Senior Manager IT - Middleware Operations

About the role

The Senior Manager, Middleware Platforms is responsible for defining and providing strategic leadership, direction, and management for enterprise middleware platform services in scope of this role: Web Platforms, Messaging Queue (MQ), File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management.

Responsibilities

• Provides strategic leadership and guidance to managers and colleagues within the Middleware Platforms team.
• Defines and rolls out strategic priorities, plans, and roadmaps for Web Platforms, MQ, File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management, adapting to address resource and delivery challenges in line with strategic objectives.
• Supports development and performance of team members through mentorship, performance reviews, and equipping colleagues with future-ready skills.
• Collaborates with leadership to identify, drive, and deliver cost initiatives in line with strategic objectives.
• Accountable for managing colleague, training, travel, and team budgets; monitors and controls expenditure ensuring alignment with departmental and organizational priorities.
• Leads the development and implementation of platform operating practices, standards, and controls, ensuring strategic alignment and compliance.
• Ensures adherence to organizational policies, guidelines, and risk oversight responsibilities, including maintaining platform documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures.
• Fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration that encourages continuous improvement, accountability, and alignment with strategic direction.
• Owns end-to-end service health, reliability, and lifecycle management for Web Platforms, MQ, File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management, including capacity planning, upgrades, patching, and operational readiness across environments.
• Oversees build/release processes and drives automation for deployment, configuration, compliance, and environment provisioning to improve speed, quality, and consistency.
• Acts as an escalation point for major incidents, service risks, and cross-team dependencies. Manages vendor partners and holds them accountable to SLAs/KPIs; builds strong partnerships with infrastructure, application development, cybersecurity, and business technology teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 10+ years of relevant experience in platform engineering, middleware, infrastructure services, and/or operations in enterprise environments.
• Proven people-leadership experience, including leading leaders (managers/team leads), coaching and development, performance management, and workforce/resource planning.
• Technical depth and track record owning enterprise platforms such as web platforms, messaging middleware (e.g., IBM MQ or equivalent), managed file transfer, and certificate lifecycle management/PKI (e.g., Keyfactor or equivalent).
• Experience owning end-to-end service health (SLAs/SLOs, incident/problem/change management, capacity, patching, upgrades, DR/BCP) and partnering with security/risk teams to meet control, audit, and compliance requirements.
• Strong command of platform engineering and operations best practices, including monitoring/observability, resiliency patterns, vulnerability management, and secure-by-design principles.
• Demonstrated ability to resolve complex, high-impact issues that span teams; make timely decisions with incomplete information; and adapt priorities to address resource, reliability, and delivery constraints.
• Experience leading cross-functional programs from inception to completion (modernization, standardization, automation), including vendor/partner delivery governance and stakeholder communications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong executive communication and stakeholder-management skills, with demonstrated ability to influence decisions and drive alignment across infrastructure, application, security, risk, and vendor partners.
• Technical depth to dive into architecture, configuration/code reviews, and complex troubleshooting as needed, with experience operating large-scale, high-volume, highly available platforms.

What We Offer

• Competitive Pay
• Annual Bonus
• Pension Plan
• 401k Match
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Disability Insurance
• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Employee Discounts
• Career Training & Development Opportunities
• Health and Work/Life Balance Benefits
• Compensation Benefits