Director, IT Operation

Who We Are

Oncourse Home Solutions (OHS) is a people-centric organization that is owned by private equity firm, Apax Partners operating under the brands American Water Resources, Pivotal Home Solutions and American Home Solutions. We do what is right for our people so they can do their best when serving our 1.4+ million customers across the U.S. Our mission is to help homeowners navigate the unexpected, reduce costs, and make homeownership enjoyable for all. Our vision is to make our products and services accessible to all by becoming the most forward-thinking and community-driven home solutions organization of the 21st century. We are committed to fostering an environment that embraces diversity in all forms, where our employees, customers and partners feel valued, respected, and supported.

We partner with cities, utilities, insurance providers, retailers, financial service companies and member associations to help them maintain and protect their customers’ most important asset—their home. Our passion for empowering customers to confidently run their households is what drives us. When our customers need help with home maintenance, repair, or coverage, OHS is there. This is what it means to be an ‘Oncourse Super’—Successful, United, Progressive, Empathetic, Reliable. Supers get it done. We sweat homeownership so our customers don’t have to. We view every day as an opportunity to step up, step out, and remind others that they’re in this together, to stay on course.

We are proud equal opportunity employer, and our employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, parental status, mental or physical disability, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.  OHS is committed to recruiting and retaining talented applicants and to providing all employees with a workplace free from discrimination and/or harassment.

Located at our office in Naperville, IL or Mt. Laurel, NJ, our office environment is a key driver of our company culture and employee experience. A regular in-office HYBRID model is required (generally in office Tues/Wed/Thurs. and remote M & F).

Position Summary

The IT Operation Director will oversee both internal and outsourced teams, ensuring they are aligned with current technologies and trends to effectively deliver IT operations, IT service management (ITSM), network, infrastructure projects, and systems that fulfill our business requirements. This role will also collaborate closely with the Information Security team to guarantee that IT operation design and IT operations effectively mitigate cybersecurity risks.

Responsibilities

• Provide oversight and management of OHS IT operation, network, and service operation by defining the strategy, delivery organization, and executing the strategy for all OHS systems and support functions.
• Ensure that appropriate ITIL processes (aligned to Quality policies) are followed to maintain compliance.
• Manage the service and performance of onshore and offshore teams supporting all services and manage contracts, SOWs, and MSAs for long-term and short-term partner providers.
• Ensure timely resolution of incidents and service requests according to established service level agreements (SLAs).
• Log all incidents and service requests in the service desk ticketing system, ensuring accurate and detailed documentation.
• Escalate complex or unresolved issues to the appropriate IT teams or vendors for further investigation and resolution.
• Assist with the setup, configuration, and maintenance of IT hardware and software systems.
• Monitor IT systems and networks for performance, availability, and security issues, and take appropriate action to resolve or escalate as needed.
• Proactively identify aging or redundant technologies within the existing technology inventory, establish a sunset program to retire outdated technologies and applications, and replace them with newer products. Directly manage multiple concurrent projects, both simple and extremely complex, ensuring that the relevant governance and control processes are invoked and reflected for projects.
• Influence policy and strategy and partner with senior management to establish foundations to evolve maturity of our operating model and services to enable the long-term business strategy from IT.
• Define and establish benchmarks and quality measures for the area of responsibility and participate in disaster recovery and contingency planning with collective availability of IT operation (Self-managed or SaaS/PaaS) of over 99.95%.
• Ensure that Information Security Technology controls and processes are followed, architected, and tested to proper acceptance of code in the cloud environment.
• Design, plan, oversee, and participate in network technology upgrade or expansion projects, including implementation of hardware, software, cloud apps, and relevant testing.
• Lead teams implementing and maintaining our IT operation and site-based projects.
• Ensure alignment of Cloud and Infra team with the projects teams to support new business initiatives driven across IT organization.
• Provide user training and guidance on IT tools and systems to enhance productivity and efficiency.
• Participate in IT projects and initiatives to improve service delivery and enhance IT capabilities.
• Assist on Change Management tasks including validation steps and monitoring overall progress.
• In-depth knowledge of Microsoft Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Intune, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft O365 products to work with our MSP to maintain and configure.
• Proactively participate in IT architecture discussions offering elegant solutions to complex problems with an eye on the future of technology and trends.
• Some programming language experience as a plus.
• Defining OKRs and KPIs to inform decision making and prioritization.
• Experience developing or leading cross-functional teams of technologists.
• Effectively work with geographically dispersed teams across In-house, Contractors, and managed services. Effectively manage 3rd party vendor relationships, demonstrating excellent vendor management skill.
  
  

We're Excited if This is You

Experience And Qualifications Of The Role

• 10+ years of experience in IT operation roles with a minimum of 5 years in IT Operation Management.
• 5+ years leading and directly managing both internal staff of more than five employees and external vendors in the delivery of
• 5+ years technical support, customer facing, technical consulting experience, or information technology experience.
• 4+ years of experience in Microsoft O365, Intune, Microsoft Defender and Azure AD, Windows Client, Group Policy, ServiceNow or ServiceDesk or Fresh works, and Active Directory Administration.
• 1+ years' experience with Azure / AWS cloud support.
• 1+ years’ experience with Network: Cisco devices (Router, Switches) support.
• Project management expertise
• Risk management and compliance understanding.
• Disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Understanding of AWS/Azure cloud operational environment required (patching, archiving, backup, etc.)
• Must possess excellent communication and documentation skills
• Must be willing to work during the nights and on weekends when necessary.
• Must be willing to work outside of business hours on Incident Response when necessary.
• Proven experience in managing multiple concurrent projects, both simple and extremely complex.
• Strong knowledge of cloud and network infrastructure policies, procedures, standards, and specifications.
• Excellent vendor management skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Great documentation skills and process design.
• Ability to work effectively with geographically dispersed teams across In-house, Contractors, and managed services.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Experience working at PowerShell.
• Ability to influence policy and strategy and partner with senior management to establish foundations to evolve maturity of our operating model and services to enable the long-term business strategy from IT
• Computer Skills Needed to Perform this Job
• Deep expertise in building IT Service Management group with tools: ServiceNow or ServiceDesk or Freshworks, knowledge of Asset Management, CMDB, Cisco Networking and AWS cloud is required.
  
  

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

ITIL Certification

CCNA/CCNP/CCIE or similar certification is a plus.

AWS and or Microsoft Azure Cloud Certification preferred.

Education

Bachelor's Degree In Computer Science (or Relevant Experience) Required

Competencies

Action Oriented - Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things that he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.

Dealing with Ambiguity - Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets firsthand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Timely Decision Making - Makes decisions in a timely manner, sometimes with incomplete information and under tight deadlines and pressure; able to make a quick decision.

Peer Relationships - Can quickly find common ground and solve problems for the good of all; can represent his/her own interests and yet be fair to other groups; can solve problems with peers with a minimum of noise; is seen as a team player and is cooperative; easily gains trust and support of peers; encourages collaboration; can be candid with peers.

Building Effective Teams - Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Communicate Effectively - Is able to clearly and succinctly communicate verbally and in writing in a variety of settings and styles; can get messages across that have the desired effect.