IT Operations Lead

Biourja Advisors LLC•Houston, TX

About The Position

The IT Operations Lead is a hands-on senior technical leadership role responsible for the reliability, security, architecture, and daily operations of BioUrja’s enterprise IT infrastructure. The role combines principal-level infrastructure engineering, complex incident resolution, infrastructure project ownership, and team supervision. The successful candidate will take responsibility for critical operations and serve as a trusted escalation authority while learning BioUrja-specific systems and processes. The position supports approximately 700 employees across 20 locations and multiple subsidiaries, primarily supporting U.S. operations with additional support for international facilities. Reporting to the VP of Enterprise Infrastructure & Security, the IT Operations Lead develops technical solutions, executes infrastructure initiatives, and guides the global IT operations team. BioUrja Advisors is a shared services company within BioUrja Group. Founded in 2006, BioUrja has grown from supplying physical bioethanol to the U.S. refining industry into a supplier of refined petroleum products and natural gas liquids, while maintaining a presence in bioethanol supply and trading. It supports affiliated companies through centralized functional expertise.

Requirements

Approximately 12 or more years of progressively responsible hands-on experience in enterprise infrastructure engineering, systems administration, or technology operations; equivalent demonstrated expertise will be considered.
Proven experience as a lead or principal technical authority in a complex, geographically distributed enterprise environment.
Expert-level hands-on administration, architecture, and advanced troubleshooting across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Active Directory, Windows Server, hybrid identity, and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).
Demonstrated ability to independently diagnose and resolve complex Azure identity, networking, connectivity, and infrastructure issues beyond routine administration.
Strong enterprise networking expertise across firewalls, switching, wireless, routing, VPNs, and network troubleshooting.
Hands-on enterprise backup and disaster recovery experience.
Experience administering enterprise security controls, including email security, endpoint protection, monitoring, and vulnerability management.
Proven ownership of infrastructure architecture, migrations, modernization initiatives, and major incident resolution.
Experience supporting multiple sites and coordinating engineering response across time zones.

Nice To Haves

Direct supervisory experience.
Experience with Fortinet and Meraki.
Experience with Commvault and Veeam.

Responsibilities

Administer, maintain, architect, and troubleshoot enterprise cloud and on-premises infrastructure, including servers, networking, storage, and backup systems.
Serve as the senior technical authority for Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Active Directory, Windows Server, and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), including hybrid identity and complex service dependencies.
Design, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Azure Virtual Networks, Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco Meraki firewalls, wireless access points, firewall policies, routing, and site-to-site IPSec VPN connectivity.
Own enterprise backup and recovery operations using Commvault and Veeam, validate recoverability through documented testing, and address identified issues.
Monitor infrastructure availability, performance, capacity, and reliability, and address operational risks.
Resolve complex infrastructure, networking, identity, and systems escalations, including issues escalated by senior engineers.
Lead critical infrastructure incidents through triage, coordination, restoration, root-cause analysis, and preventive action across time zones.
Oversee infrastructure patching, maintenance, upgrades, lifecycle management, and change controls.
Maintain architecture diagrams, configurations, system dependencies, operational runbooks, and knowledge-transfer materials.
Participate in scheduled after-hours maintenance and critical incident response as business needs require.
Lead enterprise infrastructure projects from technical design and implementation through testing, stabilization, and handoff.
Collaborate with the VP of Enterprise Infrastructure & Security on architecture and technology direction, while owning engineering decisions and execution within agreed standards.
Develop implementation plans, coordinate resources, and deliver technical projects with minimal day-to-day supervision.
Perform hands-on engineering work and delegate appropriate activities to other IT team members.
Evaluate infrastructure technologies, products, and services, and present technical recommendations and tradeoffs to IT leadership.
Support infrastructure modernization, roadmaps, resilience improvements, and technical debt reduction.
Plan and execute infrastructure migrations, upgrades, integrations, and deployments while minimizing disruption.
Lead technical infrastructure activities for mergers and acquisitions, including assessments, migrations, and integration of acquired operations.
Coordinate with stakeholders, vendors, and external service partners to deliver technical solutions.
Administer enterprise cybersecurity solutions, including Mimecast, Arctic Wolf, endpoint protection, and endpoint patch management platforms.
Support cybersecurity operations across Microsoft 365, Azure, on-premises infrastructure, and network environments.
Investigate security alerts, vulnerabilities, and incidents and drive infrastructure remediation with the security team.
Implement and maintain security configurations, privileged access controls, system hardening, and other infrastructure protection measures.
Oversee vulnerability remediation and patch compliance across supported systems.
Partner with IT leadership to identify security risks, recommend improvements, and implement technical controls.
Contribute to cybersecurity policies, procedures, and technical standards.
Support disaster recovery and business continuity planning, implementation, and testing.
Provide day-to-day technical leadership, direction, and guidance to systems administrators, help desk analysts, and IT/OT support staff across U.S. and international operations.
Directly supervise assigned personnel and serve as a senior technical escalation resource for the broader global IT team.
Collaborate with the VP on hiring, performance evaluations, and disciplinary matters involving U.S.-based employees.
Mentor engineers through complex problem-solving, knowledge transfer, and professional development.
Coordinate team priorities, workloads, and technical assignments while personally owning high-complexity issues.
Oversee help desk escalation processes and service delivery across business units and locations.
Drive consistent engineering standards, documentation, and support practices across subsidiaries.
Maintain relationships with technology vendors, value-added resellers, cloud solution providers, and external service partners.
Coordinate purchasing, licensing, and contract renewals subject to IT leadership approval.
Evaluate vendor solutions, technical specifications, licensing requirements, and service offerings.
Work with business stakeholders to understand operational needs and recommend technology solutions.
Coordinate infrastructure work with vendors and internal departments and provide technical recommendations to IT leadership.