Lead, IT Infrastructure & Network Operations
On-site requirement: 5 days/week in Chicago, IL
Glocomms is partnered with a leading sustainable agribusiness organization to appoint a Lead, IT Infrastructure & Network Operations professional. This role will be responsible for leading the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of enterprise-wide IT infrastructure and network operations to support critical business functions across global manufacturing and agricultural environments.
The Lead will oversee core infrastructure management, ensuring high availability, security, and performance of IT systems while aligning technology initiatives with strategic business objectives. This individual will combine strong technical expertise with leadership capabilities to drive operational excellence, support business process improvement, and enhance user satisfaction across the organization.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead network operations and core infrastructure management across global environments, including data and voice networks, ensuring reliability, scalability, and IT infrastructure availability.
- Design, implement, and maintain infrastructure solutions across LAN/WAN, MPLS, SD-WAN, VPN, VLANs, VoIP, and wireless access points, ensuring seamless network integration and site-to-site connectivity.
- Oversee IT security posture, including firewalls, next-generation firewall technologies, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), secure web gateways, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), while mitigating network vulnerabilities through patch management and software updates.
- Drive operational support excellence through system monitoring, incident response, escalation management, and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance user satisfaction.
- Manage IT systems maintenance, including servers, routing and switching infrastructure, file servers, print management, DNS, DHCP, group policy, and Terminal Services.
- Lead IT project management efforts, including scope definition, budget and expense management, resource planning, and task scheduling, ensuring successful delivery within governance processes.
- Conduct business requirements analysis, gap analysis, and solution improvement initiatives to align IT architecture with evolving business needs.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with stakeholders and managed service providers, facilitating meetings, presentations, and clear stakeholder communication to support strategic decision-making.
- Oversee vendor evaluation, cost optimization, and budgeting processes to maximize operational efficiency and financial performance.
- Support strategic planning and long-term IT roadmap development, ensuring alignment with cloud services (Azure, AWS), virtualization environments (VMware, Nutanix), and manufacturing IT/OT segregation requirements.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or a related field.
- Minimum of 10 years of IT management experience, preferably within a global enterprise environment.
- Demonstrated expertise in IT network implementation, infrastructure architecture, and network support across complex environments.
- Strong technical knowledge of cloud services (Azure, AWS), networking protocols (TCP/IP, Ethernet), routing protocols, and security technologies.
- Experience supporting manufacturing IT environments, including IT/OT integration and segregation.
- Strong leadership and strategic decision-making capabilities.
- Excellent problem-solving skills with a focus on process improvement and operational efficiency.
- Exceptional verbal and written communication, presentation, and client-facing skills.
- Proven ability to influence stakeholders and collaborate across functions in a global organization.
- High degree of adaptability, self-motivation, confidence, and accountability.
- Strong organizational skills, including resource planning and prioritization.
- Willingness and flexibility to travel as required.
The ideal candidate is a forward-thinking IT leader who can balance deep technical expertise with strategic vision, driving innovative infrastructure and network solutions that enable sustainable agribusiness operations while ensuring security, scalability, and continuous improvement across all systems.
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