Head of IT Operations - Corporate

Head of IT Operations is a key leadership role providing comprehensive oversight of Harbor’s entire IT infrastructure, networking, and cloud technologies. This role will be responsible for guiding the IT operations team in implementing best practices, addressing technical debt, and ensuring the reliability and scalability of our IT infrastructure. This position requires a strong background in virtualization, networking, cloud operations, and backup technologies, with a focus on optimizing system performance and ensuring a secure, scalable IT environment for our 1,300+ team members and our Harbor companies.. This role is primarily onsite with remote hybrid possible. Harbor is not considering out of area candidates at this time.

Compensation: $125-140K base salary DOE

Benefits for Harbor Team Members include vacation, sick time, personal holiday, paid holidays, medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, 401(k) retirement plan with a generous employer match, employee discounts, really nice company events, and great Harbor perks.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS Reports to Sr. Director of IT

Technical Leadership & Strategy

Serve as the technical subject matter expert across infrastructure, networking, cloud, and systems administration

Define and implement best practices for system architecture, configuration, and maintenance

Identify and resolve technical debt, ensuring long-term system stability and performance

Collaborate with IT leadership to align systems strategy with business objectives

Team Leadership & Mentorship

Lead, mentor, and develop a team of IT systems administrators with varying levels of experience

Provide hands-on guidance, training, and career development opportunities

Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning within the team

Infrastructure & Cloud Operations

Oversee the management, maintenance, and optimization of enterprise IT infrastructure, including:

Backup & Disaster Recovery solutions to ensure data protection and business continuity (e.g., Veeam, Rubrik)

Virtualization and compute platforms for efficient resource utilization and scalability (e.g., Nutanix Prism Central, VMware ESXi, Hyper-V)

Networking and security technologies for secure connectivity and system integrity (e.g., firewalls, access points, and network switches such as Palo Alto Panorama and Juniper Mist)

Monitoring and asset management tools to proactively track system health and performance (e.g., LogicMonitor, Lansweeper)

Support the operation and optimization of enterprise applications and ERP systems

Manage cloud-based and hybrid infrastructure with a focus on scalability, security, and automation

Ensure high availability, performance, and security across IT systems

Lead infrastructure modernization efforts, including cloud migration and hybrid-cloud strategies

Operational Excellence

Establish and enforce processes and standards for system administration, monitoring, and incident response

Work cross-functionally to ensure seamless IT operations while staying aligned with company objectives

Manage system performance, capacity planning, and disaster recovery readiness

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

Demonstrates these skills by leading the design, implementation, and maintenance of a robust and scalable IT infrastructure that supports the organization's needs and objectives. Evaluates and adopts new technologies and tools to improve efficiency, performance, security, and reliability. Ensures compliance with industry best practices and standards and proactively monitors and troubleshoots any issues or incidents. Collaborates with other IT leaders and stakeholders to ensure alignment and integration of IT infrastructure with other IT services and business processes. Develops and executes a clear vision and roadmap for IT infrastructure that supports the long-term growth and innovation of the organization.

Infrastructure Design and Management: Deep understanding of network architecture (MPLS, SD-WAN, VLAN), server management (load balancing, capacity planning), storage solutions, and data center operations (uptime monitoring, on premise vs colocation vs cloud, failed or stuck process monitoring).

Cloud Technologies: Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and knowledge of cloud migration strategies and hybrid environments.

Security: Expertise in IT security principles, including firewall management, encryption, and compliance with relevant standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, NIST 800-171).

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Knowledge of backup solutions, disaster recovery planning, and strategies for ensuring business continuity.

Virtualization: Experience with virtualization technologies (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V) and containerization (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).

Strategic Planning: Ability to align IT infrastructure strategy with business goals and future growth.

Excellent leadership skills, with the ability to fully engage IT Operations on timely delivery of solutions. Demonstrated ability to manage and execute multiple IT initiatives, utilizing team members and third-party resources effectively.

Ability to develop, manage, coach, mentor and reinforce team members in line with the mission, vision, values, goals, and performance standards of formal and informal teams. This individual will build a dedicated team of technologists with an exceptional depth of knowledge of our infrastructure and the flexibility to meet future requirements.

Strong, cross domain, technology acumen and preferably earlier career experience as an individual contributor of a technology team.

Demonstrate the ability to prioritize competing business objectives that ensure the protection and sustainability of the company and meet the changing business priorities and expectations of senior leaders.

Strong vendor management and partner relation skills to identify and leverage internal and external resources to enhance capabilities that support business objectives.

Success in leveraging both traditional practices as well as emerging methods, such as DevOps, that are optimized for agility.

Demonstrate the ability to improve Information and Systems performance through the application of original thinking to existing and emerging methods, processes, products, and services.

Strong budget planning, fiscal management, and resource management skills. Achieves strong ROI (return on investment) on our technical assets.

Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts and technologies to senior leaders, and priorities and objectives to the IT Operations.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Required:

7+ years of experience in IT infrastructure, systems administration, or network administration

3+ years of leadership inclusive of senior experience managing IT technical teams in a multi-location environment.

Proven experience in leading technology infrastructure teams in complex and dynamic environments requiring 24/7 support.

Hands-on experience with cloud administration (compute, storage, networking, security)

Strong networking knowledge, including firewall management, wireless access, and VPN in a multi-location, fast pace and high growth environment.

Preferred:

Experience managing cloud environments and hybrid infrastructure (e.g., Azure)

Familiarity with Warehouse Management Systems and label printing systems

Familiarity with ERP systems and enterprise applications (e.g., Business Central) including computing platforms (e.g., AS/400)

License and Certifications:

Attainment of relevant certificates a plus.

Peer networking via involvement in industry groups.

Final candidates will be required to pass a drug, criminal background check.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, or other legally protected status.