This role is responsible for providing strategic and tactical enterprise leadership to the Server Operations Team. This role develops and coordinates all server operations including compute, storage, middleware, and endpoint engineering in a highly available environment. This role manages strategic business relationships with managed service providers, technology vendors and suppliers, and internal and external business partners. Collaborates with senior IT management and other key stakeholders to establish goals and deliver network projects. The manager provides formal supervision and coaching for the Server and Middleware Operations team while helping set vision and direction to inspire and drive continuous improvement of policies, standards and procedures.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Work with IT Managers, solution architects, engineers, and application specialists to define detailed server and project requirements.
- Serve as technical mentor for managers and staff, ensuring optimization of skill set enhancement
- Establishes server standards, policies and procedures for server related hardware and software across the organization.
- Develop and implement policies/procedures for daily operational management, including best practices for installing, configuring, maintaining, and troubleshooting server and middleware related issues.
- Ensures the provision of comprehensive, integrated, reliable, secure, high-quality services for server, storage, and middleware applications.
- Develop and maintain solid understanding of Customer needs and strengthen working relationships with the key stakeholders across the organization.
- Evaluate server compute, storage, and middleware hardware and software requirements and capabilities and make recommendations.
- Ensure the consistent and secure deployment of new servers and systems software, and/or enhancements to existing servers throughout the enterprise.
- Assess new technology and business trends in order to deliver cost-effective solutions and services in support of strategic and operational business plans.
- Establish budgetary requirements for equipment replacement, support contracts, and other operational expenses.
- Evaluate technology product vendors/providers by conducting research and cost/benefit analysis on products, services, and standards in support of server and middleware procurement and development efforts.
- Negotiate agreements with vendors, managed service providers, and contractors to secure compute, storage, and middleware products and services.
- Develop, monitor and enforce service level agreements for managed services contracts.
- Hires, trains, and supervises the Server and Middleware Operations staff; ensures that the staff is empowered to exercise initiative and work creatively, participate productively in inter-departmental project teams, engage in regular professional development activities, and cooperate and communicate well. Build organizational talent by creating a learning environment that ensures employees realize their highest potential.
- Share knowledge and develop staff capabilities to strengthen understanding of the server and middleware infrastructure industry and business issues and best practices; Develop and communicate organizational objectives; inspire and motivate team members to achieve results.
- Work in partnership with IT leaders on strategic initiatives related to enterprise computing to continuously improve policies, standards and procedures by anticipating issues, providing advice and sharing knowledge and best practices.
- Sets leadership direction for team in support of 24 x 7 production operations and services.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 4 years management experience in an enterprise environment
- Experience deploying & maintaining hybrid, inhouse/cloud compute and storage solutions.
- Working technical knowledge of current servers and storage hardware.
- Must have a solid understanding of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles, practices and processes.
- Experience with design/architecture of Cloud based implementations.
- Working knowledge of high-availability and disaster recovery architectures and processes.
- Strong oral and written communication skills and ability to transform technical knowledge into business language (e.g. reports, presentations, etc.). Ability to communicate technical topics to non-technical personnel.
- Knowledge of Project Management and the ability to effectively lead projects.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- The ability to make decisions, plan, schedule and organize work.
- Requires 24x7 production support and on call rotation.
- Ability to effectively estimate and manage workloads balancing project work and day to day support.
- Ability to work successfully with others in large and small teams. Ability to motivate and inspire their team and others to perform at a high level, taking appropriate risks, and accepting personal accountability for actions and decisions.
Required Skills
Required Experience