated experience owning and operating production Microsoft Azure infrastructure, including virtual networks, compute, storage, identity, backup, and monitoring.
• Hands-on experience with hybrid connectivity between on-premises environments and Azure, including ExpressRoute or VPN gateway architectures.
• Experience with Entra ID (Azure AD), conditional access, and role-based access control.
• Working familiarity with endpoint management platforms such as Microsoft Intune or JAMF.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 administration across Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive.
• Experience owning change management, incident response, and root-cause analysis for production infrastructure.
• Experience with an ITSM platform such as ServiceNow for incident, request, change, and asset management.
• Ability to remain hands-on in design and escalated troubleshooting while managing a team.
• Strong technical documentation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Willingness to support escalations and maintenance activities outside of normal business hours as needed.
• Proven people leadership, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and technical mentorship.
• Deep technical credibility in enterprise network architecture and Microsoft Azure infrastructure.
• Ability to balance hands-on engineering work with the demands of managing multiple sub-teams.
• Strong architectural judgment and the ability to evaluate trade-offs across cost, risk, performance, and supportability.
• Sound decision-making under pressure during outages, incidents, and escalations.
• Ability to translate business requirements into infrastructure roadmaps and prioritized work.
• Effective collaboration across Security, Engineering, Help Desk, and business stakeholders.
• Clear written and verbal communication with both technical teams and executive leadership.
• Commitment to operational discipline, documentation, automation, and continuous improvement.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with Cisco, Meraki, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Arista, or comparable enterprise network platforms
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Bicep, or ARM templates
• Experience with automation and scripting using PowerShell or Python
• Experience with Azure DevOps or comparable CI/CD tooling for infrastructure delivery
• Experience in a technology consulting, VAR, or professional services organization
• Experience aligning infrastructure operations to frameworks such as ITIL, NIST, SOC 2, or ISO 27001