Director of IT Operations

Job Description

The Director of IT Operations provides vision, leadership, and execution on enterprise-class, technology infrastructure solutions that support the Philadelphia International Airport’s technology needs.

In this role, they oversee the airport-wide technology and communications infrastructure, including the data center, wired and wireless networks, voice / telecom services, cable plant, on-prem and cloud virtual environments and related operating system environments, central storage, backups, databases, email and directory services, technology service monitoring and response, and disaster recovery services.

Additionally, they oversee the technical support of several airport tenant and passenger facing systems including the Flight Information Displays (FIDs), Queue Management System (QMS), and the airport-wide content and display management system.

The Director of IT Operations is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the IT infrastructure, technology evaluation and selection, implementation, delivery, and assessment of the airport’s technology infrastructure systems and services.

They oversee the IT Operations team and will lead an IT Operations department that fosters high-performing and agile teams, adopts modern and forward-looking technology and service strategies, and effectively utilizes its technological, financial, and human resources.

As a member of the IT Systems & Infrastructure leadership team, the Director of IT Operations will help lead the division in empowering an agile, digital airport and elevating technology as a strategic asset.

They are expected to work with the VP for IT Systems & Infrastructure, Airport CIO, and other divisional and departmental leaders to drive cultural and technological transformation within Airport IT and promote a collaborative, human-centered, innovative, accountable, transparent, and inclusive culture within IT.

Essential Functions

Management & Leadership

• Build, support, and expand a culture that is supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion where staff from all backgrounds can succeed and thrive.
• Cultivate, negotiate, and formalize vendor relationships and external partnerships that support or enhance IT and airport digital initiatives, including coordinating the work of multiple contractors.
• Train, coach, and mentor employees under their supervision. Plan and conduct performance appraisals of employees under their supervision.

Participate in or lead hiring processes, as needed.

• Build strong and collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders across the airport, actively participating in airport activities and initiatives, and serving on airport committees and projects, as assigned.
• Develop a strong network of peers at comparable organizations and represent The Airport at local, statewide, and national meetings and conferences, as appropriate.
• Maintain current knowledge of and advise the VP for IT Systems & Infrastructure on, best practices and future trends in all areas related to IT infrastructure trends, opportunities, strategies, solutions, resources, and compliance.
• Keep the VP for IT Systems & Infrastructure informed of current and potential issues, activities, operational outages, and any other risks that might jeopardize or degrade IT service delivery to the airport community.
• Serve as a member of the Systems & Infrastructure leadership team and assist the VP for IT Systems & Infrastructure with divisional management, strategic planning, fostering a high-performing and innovative technology environment, and driving digital transformation at the airport.

Service Delivery & Optimization

• Direct the day-to-day operations for the IT Systems & Infrastructure team, including creating and managing strategies, plans, policies, and procedures, and budgets.
• Develop and implement incident management protocols to address IT issues quickly and effectively. Analyze incidents and problems to identify underlying causes and implement preventive measures.
• Ensure the high availability, reliability, and security of the IT infrastructure ecosystem.
• Establish disaster recovery (DR) strategies, lead ITS DR / business continuity activities, and serve as the IT liaison for airport-wide DR / business continuity work.

Ensure DR plans are current and regularly tested.

• Manage and / or participate in airport-wide or divisional IT infrastructure projects, as appropriate, coordinating with Enterprise Architecture and the IT Project Management Office for project scoping, planning, communication, and / or reporting.
• Identify appropriate industry standards, legislative requirements, city / airport policies, and IT procedures / best practices for IT infrastructure management and support, and ensure they are consistently implemented across the department.
• Continually assess and improve departmental processes, services, and systems.
• Identify and implement key metrics and service level agreements (SLAs) for IT infrastructure services (in coordination with IT Client Management, where appropriate) and track, analyze, and report on trends relative to key metrics and SLAs.
• Establish protocols for on-call IT infrastructure support, assist with on-call availability, and ensure response within agreed upon timeframes.
• Maintain an accurate and up-to-date inventory of all IT assets and oversee the lifecycle of IT assets from acquisition to disposal.
• Participate in internal and external audits, prioritize corrective actions, ensure successful remediation within requested timeframes, and report efforts to auditors, as appropriate.
• Create and document standards and practices regarding IT infrastructure services for use across the airport.

Planning & Budgeting

• Create IT infrastructure roadmaps that leverage modern design principles and technologies and effectively meet both current and future airport needs.
• Lead strategic planning for new or enhanced IT infrastructure services, including requirements gathering, user-centered design, implementation, assessment, and retirement of services.
• Monitor operating and capital budgets for the IT Operations department, including developing financial models and multi-year budget projections equipment replacement and maintenance / refresh programs.
• Direct performance tuning and capacity planning activities to enhance the performance of the technology infrastructure, including forecasting technology changes impacting demand and making recommendations for future planning.
• Lead the evaluation of IT infrastructure technologies that meet short and long-term goals, and develop business cases, ROI, TCO, and other analyses to help guide their selection.
• Determine IT Operations priorities and allocate resources accordingly.
• Recommend IT infrastructure enhancements and investments, where appropriate, to support the airport’s strategic goals and technology priorities, improve processes or user experience, and / or reduce costs.

Additional Duties

Perform other IT-related duties as requested.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Essential Qualifications

• Experience in a management role, with proven leadership skills and demonstrated ability to manage high-performing teams, operations, and budgets.
• Expertise in one or more of the infrastructure technical domains, including : data centers, email, identity management, systems, storage, database administration, networks, voice / telecom, cloud, security, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
• Commitment to continuous assessment and improvement with experience identifying, establishing, and reporting on key performance metrics.
• Experience leading organizational and / or technology change initiatives with a strong emphasis on relationship-building, collaboration, and shared stewardship.
• Strong written and oral communication skills (including ability to present ideas in user-friendly, business-friendly and technical language) and interpersonal skills with a focus on rapport-building, listening and questioning skills.
• Ability to build effective relationships and strong commitment to working collegially and collaboratively with constituents at all levels in a diverse and distributed environment.

Additional / Desirable Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of network architecture, including WAN, LAN, and wireless technologies.
• Understanding of VoIP, unified communications, and other telecommunications systems.
• Familiarity with fiber optic network infrastructure.
• Experience managing data centers, maintenance of IDF closets and associated cabling infrastructure.
• Experience with various operating systems, virtualization technologies, and cloud services.
• Experience with the deployment and maintenance of servers, storage systems, and enterprise applications.
• Proven ability to lead and manage technical teams.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity principles, tools, and best practices.
• Strong project management skills and experience managing complex IT projects.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to address complex IT issues.
• Experience working in an airport, government IT environment or equivalent size organization.

Qualifications

We care more about what you know than how you learned it. That said, while a specific degree is not required, we believe a bachelor’s degree is a strong foundation for this position.

Seven years of experience in IT infrastructure and operations, with at least three years of recent managerial experience, is required.