Sr. IT Manager, Enterprise Computing Services

International Paper•Memphis, TN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Enterprise Computing Services (ECS) Senior Manager is accountable for all aspects of International Paper’s computing and storage services and operations in IP data centers, manufacturing facilities, and the public cloud, providing leadership, vision, strategic planning, vendor/contract management, and administration. This position is responsible for the overall delivery and support of global operations and infrastructure, covering computing platforms, storage, backup, disaster recovery, data center services, and cloud infrastructure. ECS supports every business and functional group of the Packaging Solutions North America (PS NA) business. The senior manager position coordinates highly-technical, diverse, and geographically distributed IT professionals including managed service providers (MSPs), business partners, business/facility IT, application developers, project managers, and vendors to deliver and support IT solutions which meet business needs. This position reports directly to IT Director for Infrastructure, Operations and Security. The position may require occasional travel to sites/locations to visit with direct and indirect reports.

Requirements

College degree required with a preferred emphasis in computer science, computer engineering, or other IT-focused area
10-15+ years of information technology experience in application & system administration
Ability to communicate effectively with senior and executive levels as well as the entire IT organization
Highly-engaged leadership with the ability to engage, motivate, and inspire a team to achieve a high level of results from a large and diverse group
Strong oral and written communication skills
Effective interpersonal, conflict management, and negotiation skills
Proven people development skills
Effective influencing and directing of others
Ability to develop and share strategy and vision, goals, and targets, holding people accountable for achieving desired business results
General knowledge of: Cloud computing (hyperscaler IaaS and PaaS solutions)
Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems
Intel x86/x64, Intel Itanium, and Oracle SPARC hardware
SAN storage, backup, and DR technologies
Strong financial skills, especially in the area of cost/benefit analysis
Familiarity with common ITIL processes, including Availability Management, Capacity and Performance Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Infrastructure and Platform Management, Change Control, and Monitoring and Event Management
Experience dealing within and navigating a diverse political environment for a global, multi-business organization

Nice To Haves

Cloud computing (hyperscaler IaaS and PaaS solutions)
Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems
Intel x86/x64, Intel Itanium, and Oracle SPARC hardware
SAN storage, backup, and DR technologies
Strong financial skills, especially in the area of cost/benefit analysis
Familiarity with common ITIL processes, including Availability Management, Capacity and Performance Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Infrastructure and Platform Management, Change Control, and Monitoring and Event Management
Experience dealing within and navigating a diverse political environment for a global, multi-business organization
Cross-cultural Sensitivity
Customer Focus
Manages Ambiguity
Directs Work
Drive Results
Instills Trust
Optimizes Work Processes
Drives Vision and Purpose
Communications Effectively
Plans and Aligns

