This role leads infrastructure and support for a small, hands-on IT team. The IT Manager owns system reliability, cybersecurity, and the overall user experience.

This person works closely with the CIO and business leaders to ensure IT supports company goals around growth, cost efficiency, customer experience, and digital capabilities.

This is a hands-on leadership role. The IT Manager is expected to solve problems directly, prioritize work across competing demands, and keep the team focused on what matters most.

Success in this role requires strong ownership, sound judgment, and a commitment to delivering a high-quality user experience. This person must be proactive, responsive, and focused on solving problems quickly and effectively.

Team, Culture, and User Experience

• Build a team that is obsessed with users and service quality 
• Develop team members through coaching, feedback, and clear expectations 
• Create a proactive, accountable, and solutions-first mindset 
• Set a high bar for responsiveness, ownership, and follow-through 
• Continuously improve the end-to-end user experience across all IT touchpoints 

Strategic Alignment

• Translate business needs into practical infrastructure and system improvements 
• Develop and execute a simple, clear infrastructure roadmap 
• Balance reliability, cost, and scalability in all decisions 
• Eliminate unnecessary complexity and standardize where possible 
• Prioritize work across support, projects, and improvements 

Cybersecurity and Risk

• Build a culture focused on reducing risk every day 
• Own vulnerability management, patching, access control, and monitoring 
• Ensure incident response processes are clear and tested 
• Own disaster recovery readiness, including backup integrity and recovery testing 
• Stay ahead of threats through continuous improvement and awareness 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead day-to-day IT operations including help desk, network, servers, cloud, and security 
• Ensure fast, reliable support with clear service levels and accountability 
• Own system uptime, performance, and incident response 
• Establish monitoring and alerting for early issue detection and resolution 
• Manage vendors and ensure value from external partners 
• Lead infrastructure projects from planning through execution 
• Maintain and improve disaster recovery and backup processes 
• Develop and maintain simple, effective IT processes and documentation 
• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive work and reduce manual effort 
• Support AI and digital initiatives by ensuring systems, data access, and security are aligned 
• Manage IT assets and lifecycle planning 
• Support budgeting, cost control, and vendor spend optimization 
• Communicate clearly with stakeholders during issues, changes, and projects 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Users trust IT and get fast, reliable support 
• Systems are stable, secure, and well understood 
• The team is proactive, not reactive 
• Cyber risks are actively managed and recovery plans are proven 
• Manual work is reduced through automation and smarter processes 
• IT is seen as a practical, business-focused partner 
• Work is prioritized and executed with discipline 

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 7+ years in IT with hands-on infrastructure experience 
• 3+ years leading a team in a small or mid-sized environment 
• Experience balancing support, projects, and improvement work 
• Strong understanding of networking, cloud, systems, and security 
• Experience in a manufacturing or operational environment preferred 

TECHNICAL SKILLS (working knowledge, hands-on)

Core Infrastructure

• Strong understanding of networking, firewalls, and connectivity (LAN, WAN, VPN) 
• Experience managing servers, virtualization, and core infrastructure services 
• Ability to troubleshoot issues across network, server, and endpoint layers 

Cloud and Identity

• Experience with AWS or Azure environments 
• Managing identity, access, and single sign-on 
• Understanding of hybrid environments (on-prem and cloud) 

End User Computing

• Managing endpoints, device lifecycle, and patching 
• Experience with Microsoft O365, Teams, and collaboration tools 
• Focus on delivering a simple and reliable user experience 

Monitoring and Reliability

• Experience with system monitoring, alerting, and incident response 
• Ability to identify root causes and prevent recurring issues 
• Understanding of uptime, performance, and capacity planning 

Cybersecurity and Disaster Recovery

• Practical experience with vulnerability management, patching, and endpoint protection 
• Understanding of access control, MFA, and least privilege principles 
• Experience with backup solutions and disaster recovery planning 
• Ability to design and test recovery processes 
• Familiarity with security frameworks and risk-based decision making 

Automation and Efficiency

• Experience automating routine IT tasks and workflows 
• Ability to identify manual processes and simplify or eliminate them 
• Familiarity with scripting or automation tools (PowerShell or similar) 

Project and Change Execution

• Ability to scope and deliver infrastructure projects 
• Experience managing change without disrupting the business 
• Strong documentation and process discipline