Description
Are you looking for an established and growing company where you can make an impact on the business and be recognized for your efforts? Are you intrigued and motivated by solving the IT challenges of a SaaS business that is growing both organically and through acquisitions? Do you bring a strong troubleshooting aptitude to your experience supporting Windows Server environments and a .Net Development stack? Do you have the ability to build rapport and bring out the best in team members to meet Service Level Agreements and to follow change management processes?
KPA (www.kpaonline.com) provides a combination of SaaS compliance solutions and complementary recurring services, to drive a change in safety, environmental and workflow best practices.
Since 1986 KPA has been refining the core values with which we work together as a team and with our clients. Do you align with our core values of Integrity, Helpful, Excellence, Agile, Respectful, and Teamwork? It is these core values that promote our success through both organic growth and integrating acquisitions. This success and the growing demand for compliance solutions was validated through a 2018 investment by Providence Equity Partners, adding valuable experience in both the automotive and compliance software sectors and continuing to promote an entrepreneurial atmosphere at KPA.
The IT Manager is a new hands-on role within KPA and will report to the Director of IT. The ideal candidate will have a well-rounded background in Systems Administration and a penchant for providing exceptional customer service to both internal and external customers. The IT Manager will oversee the IT Service Desk and System Administrators and will play a crucial role in planning, implementing, and maintaining high quality, highly scalable infrastructure for KPA’s Software as a Service (SaaS) products. This position will champion Standard Operating Procedures, exceed Service Level Agreements and zealously follow Change Management processes by facilitating collaboration and optimizing workflows.
In the first 30 days you will:
• Begin learning KPA’s business and employees by assisting the IT team with help desk tickets and resolving issues within the established Service Level Agreements.
• Review and enforce all documented processes and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the IT team.
• Meet colleagues and key stakeholders to understand the current KPA department structures who support clients and innovate new product and service offerings.
• Manage internal Project and Task work using Azure DevOps (Visual Studio Team Services) and meet or exceed established milestone and completion dates.
In the first 60 - 90 days you will:
• Lead the prioritization of work within the IT team by leading daily status meetings.
• Leverage experience and coach IT team on escalation processes including acting as the subject matter expert for systems issues and customer requests.
• Review and improve the automated deployment processes for all corporate hardware and software.
• Evaluate the security, compliance settings, and policies for all back-office applications including Office 365 to help reduce risk.
• Serve as backup for DevOps team members as needed and assist with the release management cycle for all development projects.
• Assess the current environment including SOP’s and present recommendations for changes/improvements.
In the first 6 months you will:
• Regularly review tickets and backlog items and publish reports to track key performance indicators for the department.
• Lead the planning, development, and implementation of a fully automated user management process.
• Lead the creation of an IT Asset Lifecycle Management plan for all on-premise hardware and software.
• Assist with the planning, development, and implementation of a hybrid cloud deployment.
• Continue to present recommendations and plans to support high quality, reliable SaaS platforms.
By the end of the first year you will have:
• Created new and enhanced existing documentation of IT processes and SOP’s to ensure replicable and consistent results.
• Met regularly with direct reports to build rapport, understand challenges and promoted building new technical skills by exploring personal interests.
• Contributed to the technical and business skills development of team members through training, mentoring and shadowing.
• Assisted with meeting or exceeding the published SLA’s for all KPA SaaS products through proactive monitoring, timely resolution of issues, and disaster recovery planning.
• Traveled to remote offices and co-location facilities as needed (less than 20% travel required)
Requirements
• BS/BA degree, CIS/MIS or CS degree preferred
• Minimum of 3 years in a lead role; in addition to, progressive experience in planning, design, implementation, and maintenance in the following areas:
• Virtualization technologies; VCP certification preferred
• Windows server technologies; MCITP/MCSE certification preferred
• Networking technologies; Dell PowerConnect, Kemp Technologies experience preferred
• Security/Firewall technologies; Kaspersky, SonicWALL, Network Access Control (802.1x), Web Application Firewall experience preferred
• Minimum of 1 year of experience in the following areas:
• Cloud Hosting (IaaS / PaaS); Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services preferred
• General database technologies; Clustered and Always-On Microsoft SQL Server experience preferred
• Office 365; Hybrid Deployment, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) and Multi-Factor Authentication implementation experience preferred
• Linux server technologies; CentOS and Redis experience preferred
• Octopus, PowerShell DSC or similar experience with configuration automation tools preferred
• CMS technologies; SharePoint experience preferred
• Excellent communication, presentation, and organizational skills to keep key stakeholders informed and projects on schedule
• Stamina and tenacity to deliver great technical solutions, with a deep sense of personal ownership and passion for working with all types of end-users
• Work ethic that corresponds with KPA’s core values: Integrity – Helpful – Excellence – Accountable – Resourceful – Respectful – Teamwork
Position Details: This position reports to the Director of Information Technology, and is a full-time, exempt position.
Location: KPA's corporate headquarters in Lafayette, CO.