Responsibilities

Plan, design, and supply reliable, resilient, performant, and cost-effective processing, storage, and transmission of data between internal IP applications, external customers, vendors, service providers, and other business partners.
Direct the establishment and continuous improvement of systems and processes to ensure day-to-day operational stability across all domains of the ECS estate to meet agreed upon service levels and minimize disruption to business processes.
Lead expert technical research, design, and consulting in the areas of platform/OS management, server and storage architecture, performance management, and strategic planning for IP’s data center, cloud, and manufacturing facility computing platforms across the business, including capacity management and planning.
Achieve high levels of customer satisfaction through monitoring and management of all ECS services that impact the business’s ability to operate; influence people, process, and technology choices to optimize our services and support model leveraging proactive resolution of potential service interruptions.
Direct the selection, testing, deployment, and maintenance of hardware and software products as well as potential outsourced arrangements.
Establish and ensure that operational metrics are monitored, collected, and reported in a timely manner.
Manage the overall ECS budget, resources, and project plans to meet all critical milestones associated with the ECS strategy and operating plan.
Automate processes and procedures to allow resources to focus on new service capabilities and business initiatives.
Adopt methodologies to ensure that defects are identified and quality of service is uninterrupted by technology changes, problem tickets are entered and resolved in order to minimize reoccurrence of incidents that impact end user productivity and availability, and service level agreements are defined for all infrastructure services that our businesses depend upon.
Establish workforce plans that address career development, resource planning, and recruitment as required to properly maintain and staff an optimized operating model for supporting ECS services.
Collaborate with all IT service providers to manage and optimize the services and support necessary to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.
Lead efficient management of server and storage platform infrastructure at all locations: Deliver a deployable, supportable, stable, and cost-effective computing platform, with a strong focus on maintaining system security and integrity.
Provide architecture, design, engineering, and support for server hardware (across x86, Itanium, SPARC, and POWER processor architectures), operating systems (Windows Server, Unix/Linux, OpenVMS, etc.), enterprise storage, backups, patches, recovery, and refresh programs.
Support an extremely large installed base of servers and storage, utilizing automation, off the shelf solutions, and custom-developed tools and scripts.
Follow incident and problem management best practices to provide fast, effective resolution of issues.
Manage assets effectively and leverage change and configuration management to keep records accurate.
Facilitate understanding of and adherence to road maps and corporate standards around the globe through documentation, communications, and knowledge sharing within the global support structure.
Use innovative methods, solutions, and strategies to solve problems and take advantage of new opportunities related to supported platforms. This responsibility includes evaluation, delivery, and/or support of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud-style computing, in-memory processing, advanced analytics, and modern compression technologies.
Deliver tested, documented high-availability and disaster recovery solutions for supported platforms such that critical hardware and applications are protected and available in the event of a disaster.
Continually identify opportunities to consolidate, virtualize, and centralize environments, while maintaining reliability, availability, and serviceability.
Coordinate all work activities in support of any projects in progress, including all refresh/upgrade activity to keep software and hardware at supported levels.
Monitor, analyze, and report on the availability, performance, and resource usage for the servers, storage, backup, and DR systems supported by ECS.
Ensure that corporate data centers and other IP computing environments are well-managed and always available for business processing and disaster recovery.
Maintain strong customer relationships and meet service level expectations for supported services: Communicate effectively and build solid relationships with key customers and other IT groups.
Work with team members, business partners, managed service providers, and other IT stakeholders to define and document service level objectives (SLO’s).
Leverage systems management and monitoring tools to provide 24x7 support in accordance with SLO’s.
Focus on process implementations/improvements for all ECS-supported platforms.
Provide effective personnel management: Ensure focus on employee safety as a core value of the company and team.
Support all staffing functions, including recruitment and retention of highly-skilled and motivated employees.
Ensure employee career development and engagement, as measured via engagement surveys.
Maintain employee competency across relevant technologies, skills, and processes to maintain the high performance level of the team, supported by a highly-effective knowledge sharing and cross training discipline.
Sustain a customer-oriented culture within the team.
Maximize staffing model flexibility in order to adapt quickly to the changing environment and facilitate projects such as divestitures and acquisitions.
Manage multiple cost centers totaling approximately $25MM annually: Develop and manage annual budgets, monitor financial performance monthly, reconcile expenses, and explain variances.
Approve and manage ongoing spending, striving continually to improve performance and lower cost per unit, through direct savings as well as process and efficiency improvements.
Participate in service chargeback allocation and service cost management.
Ensure that growth in the server, storage, and backup resource consumption and related costs are managed and reported effectively.
Manage vendor relationships and agreements: Work with vendors to ensure service levels are met and expectations managed, while providing leadership in continually improving and maturing partnerships in an effort to provide the highest level of customer service.
Utilize targeted metrics for reporting vendor compliance/performance, leveraging scorecards appropriately.
Manage on-site vendors and their activities, utilizing them as staff augmentation for the IP teams.
Negotiate strategic enterprise agreements for key ECS vendors (including Cisco, Dell/EMC, Microsoft, NetApp, and Oracle), working with IT stewards such as Sourcing, IT Vendor Management, and IT service providers.