Server Operations Senior Manager

Position Summary

The Senior Manager, Server Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for the company’s enterprise server, storage, virtualization, and cloud compute environment. This role is accountable for the reliability, performance, security, scalability, governance, and lifecycle management of infrastructure platforms supporting a large, geographically distributed organization, including approximately 3,000 virtual machines and 400 physical hosts. The leader translates business needs into practical infrastructure strategies, balances availability, risk, cost, security, and speed, and partners across Cybersecurity, Network, Enterprise Applications, Operations Technology, Data, and business functions.

Essential Duties & Key Responsibilities

• Strategy & Enterprise Technology Leadership: Develop and execute a multi‑year strategy and roadmap for enterprise server, storage, virtualization, cloud compute, and related services; translate company and Technology priorities into platform capabilities, standards, investment plans, and measurable outcomes; evaluate technology and operating‑model options based on business value, risk, scalability, supportability, cybersecurity, and total cost of ownership.
• Architecture, Modernization & Continuous Improvement: Drive adoption of Infrastructure as Code (IaC), configuration management, automated provisioning, and policy‑based governance; own strategy, governance, and operational integration of on‑premises and cloud compute platforms; establish architecture, engineering, security, and lifecycle standards; reduce technical debt, improve observability, and use operational data for continuous improvement.
• People Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness: Lead, coach, and develop a high‑performing team of administrators, engineers, architects, and technical leads; establish clear accountability, priorities, decision rights, and performance expectations; build capability through workforce planning, cross‑training, performance management, and a culture of critical thinking and continuous improvement.
• Enterprise Operations & Service Ownership: Own operational health and service delivery of enterprise server platforms across on‑premises, colocation, and cloud environments; ensure availability, performance, capacity, recoverability, security, compliance, and lifecycle management; establish service metrics, operational reviews, controls, and maintain oversight of major incidents, root‑cause analysis, corrective actions, change discipline, and 24×7 readiness.
• Core Infrastructure Services: Provide leadership and governance for enterprise Windows and Linux servers, storage, virtualization, cloud compute, and supporting management platforms; oversee Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, and other core services; ensure backup, recovery, business continuity, and disaster recovery align with business requirements while reducing unsupported or high‑risk technology exposure.
• Critical Thinking, Risk & Decision Making: Analyze complex, cross‑domain issues and make timely decisions using facts, operational impact, business risk, cost, and long‑term consequences; challenge assumptions, identify dependencies, evaluate alternatives, anticipate material risks, and communicate clear options and recommendations to Technology leadership.
• Financial, Vendor & Portfolio Management: Develop and manage operating and capital budgets for infrastructure platforms, cloud consumption, licensing, maintenance, and lifecycle investments; build business cases linking spending to risk reduction, service improvement, scalability, or business value; manage strategic vendors, contracts, renewals, licensing, and oversee the server, storage, virtualization, and cloud portfolio with clear governance.
• Stakeholder Partnership & Communication: Build trusted relationships with Technology leaders, business stakeholders, field operations, vendors, and service partners; resolve competing priorities, clarify ownership, and deliver coordinated end‑to‑end infrastructure solutions; communicate service health, risks, investment needs, decisions, and progress to technical, business, and executive audiences.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Essential Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Deep working knowledge of enterprise Windows Server and Linux environments, virtualization platforms, enterprise storage, backup and recovery, and directory services, including lifecycle management and operational support of business‑critical systems.
• 10+ years of progressive enterprise infrastructure experience, with at least 5 years leading technical teams responsible for business‑critical, 24×7 services in large, complex environments comparable to ~3,000 virtual machines and 400 physical hosts across multiple locations.
• Proven ability to develop strategy, translate it into executable roadmaps, lead modernization, and deliver measurable operational outcomes.
• Strong critical‑thinking, decision‑making, and communication skills involving operational risk, cybersecurity, cost, availability, and business impact.
• Regular and reliable attendance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting infrastructure in the energy, industrial, or other operationally critical sectors across geographically distributed corporate, data‑center, and field environments.
• Leadership experience with public cloud, automation, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC), including major incidents, platform migrations, data‑center or cloud transformations, and enterprise infrastructure projects.
• Experience with financial planning, vendor management, contracts, licensing, technology investment analysis, and operating within SOX, audit, regulatory, or other formal control environments.
• Relevant technical or leadership certifications are a plus.

Key Competencies

• Strategic Leadership and Enterprise Management – sets direction and understands scale, integration, governance, and resilience required for enterprise infrastructure.
• Critical Thinking and Business Acumen – evaluates facts, assumptions, dependencies, risks, cost, and alternatives to reach sound decisions.
• People Leadership and Operational Excellence – develops talent, creates accountability, and maintains stable, secure, recoverable services while improving performance.
• Collaboration and Communication – builds alignment and explains complex topics clearly to technical, business, and executive audiences.

Physical & Travel Requirements

• Participate in a leadership escalation rotation for major incidents and critical infrastructure events; not a routine first‑line on‑call resource.
• Travel up to 10% to corporate offices, data centers, field locations, and vendor sites.
• Ability to occasionally lift and move technology equipment weighing up to 50 pounds.