Senior IT Manager at Veteran Benefits Guide

United States

$160k - $165k

Description What is VBG: Veteran Benefits Guide has been proud to serve our nation’s service members for more than 10 years. Founded by a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, VBG assists Veterans through the challenging VA claims process to efficiently secure their hard-earned benefits. Now operating with more than 250 team members nationwide, VBG has helped over 55,000 Veterans through the VA claims process. The company is dedicated to honoring service and supporting the Veteran community through ongoing advocacy, community partnerships, and meaningful opportunities within its workforce. Who we’re looking for: The Senior IT Manager leads VBG’s core technology operations, spanning network and security operations, helpdesk services, systems administration, and DevOps. This role ensures the availability, security, and reliability of our predominantly SaaS-based business ecosystem while driving operational excellence and cost-effectiveness. You’ll work closely with the Director of IT to define and execute a strategic multi-year technology roadmap. This includes championing AI-driven automation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and translating strategic initiatives into actionable plans and flawless execution. Your leadership will be instrumental in maintaining a secure, high-performing, and user-centric technology environment. Essential Functions: Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Strategic Planning & Roadmap Collaborate with the Director of IT to define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap focused on SaaS reliability, scalability, and cost efficiency. Establish strategic milestones, FinOps targets, budget forecasts, and success metrics aligned with business goals. Team Leadership & Talent Development Directly lead and mentor teams across four core functional areas: Network & Security, Helpdesk, Systems Administration, and DevOps. Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career path planning; foster cross-training and build organizational bench strength. Identify training needs and support the pursuit of relevant certifications to promote professional growth and accountability. Operational Excellence Ensure =99.9% uptime for all production systems, including SaaS platforms, networks, servers, and supporting infrastructure. Oversee SLA compliance for helpdesk and support operations; leverage AI-powered tools to enhance responsiveness and efficiency. Implement proactive monitoring, AI Ops practices, post-mortems, and root-cause analyses to drive continuous improvement and automation. Security, Compliance & Zero Trust Own the execution of security operations, including SIEM monitoring, IAM, vulnerability management, and zero-trust architecture. Collaborate with Security teams on audits, pen tests, and remediation to maintain compliance. Maintain and test incident response and disaster recovery playbooks to ensure readiness and compliance. Cloud Management & FinOps Develop and manage cloud resources and infrastructure supporting SaaS applications with a focus on performance, scalability, and cost control. Apply FinOps best practices to balance optimization and budget adherence across cloud services and platforms. End-User Experience & Remote Work Enhance digital employee experience through endpoint monitoring, modern endpoint management, and secure remote access. Ensure seamless and secure remote work environments through zero-trust access design and tooling. Documentation & IT Policy Management Oversee the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of SOPs, runbooks, and architecture documentation. Ensure all IT and security policies are clear, current, enforced, and regularly reviewed. Vendor & Budget Management The Senior IT Manager leads VBG’s core technology operations, spanning network and security operations, helpdesk services, systems administration, and DevOps. This role ensures the availability, security, and reliability of our predominantly SaaS-based business ecosystem while driving operational excellence and cost-effectiveness. You’ll work closely with the Director of IT to define and execute a strategic multi-year technology roadmap. This includes championing AI-driven automation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and translating strategic initiatives into actionable plans and flawless execution. Your leadership will be instrumental in maintaining a secure, high-performing, and user-centric technology environment. Essential Functions: Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Strategic Planning & Roadmap Collaborate with the Director of IT to define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap focused on SaaS reliability, scalability, and cost efficiency. Establish strategic milestones, FinOps targets, budget forecasts, and success metrics aligned with business goals. Team Leadership & Talent Development Directly lead and mentor teams across four core functional areas: Network & Security, Helpdesk, Systems Administration, and DevOps. Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career path planning; foster cross-training and build organizational bench strength. Identify training needs and support the pursuit of relevant certifications to promote professional growth and accountability. Operational Excellence Ensure =99.9% uptime for all production systems, including SaaS platforms, networks, servers, and supporting infrastructure. Oversee SLA compliance for helpdesk and support operations; leverage AI-powered tools to enhance responsiveness and efficiency. Implement proactive monitoring, AI Ops practices, post-mortems, and root-cause analyses to drive continuous improvement and automation. Security, Compliance & Zero Trust Own the execution of security operations, including SIEM monitoring, IAM, vulnerability management, and zero-trust architecture. Collaborate with Security teams on audits, pen tests, and remediation to maintain compliance. Maintain and test incident response and disaster recovery playbooks to ensure readiness and compliance. Cloud Management & FinOps Develop and manage cloud resources and infrastructure supporting SaaS applications with a focus on performance, scalability, and cost control. Apply FinOps best practices to balance optimization and budget adherence across cloud services and platforms. End-User Experience & Remote Work Enhance digital employee experience through endpoint monitoring, modern endpoint management, and secure remote access. Ensure seamless and secure remote work environments through zero-trust access design and tooling. Documentation & IT Policy Management Oversee the creation, maintenance, and enforcement of SOPs, runbooks, and architecture documentation. Ensure all IT and security policies are clear, current, enforced, and regularly reviewed. Vendor & Budget Management Develop and manage annual budgets across all functions, including spend on hardware, software, cloud services, and SaaS contracts. Negotiate SLAs, renewals, and contracts with vendors, MSPs, and service providers to ensure value and performance. Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Own and test disaster recovery and continuity plans for all critical SaaS and infrastructure systems. Lead quarterly tabletop exercises to validate RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) compliance. Education and Experience Requirements 10+ years in enterprise IT, including at least 5 years in leadership roles managing multiple technical functions (e.g., Networking, Security, Systems, DevOps). Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or a related field (required). Master’s degree (preferred but not required). Equivalent experience and industry certifications may be considered instead of a degree. Track Record: Proven success managing SaaS environments, cloud platforms, and modern security operations in a complex enterprise setting. Technical Expertise: Networking & Security: VLANs, VPNs, wireless networks Routing protocols: BGP, OSPF, MPLS Firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco) Zero-trust architecture and frameworks Systems & Cloud: Windows and Linux server administration Virtualization: VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Storage Cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation) DevOps & Automation: CI/CD pipelines and pipeline security Version control systems Familiarity with RPA, predictive monitoring, LLM co-pilots, and AI Ops Security Operations: SIEM platforms (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel) IDS/IPS, vulnerability scanning, and management Identity and Access Management (IAM) Certifications (preferred): CISSP, CCNP/CCIE Security, AWS/Azure Solutions Architect, ITIL v4 or equivalent. Leadership & Business Acumen: Strong communicator with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for executive and cross-functional audiences. Demonstrated expertise in budgeting, cost-performance optimization, and vendor negotiations. Skilled in project management methodologies, including Agile, Waterfall, and tools like Jira and Microsoft Project. Supervisory Responsibilities: This position will directly supervise: • Network & Security • Helpdesk • Systems Administration • DevOps Position Type: Full-time. Working hours are Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This position may be in the office, remote, or a hybrid of both. Occasional after-hours coverage may be necessary. EEO: Veteran Benefits Guide provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including gender identity and gender expression) genetic characteristic, sexual orientation, registered domestic partner status, age, military or veteran status, hairstyle or hair texture, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.