Senior Director of Operations

Sr. Director of Operations

Full-time opportunity

Germantown, MD (Hybrid)

SMART IT People has a full-time opportunity for a Senior Director of Operations. This is a hybrid position, must be within commuting distance to Germantown, MD. This position requires working with government clients therefore, you must be eligible to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance. No visa sponsorship available.

Required Skills:

• Strong problem-solving skills, analytical capabilities, data analysis, and attention to detail.

• Strong verbal and written communication and organizational skills

• Must be able to multi-task and project manage many tasks simultaneously

• 10+ years of strong, technical data center background.

• 8+ years directly managing technical staff.

• Experience in multi-platform environment: Windows/Unix/AIX/iSeries/Mainframe/Cloud/Network

• Experience with Microsoft Active Directory, Global Policy implementation and server

hardening.

• Current high-level knowledge of network topology, security, replication & backup

technologies, SAN administration, and server virtualization.

• Enterprise-level experience in managing large-scale and complex projects/programs.

• Experience developing and documenting Internal Disaster Recovery procedures.

• Experience creating/maintaining Standard Operating Procedures.

• Familiarity with FedRAMP controls and environment a plus.

• Experience with SDN or ACI a plus.

• BA or BS or equivalent experience.

• Eligible to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.

Job description:

To be successful, the ideal candidate will have:

• Experience in the same or a similar role, managing data center operations and setting goals across the entire team. 
• Demonstration of great leadership skills and be able to communicate the vision of the organization's goals across all levels. 
• Ability to ensure that all operational functions are in line with strategic goals.
• Proven IT technical ability to drive continuous improvement and the ability to keep pace with our rapid growth while motivating others to meet the challenges of an extremely deadline-driven environment. 
• Possess a mix of hands-on and management.

Responsibilities:

• Overseeing all IT Operations and Service Delivery in a 24x7 support model.

• Extensive communications with clients, vendors, and senior management to include

briefing, status meetings, tests, and client Disaster Recovery events.

• Leading and managing a team of high-performing individual contributors and managers

and their ongoing talent development.

• Providing regular, recurring constructive feedback to managers on their performance,

and ensure managers and key staff have updated career development and succession

plans in place.

• Overseeing and helping manage and prioritize the workload of IT infrastructure support

personnel.

• Managing day-to-day data center operations in support of permanent client

environments as well as disaster recovery shared infrastructure and test events.

• Overseeing all Incident and Problem Management activities for IT Service disruptions.

Track problems and resolutions from cradle to grave.

• Empowering a culture of safety, security, and compliance in all aspects of team

activities.

• Initiating and establishing quality standards for the teams and manage those initiatives

through to completion.

• Analyzing production operations and initiate corrective actions to ensure operational

stability.

• Managing planned and unplanned outage cycles, including notifications and updates to

client end users and other stakeholders.

• Ensuring the consistency and maintainability of all IT infrastructure by creating,

maintaining, and enforcing configuration baseline standards and operating procedures

used by the IT support teams.

• Working with business and client stakeholders to define IT operational objectives and

requirements. Ensure all business systems, IT systems, partner platforms, and networks

are in place to support the business and that the technical design accurately represents

the business requirements.

• Participating in the collaboration and review of all design plans, IT projects and

proposals for new technology, to ensure adherence to strategy, technology standards,

and enterprise operations best practices.

• Negotiating and administering vendor, outsource and consultant contracts and service

agreements associated with IT infrastructure operations.

• Participating on all hardware and software evaluations and ensure timely and accurate

tracking of all 3rd party IT support and maintenance contracts.

• Pro-actively manage cross functional IT Infrastructure teams through the delivery and

support of the IT Infrastructure used in support of the business & client operations.

Anticipate problems and complications and formulate solutions so as not to impede the

business operations. Collaborate with and leverage the other IT resources within the

organization in the delivery of IT services.

• Overseeing the patch management for all IT equipment.

• Supporting our Sales organization by reviewing technical proposals, recommending

technical solutions, and meeting with prospective clients.

• Lead the various IT operations teams in executing service delivery production

onboarding tasks according to a documented schedule that meets or exceeds client

expectations.

• Represent the Service Delivery Operations function at client review meetings when

appropriate.

• Perform liaison duties between users and IT Operations personnel in the areas of

Corporate IT Service Delivery.

• Provide management oversight for the development, deployment, monitoring,

maintenance, upgrade, and support of all cloud and IT infrastructure systems, including

telecommunications, servers, storage, network, operating systems, hardware, software,

and peripherals.

• Create, collect, analyze, and report on key benchmark data to drive service

improvements and growth of the Service Delivery Operations organization.

• Develop business case justifications and cost/benefit analyses for IT spending and

initiatives.

• Approve, prioritize, and oversee the execution of IT infrastructure projects and project

portfolio.

• Ensure adherence to Corporate IT Policies and Procedures, including the development

of additional controls as required to ensure regulatory compliance against NIST 800-171

and other standards as necessary.

• Establish and maintain regular written and in-person communications with the

organization's executives, department heads and end users regarding pertinent IT

activities.

To apply, please send your resume in MS Word format to: alice@smart-itpeople.com with job title in subject line.