Sr. Manager, IT

About AESC US LLC

AESC is an exciting, newly created global organization committed to solving the challenges of a sustainable future and becoming the leading supplier of full-value-chain battery solutions. Our lithium-ion batteries can be found in nearly one million electric vehicles worldwide and have a stellar safety record of zero-critical issues. AESC US is leading the way in battery technology, designing and manufacturing EV battery technology for various electric vehicles and equipment. We are working toward unlocking the full potential of sustainable energy and climate change mitigation, building upon our successes and expanding into new markets and industries to produce innovative and competitive products that advance the goal of a zero-carbon emission future.

AESC is headquartered in Japan and has battery manufacturing locations in Japan, UK, China, and the U.S.

About The Role

We are seeking a visionary and results-driven IT Senior Manager to lead our IT operations in Smyrna, TN. This is a high-impact leadership role focused on ensuring that our IT infrastructure and business systems fully support 24/7 manufacturing excellence. The ideal candidate excels at strategic alignment, team development, and cross-functional collaboration between the factory floor and corporate IT functions.

Responsibilities

• Walk the Floor: Maintain a daily presence on the production floor to understand the intersection of technology and manufacturing, building rapport with operations teams.
• Bridge the Gap: Translate complex IT roadblocks into plain business language for plant leadership, and conversely, translate production challenges into actionable requirements for corporate IT.
• Command the Incident: Lead the response during critical system outages, serving as the escalation point and the "single source of truth" for plant leadership until resolution.
• Advocate & Influence: Act as the voice of the Smyrna plant within the global IT organization, ensuring our specific needs for uptime, traceability, and speed are prioritized at the corporate level.
• Mentor & Coach: Actively develop your onsite IT staff, shifting them from reactive "firefighters" to proactive systems stewards.
• Strategic Alignment: Act as the IT Business Partner for the plant leadership team, ensuring IT initiatives directly support production goals, safety, and efficiency.
• Operational Excellence: Ensure high availability and performance of plant-critical systems supporting production, quality, traceability, labeling, and shipping.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Build deep working relationships with Production, Maintenance, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, EHS, Finance, and HR to ensure IT priorities align with plant performance goals.
• Production Readiness: Partner with Operations to support ramp-ups, new line launches, and shift coverage planning from an IT readiness standpoint.
• Operational Technology (OT) Integration: Collaborate with Controls/Automation and Engineering teams to support plant connectivity and system integration while maintaining strict cybersecurity standards.
• Governance & Compliance: Manage local IT budgets (CapEx/OpEx), oversee asset lifecycles, and ensure the facility remains fully compliant with all corporate security standards and IT audits.
• Vendor & Support Management: Act as the primary liaison with global SAP (ERP) and Apriso (MES) support teams to ensure plant requirements are prioritized and met.

Requirements

• Leadership Experience: 10+ years of experience in IT, with at least 5 years in a significant management or leadership role. Proven track record of leading teams in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in IT, Business Management, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).
• Stakeholder Management: Exceptional ability to communicate with both technical staff and non-technical plant leadership.
• Crisis Management: Strong leadership presence under pressure, with the ability to lead incident response in a 24/7 environment.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to see the "big picture" of how IT enables the manufacturing business.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with SAP and MES (Apriso) workflows within a manufacturing context.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma methodologies.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or ITIL certifications.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• HSA and Flexible Spending Accounts
• 401K with company match
• Company-paid Life Insurance (additional voluntary life available)
• Paid Vacation and 14 Paid Holidays
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage (Company Paid)
• Tuition reimbursement

An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development. Highly automated, clean, safe, and temperature-controlled production environment.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

• Ability to sit for extended periods of time.
• Ability to read, write, speak, hear; stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach and lift with hands and arms frequently throughout the day.
• Required to occasionally lift, push, pull and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally required to lift, push, pull and/or move up to 35 pounds.

Work Environment

The work environment is primarily an automated manufacturing plant with a concrete floor and is characterized by some temperature extremes, moderate noise, and forklift traffic. The individual must be able to perform all essential functions as appropriate on the plant floor, in meetings, and with employees, management, customers, and suppliers. Candidate must perform the essential duties and responsibilities with or without reasonable accommodation efficiently and accurately, and without causing significant safety threat to self or others.