IT Director of Operations

Pennant Services•Nashville, TN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the VP of Infrastructure, the IT Director of Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for Service Desk, Field Services, IT Service Management, Change Control, Major Incident Management, Problem Management, service request fulfillment, and end-user support. The role is accountable for reliable, responsive, secure, and consistent technology support across corporate offices, service centers, remote workers, and operating locations. The Director establishes a customer-focused operating model, develops high-performing teams, and improves service quality through standardization and automation, with measurable outcomes for user experience, availability, response and resolution times, change success, and cost efficiency. The Director partners with Infrastructure Engineering, Information Security, Enterprise Applications, Clinical Applications, Human Resources, Compliance, Finance, vendors, and business leaders. The role leads operational readiness and support for new or changed services, major incidents and high-risk changes, and business initiatives such as acquisitions, site openings, and relocations. It also oversees operational budgets, staffing, vendors, support tools, endpoint and asset support controls, service performance reporting, and compliance with company, contractual, data-protection, and applicable healthcare privacy and security requirements. The position is hybrid in Tennessee and may require after-hours escalation, planned maintenance or deployment support, and travel to company locations based on business needs.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Business, Management, Computer Science, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
Eight or more years of progressive experience in IT service delivery, service desk, field services, or technology operations, including at least five years leading technical teams or managers in a complex, multi-site enterprise environment.
Demonstrated experience leading Service Desk, Field Services, IT service management, change enablement, major incident management, problem management, and service improvement functions.
Experience establishing service levels, operating procedures, quality controls, staffing models, escalation structures, knowledge management, service catalogs, and performance reporting.
Experience with enterprise IT service management platforms such as ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira Service Management, BMC Helix, or comparable tools, including workflow, reporting, knowledge, and self-service capabilities.
Experience managing operating budgets, strategic vendors, managed-service providers, and distributed support delivery.
Strong working knowledge of ITIL-aligned incident, request, problem, change, knowledge, service catalog, major incident, configuration, and continual improvement practices.
Strong knowledge of service desk and field support operations, including call and ticket workflows, prioritization, escalation, workforce planning, queue management, remote support, deskside support, asset handling, and customer communications.
Ability to design and govern change controls using business impact, technical complexity, implementation risk, security exposure, validation requirements, rollback readiness, segregation of duties, and approval thresholds.
Ability to lead major incidents using clear command roles, business-impact assessment, technical workstreams, communication cadences, restoration priorities, and after-action follow-through.
Working knowledge of Microsoft 365, Windows endpoints, Microsoft Intune, Entra ID, collaboration tools, endpoint security, remote-support technologies, identity and access processes, and common enterprise support dependencies.
Strong analytical skills, including interpreting service metrics, identifying demand and failure patterns, and translating data into staffing, process, automation, and investment decisions.
Ability to improve customer experience while balancing service quality, security, compliance, standardization, speed, cost, and operational risk.
Strong financial and vendor-management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, contract review, licensing analysis, staffing and sourcing models, and service-level accountability.
Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate operational performance, business impact, risks, and recommendations in clear business terms.
Demonstrated commitment to documentation, automation, knowledge-centered support, standardization, continuous improvement, service ownership, customer experience, and measurable outcomes.
Ability to participate in after-hours escalation as needed, support planned maintenance or deployment windows, and travel to company locations based on business needs.
Positive attitude and commitment to the Company's culture, core values, ethical standards, privacy expectations, and service-oriented operating model.

Nice To Haves

Experience in healthcare, home health, hospice, post-acute care, or another regulated industry is strongly preferred.
Experience supporting acquisitions, site openings or relocations, large technology deployments, endpoint refreshes, organizational change, and critical-incident response is preferred.
Relevant certifications such as ITIL 4 Managing Professional, HDI Support Center Manager, HDI Support Center Director, Certified Change Management Professional, Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate, or comparable credentials are preferred, not required.

Responsibilities

Lead Service Desk, Field Services, IT Service Management, Change Control, Major Incident Management, Problem Management, and related support functions, including organizational design, workforce planning, recruiting, coaching, succession planning, performance management, and professional development.
Develop and maintain a multi-year IT operations strategy and service improvement roadmap aligned with business growth, acquisitions, modernization, cybersecurity, financial objectives, employee experience, and operational risk tolerance.
Own the Service Desk operating model, including intake, call handling, triage, prioritization, escalation, request fulfillment, knowledge management, shift coverage, quality assurance, customer communications, and service-level performance.
Lead Field Services and deskside support across distributed locations, including onsite incident resolution, device deployment and recovery, site readiness, executive support, inventory coordination, and local vendor management.
Govern IT service management practices, including incident, request, major incident, problem, change, knowledge, service catalog, configuration, and continual improvement processes.
Lead enterprise Change Control and the Change Advisory Board process; establish risk and impact criteria, approvals, review and testing expectations, implementation and rollback standards, maintenance-window governance, emergency controls, validation, and reporting.
Lead major technology incidents, ensuring business-impact assessment, command and escalation structures, stakeholder communications, cross-team coordination, service restoration, executive updates, after-action reviews, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions.
Establish problem management practices to identify recurring incidents and service degradation, prioritize investigations, assign owners, track known errors and workarounds, and verify permanent corrective actions.
Build and govern the service catalog, including defined services, request offerings, ownership, workflows, service targets, knowledge articles, and customer-facing expectations.
Improve employee technology experience through self-service, automation, shift-left support, remote-support tools, standardized knowledge, proactive communications, customer feedback, and reduction of avoidable contacts and repeat incidents.
Partner with engineering, security, and application teams on operational handoffs, support readiness, monitoring and alert response, escalation paths, runbooks, knowledge transfer, and production acceptance criteria.
Coordinate joiner, mover, and leaver support with Human Resources, Identity and Access Management, Security, and business leaders, including equipment, access requests, onboarding, transfers, and asset recovery.
Establish asset and endpoint support controls for inventory, stock and depots, warranty and repairs, refresh planning, secure disposal, loaner equipment, peripherals, and equipment accountability.
Define and report operational metrics, including contact volume, abandonment, speed to answer, first-contact resolution, response and resolution attainment, restoration time, backlog age, reopen and escalation rates, customer satisfaction, change success, emergency changes, incident recurrence, field dispatch performance, and cost per contact.
Use performance data, customer feedback, quality reviews, trend analysis, and process audits to identify service gaps, prioritize improvements, and hold teams accountable for measurable outcomes.
Manage operating budgets, forecasts, staffing models, contracts, licensing, support tools, managed-service providers, hardware support partners, and vendor performance; identify cost reductions without unacceptable service, security, compliance, or resilience risk.
Lead operational due diligence and integration for acquisitions, divestitures, new locations, relocations, and major initiatives, including support discovery, staffing, device and asset planning, service onboarding, cutover, communications, and stabilization.
Ensure operational services comply with company policies, contractual requirements, data-protection and records obligations, and applicable healthcare security and privacy requirements, including HIPAA where applicable.
Communicate service performance, customer-impacting risks, staffing needs, process maturity, investment priorities, and improvement progress to technical teams, business leaders, executives, auditors, and other stakeholders.
Perform other job-related duties as assigned and provide hands-on operational leadership when business-critical conditions require it.