IT Operations Manager

Join the Wildman Team – Where Your Work Makes a Difference!

Since 1952, Wildman has grown into a fourth-generation family business building more than a company—we are building a platform to glorify God, love and value people, and deliver industry-leading performance.

The Opportunity

Wildman is looking for an IT Operations Manager to lead the technology infrastructure that keeps our business running across every location, every day.

In this role, you will own the day-to-day performance, reliability, and security of our network, server, endpoint, cloud, and virtualized environments. You will also lead the team responsible for supporting those systems, setting clear expectations, developing capability, and ensuring work is completed with consistency and accountability.

This is a hands-on leadership role. We are looking for someone who can think strategically about infrastructure, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, and technology risk while also stepping in alongside the team when technical expertise is needed. You will work closely with the Director of Business Improvement to translate operational needs, security posture, and technology risks into clear priorities and practical solutions.

The right person will be technically strong, highly accountable, and comfortable balancing competing priorities. You will be expected to lead through issues, communicate early when risks or blockers emerge, and create an environment where proactive planning replaces constant firefighting.

What You'll Do

• Own the day-to-day operation, reliability, and performance of Wildman’s network, server, endpoint, cloud, and virtualized infrastructure across all locations.
• Work hands-on alongside the team to troubleshoot and support infrastructure, networking, systems, and security needs when required.
• Lead and develop IT team members by setting clear priorities, providing regular feedback, managing workload, and holding the team accountable for results.
• Administer and oversee cloud environments including Microsoft 365, Azure, and other cloud-based platforms alongside on-premises infrastructure.
• Maintain and support virtualized environments with the technical depth to independently administer and troubleshoot core systems.
• Own Wildman’s cybersecurity strategy, including security posture, risk management, vendor relationships, compliance tracking, and forward-looking recommendations.
• Manage security monitoring partners and vendors, reviewing alerts, posture reports, incident trends, and remediation activity.
• Maintain compliance with applicable regulatory and industry requirements, including PCI DSS, HIPAA where applicable, and other relevant standards.
• Coordinate vulnerability assessments, security audits, and compliance reviews, ensuring findings are assigned, resolved, documented, and tracked to closure.
• Lead security incident response by ensuring incidents are addressed promptly, documented thoroughly, and reviewed for opportunities to strengthen systems and processes.
• Own and maintain Wildman’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans, ensuring documentation is current, practical, and executable.
• Monitor backup systems and ensure backup completion, restore testing, and recovery capabilities are regularly validated and documented.
• Plan and execute annual disaster recovery testing, identify gaps, and drive remediation through completion.
• Own and maintain the company software registry, including licensing, contract dates, renewal timelines, primary contacts, and application costs.
• Proactively manage software renewals and provide recommendations on whether to renew, renegotiate, or retire applications.
• Manage hardware lifecycle and refresh planning for user devices, servers, and related infrastructure.
• Coordinate with the Helpdesk and vendors to ensure device refreshes are appropriately scheduled, resourced, and completed.
• Manage infrastructure, hardware, security, and cloud vendor relationships, including service-level expectations and performance accountability.
• Maintain accurate licensing and asset inventories to support refresh planning, budgeting, and technology decision-making.
• Manage technology spending within established budget parameters, communicating variances, forecasts, and emerging needs proactively.
• Own infrastructure and security projects from scope through implementation, working within Wildman’s project governance structure.
• Communicate project status, risks, blockers, and resource needs clearly so leadership has accurate visibility and is not surprised by issues.
• Ensure standards and processes developed during projects are documented, adopted, and sustained after implementation.
• Build team depth and distribute knowledge to reduce single points of failure across the IT function.
• Travel to Wildman locations regularly and as needed, approximately monthly.
• Maintain reliable and predictable attendance.

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Five or more years of hands-on experience in IT infrastructure, networking, systems administration, or a related technical environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supervising IT professionals in a player-coach capacity.
• Strong working knowledge of network architecture, switching and routing, firewall management, endpoint systems, and server infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience administering virtualized environments such as VMware, Hyper-V, or similar platforms.
• Experience administering cloud environments, including Microsoft 365, Azure, or comparable cloud platforms.
• Experience supporting or managing cybersecurity programs, including risk assessment, security tooling, vendor management, policy enforcement, compliance tracking, and incident response.
• Working knowledge of regulatory or industry frameworks such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or similar standards.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to move issues forward without waiting for step-by-step direction.
• Ability to communicate technical risks, recommendations, and priorities clearly to both leadership and technical team members.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage operational demands, projects, vendors, budgets, and team priorities simultaneously.