Manager, Operational Technology

AHEAD • Libertyville, IL

79d • $150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation. At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD. We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD. Help lead the Foundry Operational Technology team that powers an industrial scale integration engine. You will own the operational networks, security as well as the custom operational platforms that drive our automation tooling. The environment operates like a data center that is constantly changing, with thousands of ports and devices in motion. You will partner hand in hand with corporate IT and international Foundry P&L owners while operating independently to help the Foundry blueprint meet throughput and reliability goals. Your mandate is to keep Foundry secure, keep it flowing, and scale it as the organization continues to grow.

Requirements

• Deep networking and security expertise at scale: firewalls, routing, BGP and EVPN-VXLAN fabrics, VPNs, segmentation, and policy design for environments with thousands of ports and rapidly changing device populations.
• Very strong Linux proficiency and virtualization background, including KVM & Nutanix.
• AWS or hybrid cloud operations experience for test harnesses, workload simulation and application hosting.
• Experience building or operating OT or IT automation platforms for imaging and configuration at high volume. Familiarity with Puppet, Ansible, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Leadership of technical teams in high volume integration or manufacturing environments.
• Proven record creating repeatable processes that lift throughput without sacrificing quality.
• Clear, decisive communication with a habit of holding teams accountable.
• Amazing troubleshooting experience with the ability to quickly understand complex systems to drive to quick solutions.
• Exposure to ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 quality systems.
• Familiarity with liquid cooling and building management systems, AI/ML hardware, and power dense rack design.
• GitLab administration and CI operations.
• Palo Alto Firewalls and Panorama at scale.
• Experience with Cisco DNA.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor an OT engineering team across U.S. and European integration centers.
• Partner closely with corporate IT & international Foundry P&L owners on OT roadmaps, budgets, and run books for Foundry needs.
• Build a client outcome focused on team culture obsessed with operational excellence.
• Own roadmap, uptime, and feature velocity for Forge, the automated test and verification platform powering Foundry.
• Direct custom OS builds, kernel compilation, and tooling that power imaging and test with development focused on Python.
• Operate the imaging environment, including cross site file synchronization and golden image governance.
• Operate a multi campus core: 100 plus switches, thousands of ports, multiple IDFs, fiber and copper, structured cabling standards, and thousands of ever-changing devices to keep secure.
• Deliver rock solid remote client connectivity with VPNs, custom network creation, and VM provisioning for staging.
• Manage on premises Nutanix clusters which host production tooling & remote access platform.
• Maintain and manage the Jira and Confluence environments used by the Foundry team.
• Harden Foundry networks and platforms following best practices using network segmentation, Palo Alto Firewalls along with centralized Panorama management and Cisco DNA.
• Maintain rules, licensing, client updates, and VPN resilience.
• Operate GitLab for CI and source control with permissions, updates, and availability monitoring.
• Own backup policy and execution across OT systems.
• Plan, implement, and test DR to agreed RPO and RTO.
• Operate within an ISO certified facility, including ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 quality systems.
• Partner with Foundry Operations on capacity planning, capital investments, and facility layout optimization.
• Collaborate with Product and Software teams to extend automation and integrate emerging technologies such as liquid cooling controls and AI/HPC performance benchmarking.
• Coordinate with telecom connectivity providers, construction partners, and enterprise clients to deliver circuits, cross connects, and building pathways on schedule.
• Collaborate with internal engineering and systems verifications teams on testing standards and new hardware introduction.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid company holidays
• Paid time off
• Paid parental and caregiver leave
• Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager