Director, IT Operations

Memphis Grizzlies•Memphis, TN

3h•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, IT Operations is responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of all core technology systems supporting the organization’s business operations, training facilities, and game-day environments. This role leads IT operations, infrastructure, and end-user support, ensuring 24/7 availability for mission-critical systems and liaises with our networking team to connect our IT capabilities across the corporate environment and the sports and entertainment venue(s). This leader plays a central role, along with our enterprise technology and cybersecurity teams, in directing and managing our IT resources to both further business goals and to build the brand of the IT function within the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience).
8–10 years of progressive IT experience, including 5+ years in IT operations leadership.
Strong expertise in: Infrastructure (servers, virtualization, cloud platforms) IT service management and support operations Familiarity with Networking (LAN/WAN/Wi-Fi)
Proven vendor and budget management experience.
ITIL, PMP, or relevant infrastructure certifications.
Experience supporting executive-level stakeholders and comfortability in high-pressure environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing distributed environments (multiple sites/facilities).
Experience in organizations with more than 250 people.
Experience in large venue IT operations

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day IT operations across corporate offices and arena.
Manage and mentor infrastructure, network, and service desk teams.
Establish and enforce IT service management practices (ITIL or equivalent).
Own incident management, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Oversee on-premises and cloud infrastructure (servers, storage, virtualization, backups).
Ensure high availability and disaster recovery for business- and game-critical systems.
Lead capacity planning and infrastructure modernization initiatives.
Manage endpoint management, identity systems, and collaboration platforms.
Collaborate on redundancy and failover planning for game-day and broadcast operations.
Partner with Networking team and Broadcast team on event readiness.
Deliver a high-quality IT support experience for executives, staff, coaches, and players.
Define SLAs and performance metrics for support services.
Oversee IT asset lifecycle management, procurement, and inventory control.
Manage relationships with MSPs, telecom providers, hardware/software vendors.
Own IT operations budget, forecasting, and cost optimization.
Negotiate contracts and ensure vendor accountability.
Partner with the SVP, Business Administration and the cybersecurity team to implement security best practices.
Ensure infrastructure complies with organizational security and data privacy policies.
Support audits, vulnerability remediation, and access controls.
Participate in pre-event readiness planning and post-event reviews when requested.
Ensure staffing, monitoring, and contingency plans are in place for live events.
Act as a trusted advisor to the SVP, Business Administration on operational technology needs.
Collaborate with networking, enterprise technology, and cybersecurity leaders.
Communicate clearly with executives during incidents or outages.
Be a person who enjoys people and contributing to the professional development of others.
Other duties as assigned by SVP, Business Administration.

Benefits

Industry leading health coverage
Wellness programs through EAP and Headspace
Team Store Discounts
Happy Hours and other fun activities
Qualified parking and game night meals
NBA Sponsored Discount Programs
Employee Referral Bonuses
Employee Recognition Programs
Generous paid holidays, including but not limited to, MLK Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, Labor Day and more
Gain coveted work experience
Develop and refine skills applicable to future careers
Establish and foster critical networking connections
Gain confidence and master professional soft skills