Senior Manager, Information Technology Systems Administration

Digi-Key Electronics • Bloomington, MN

1d • $146,000 - $200,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

DigiKey is one of the fastest growing distributors of electronic components in the world. In addition to offering the broadest selection of in-stock electronic components and providing the best service possible to customers, employees have access to a highly competitive benefits package. To learn more, visit our benefits and perks page. ______________________________________________________________________ Position Overview: The Sr. Manager, IT Systems Administration is a senior people leader responsible for managing a team of leaders or individual contributor professionals spanning Windows, Linux, Citrix, Desktop Engineering, data center management, and Microsoft 365 disciplines. This role drives the strategic direction, operational excellence, and modernization of DigiKey's enterprise IT infrastructure at global scale. The Sr. Manager translates IT strategy into execution while building team capability, maturing observability and automation practices, and establishing robust ITSM and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles across the systems adminstration organization. This position partners closely with senior IT leadership as well as peers to deliver infrastructure services that support DigiKey's go to market and corporate strategies. This role is based primarily in TRF Onsite role requirement – Standard Leader Hybrid schedule, M, W, TH

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration or similar area of study OR equivalent, relevant work experience
• Able to gain consensus and influence action at all levels of the organization to meet objectives
• Typically, 6+ years of management experience
• Demonstrates a high level of confidentiality
• Demonstrated expertise leading multi-disciplinary systems administration teams in complex, large-scale organizations.
• Deep strategic and operational knowledge across Windows Server and Desktop OS, Linux server administration, VMware virtualization, Citrix VDI, and Kubernetes container platforms.
• Proven experience managing Microsoft Enterprise Agreement licensing and M365 services at enterprise scale (Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Copilot).
• Experience establishing or maturing Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices, including SLO/SLI definition, error budgeting, toil reduction, and reliability engineering culture.
• Experience with observability platforms and practices (Datadog, Zabbix, or equivalent); demonstrated ability to lead the maturation of monitoring, alerting, and telemetry strategies.
• Experience with infrastructure automation tooling (Puppet, Ansible, Rancher, Kubernetes) and a track record of driving automation culture and AIOps adoption.
• Strong understanding of FinOps principles; demonstrated experience managing cloud cost governance and optimization across AWS, Google Cloud, and/or Microsoft Azure.
• Demonstrated vendor and contract management experience including negotiation, vendor rationalization and optimization, SLA governance, and strategic vendor partnership development.
• Proven organizational change management capabilities; experience leading teams through technology modernization and operational process transformation.
• Strong ITSM operational leadership; proficiency with ITSM frameworks (ITIL or equivalent) and demonstrated experience driving service stability and quality improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to build and operate a data and metrics-driven culture with defined KPIs, performance dashboards, and outcome-based decision making.
• Strong talent management capabilities including recruiting, onboarding, and developing staff and retaining all talent, especially high-performing technical talent.
• Demonstrates strong presentation skills for a variety of audiences, including executive management.
• Demonstrates strong understanding of IT processes and procedures
• Demonstrates ability to understand and analyze reports as well as having the confidence to make informed recommendations and decisions based on the analysis
• Demonstrates professionalism and ability to communicate at all levels within the organization

Nice To Haves

• 7+ years of DigiKey and/or industry experience in IT and people leadership.
• ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent service management certification.
• Relevant cloud certifications (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Experience leading SRE implementations in large-scale enterprise environments.
• Background in e-commerce or global distribution technology environments.

Responsibilities

• Perform all Manager tasks/responsibilities at mastery level with increased autonomy; serve as a senior organizational leader across all systems administration disciplines.
• Manage and provide leadership to a team of professional leaders and/or individual contributors including Systems Administrators to Systems Engineers and Senior Technical Leads across Windows, Linux, Citrix, Desktop Engineering, Data Centers, and Microsoft 365.
• Own and drive the modernization roadmap for systems administration, including the establishment of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles (SLOs, error budgets, toil reduction), maturation of observability capabilities (Datadog, Zabbix), and acceleration of automation practices (Kubernetes, Rancher, Puppet, Ansible) and AIOps adoption.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership across a broad technical portfolio including Windows Server and Desktop OS, Linux servers, VMware virtualization, Citrix VDI, Kubernetes container orchestration, enterprise storage systems, data center operations, and backup/disaster recovery.
• Lead Microsoft Enterprise Agreement strategy, governance, and optimization, ensuring full value realization across Microsoft 365 services including Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Copilot, and enterprise licensing.
• Develop and execute FinOps practices across cloud and on-premises infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft), ensuring cost transparency, optimization, and accountability aligned to measurable business value.
• Drive organizational change management initiatives; lead teams through technology modernization, process transformation, and operational evolution with clear communication, stakeholder alignment, and measurable adoption outcomes.
• Own ITSM operations for the systems administration domain; champion incident, problem, change, request, and CMDB disciplines and drive continuous service quality improvement in partnership with IT Operations.
• Establish and maintain a data and metrics-driven operational culture; define KPIs, build performance dashboards, and ensure decisions are grounded in evidence and business outcomes.
• Partner with peer leaders across Network, IT Operations, Platform Tooling, Architecture, Security, and Application Development to deliver optimized and integrated infrastructure services and enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Manage multiple complex cross-functional programs; set organizational priorities, allocate resources appropriately, and deliver against enterprise infrastructure roadmaps.
• Lead vendor and contract management activities that include negotiation, performance management, and lifecycle governance for strategic technology vendors and software partners.
• Bring a strategic, long-term, and informed perspective to issues and opportunities that move DigiKey's IT Infrastructure organization forward.
• Gain consensus and influence action at all levels of the organization, from individual contributors to VP-level stakeholders to meet goals and objectives.
• Continually evaluate workforce needs; recruit, develop, and retain top talent through strategic hiring, onboarding, coaching, mentoring, and career development planning.
• Monitor and evaluate performance dashboards and reports; determine root cause of issues and lead recommendation and implementation for resolution.
• Provide direction and guidance to team members and manage issues appropriately; partner with Human Resources when needed.
• Bring a strategic, long-term and informed perspective on issues and/or ideas to move the business and IT infrastructure forward
• Oversee mentorship, coaching, and professional development through effective goal setting, training, stretch assignments, and team-building activities aligned to DigiKey's Core Values of Ownership, Excellence, Improvement, and People.
• Ability to travel - domestically and internationally as needed or requested
• May lead and/or participate on cross-functional committees, teams, or task forces
• May be a Product Owner for area of responsibility
• Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Benefits

• employees have access to a highly competitive benefits package
• industry-leading benefits package
• a sense of community
• job security
• career development opportunities with the hands-on training and resources to take you anywhere you want to go

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees