IT Manager

northwoodspace • Los Angeles, CA

6h

About The Position

Northwood is deploying a global network of phased array ground stations that will fundamentally change how satellites communicate with Earth. These systems support real-time, high-throughput communications that commercial and government customers rely on for mission-critical operations. As Manager of IT Security & Operations, you will build and own Northwood's corporate IT and security operations from the ground up. This role offers a pathway to company-wide leadership as the company scales, defining how Northwood secures infrastructure that does not exist anywhere else. Your immediate priorities include owning corporate IT and helpdesk operations and standing up the SIEM. You are responsible for keeping the company running day-to-day, managing endpoint management, identity, access, onboarding, and helpdesk. You will also build the security monitoring foundation needed as a dual-use company handling mission-critical space communications. Initially, you will manage an IT operations engineer and hire to build out the team, including security engineers, IT operations staff, and additional roles as Northwood grows. This position bridges hands-on DevSecOps and IT work with security and compliance strategy, progressively automating corporate IT while standing up detection, response, and capabilities. This role reports to the Head of Security.

Requirements

• 5+ years in IT, security, or DevSecOps engineering with experience leading or building teams.
• Hands-on corporate IT background: identity providers (Okta, Azure AD), endpoint management, SaaS administration, and helpdesk operations.
• Experience deploying and operating SIEM platforms and building security monitoring programs.
• Basic knowledge of compliance frameworks (i.e. NIST 800, SOC 2, FedRamp).
• Technical depth with Infrastructure as Code, scripting (Python, Bash, PowerShell), and cloud environments (AWS).
• Experience in regulated or compliance-heavy environments.
• Ability to obtain and maintain TS/SCI clearance.

Nice To Haves

• Active TS clearance or higher.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, or critical infrastructure industries.
• Hands-on with SIEM platforms (Splunk, Sentinel, Panther) and EDR solutions (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne).
• Experience scaling IT and security from startup to enterprise.
• ITAR compliance experience.
• CISSP, CISM, CISA, or similar certifications.

Responsibilities

• Own all corporate IT: identity management (Okta), device management (Intune/Jamf/FleetDM), endpoint security, SaaS administration, and helpdesk.
• Provide and oversee hands-on IT support-new hire setup, desk deployment, A/V, asset management-while building automation to eliminate manual work over time.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code for IT systems. Build self-service tooling and integrations that scale operations without scaling headcount linearly.
• Stand up Northwood’s SIEM-platform selection, log ingestion across ground stations and cloud infrastructure, correlation rules, and automated alerting.
• Work with our product infrastructure engineers on building out things properly.
• Build SOC capabilities: detection and response playbooks, incident response processes, and continuous monitoring for distributed space communications infrastructure.
• Deploy and manage endpoint detection/response, email security, DLP, and zero-trust controls.
• Hire and develop a team across security engineering and IT operations. You are building the org, not inheriting one.
• Collaborate across engineering, network operations, and mission management as the primary IT and security subject-matter expert.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed