Director of IT Infrastructure & Operations

Description

As the Director of IT Infrastructure & Operations at Brooks Safety Solutions, you will lead the core engine of our enterprise technology ecosystem across Brooks Safety Solutions and its affiliated brands. Reporting directly to the CTO, you will own the end-to-end architecture, reliability, and security of our multi-brand corporate networks, server environments, and IT service desk operations.

We are seeking a hands-on, proactive leader with a strong networking background. In the near term, this role is tactical: learning our current environment, closing gaps (particularly in the network), and keeping critical systems running. Over time, you will own the infrastructure roadmap and help move the technical team from reacting to problems to preventing them.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership & Organizational Scaling

• Lead, mentor, and grow a six-member technical team, spanning Network Engineering, Systems/Cloud Engineering, Desktop Support, and IT Service Desk.
• Define career progressions, set technical standards, and shift the team from reactive to proactive: finding and fixing issues before they affect the business.
• Identify skill gaps and scale the team through strategic hiring, structured onboarding, and continuous training.

Infrastructure Architecture & Reliability

• Set the strategic roadmap for on-premises, hybrid, and cloud infrastructure across all Brooks Safety Solutions brand locations, plants, and field offices.
• Lead the migration from data center-based infrastructure to Microsoft Azure, including hybrid connectivity between on-premises networks and Azure.
• Supervise core network engineering: SD-WAN, LAN/WLAN, routing/switching, firewalls, and secure site-to-site connectivity.
• Direct server and platform administration across Azure, VMware/hypervisors, Windows/Linux server stacks, Active Directory/Entra ID, Microsoft 365, and enterprise backup/DR pipelines.
• Support the infrastructure behind the company’s move to Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365).
• Guarantee high availability, low downtime, and rapid RTO/RPO targets for mission-critical manufacturing and enterprise systems.

End-User Services & IT Help Desk Excellence

• Own enterprise IT service management (ITSM), establishing clear SLAs, ticketing processes, hardware lifecycles, and automated provisioning workflows.
• Drive first-touch resolution rates and ensure white-glove, customer-obsessed support for all brand business units and remote workers.

Vendor Management & Cost Optimization

• Act as the lead negotiator and manager for all infrastructure-related vendor partnerships, MSPs, telecom/ISP carriers, software licensing, and hardware contracts.
• Monitor performance against vendor Service Level Agreements (SLAs), drive competitive RFPs, and optimize CAPEX/OPEX infrastructure budgets.

Security, Compliance & Business Continuity

• Partner closely with information security leadership to enforce endpoint protection, network segmentation, zero-trust principles, and vulnerability patching.
• Build, test, and continuously maintain comprehensive Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity Plans (BCP) across all operating entities.

Qualifications

Qualifications & Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Experience: 5+ years of hands-on enterprise networking experience, as part of a broader background in IT infrastructure and systems operations.
• Leadership: Proven ability to lead, develop, and hire for a small technical team (Network, Systems, Desktop/Help Desk).
• Cloud & Azure: Strong background in cloud infrastructure and hands-on Microsoft Azure experience, including Azure networking, hybrid on-premises-to-Azure connectivity, and moving workloads from on-premises data centers to the cloud.
• Technical Breadth: Strong background across enterprise networking (Cisco, Fortinet, Aruba, Palo Alto), server administration (Windows Server, Linux, virtualization), and modern workplace technologies (M365, Intune/MECM).
• Communication & Approach: Strong communicator who can explain technical issues to business leaders. Proactive: takes ownership of problems and addresses them before they escalate.
• Vendor & Budget Acumen: Demonstrated success negotiating multi-year enterprise contracts, managing vendor performance, and handling seven-figure infrastructure budgets.
• Multi-Site/Multi-Brand Operations: Experience standardizing infrastructure across acquisitions, subsidiaries, or geographically dispersed physical sites, including warehouses or distribution centers.
• Frameworks & Methodology: Deep familiarity with ITIL, NIST cybersecurity standards, and disaster recovery orchestration.

Preferred

• Advanced Networking: Depth beyond the required minimum, such as designing multi-site networks or leading a network redesign.
• ERP: Experience supporting the infrastructure for an ERP implementation; Microsoft Dynamics 365 a plus.