IT Operations Manager

Description/Job Summary

Be part of a team focused on enabling the success of Farm Credit East’s staff through world class technology support. Farm Credit East’s success is built on its ability to leverage technology and staff to provide a high-class customer and employee experience. This position provides staff the support and resources they need to provide the level of service Farm Credit East is known for. We are One Team Working Together with a focus on our five pillars: Outstanding Customer and Employee Experience, Quality Growth, Operational Excellence, Commitment to our Communities, and Protecting Customer Information. 

The value drivers for this role are as follows: 

• The IT Operations Manager is accountable for the end to end stability, security, and performance of Farm Credit East’s enterprise technology environment. This role leads the teams responsible for infrastructure, cloud platforms, end user computing, and IT service management, ensuring that technology operations consistently enable high quality employee and customer experiences across all FCE locations.
• The manager drives operational excellence across a multi state footprint, strengthens compliance with regulatory and audit expectations, and ensures that IT services meet the needs of lending, financial services, and advisory operations. This role is a key operational leader who translates strategy into execution, modernizes legacy environments, and builds a resilient, secure, and scalable technology foundation.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Enterprise Infrastructure & Cloud Operations

• Oversee daily operations of servers, networks, storage, virtualization, and hybrid cloud environments.
• Ensure high availability of mission critical systems supporting lending and financial services.
• Partner with Infrastructure Manager to modernize legacy systems, improve network resilience, and optimize cloud adoption.
• Govern patching, upgrades, lifecycle management, and configuration standards.
• Strengthen monitoring, observability, and proactive incident prevention.

End User Computing & Field Technology Support

• Lead the Technology Support team to deliver consistent, high quality support across all Marketplace locations.
• Ensure efficient onboarding, device deployment, asset lifecycle management, and physical security support.
• Standardize endpoint configurations, imaging, MDM, and security baselines.
• Reduce ticket volume through automation, knowledge management, and root cause elimination

IT Service Management (ITSM) & Vendor Performance

• Own ITSM processes: incident, problem, change request, Inventory Management and service catalog.
• Ensure all technology acquisitions follow Farm Credit East’s procurement standards, including adherence to approved purchasing workflows, documentation requirements, and vendor evaluation criteria.
• Oversee SLA performance for FPI and all key vendors; ensure transparency and accountability.
• Build organization wide reporting on service performance, outages, and compliance exceptions.
• Drive cross team coordination to resolve systemic issues and improve service quality

Security, Compliance & Risk Management

• Partner with Information Security to maintain compliance with FFIEC, SOC, NIST, and internal audit requirements.
• Ensure operational controls such as access management, logging, monitoring, and DR/BCP are consistently executed.
• Lead operational readiness for audits, penetration tests, and regulatory reviews.
• Reduce operational risk through process maturity, automation, and disciplined change management.

Vendor & Project Management

• Manage relationships with technology vendors, MSPs, and service providers.
• Oversee procurement, contract renewals, and performance evaluations.
• Lead or support IT projects, including infrastructure modernization, cloud migrations, and system integrations.

Knowledge Sharing & Enablement

• Serve as a technical mentor and subject matter expert for infrastructure team members.
• Partner with learning and development teams to improve staff understanding and effective use of cloud and infrastructure technologies.
• Promote best practices, standards, and reusable patterns across the infrastructure environment.

Communication and Teamwork
Critical to the technology function and success of our staff is clear, concise, and useful verbal and written communication to Association management, staff, and external partners. The incumbent is expected to contribute to a strong team atmosphere by:

• Building effective working relationships across technology, business, and vendor teams.
• Providing outstanding internal customer service and delivering a consistent, high quality customer experience.
• Demonstrating professionalism, ethical behavior, and a positive attitude that contributes to team morale and organizational success.
• Actively assisting and mentoring team members through collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Participate in project teams as a technical subject matter expert, providing infrastructure leadership to move initiatives forward.
• Support assigned working committees and cross functional initiatives where infrastructure expertise adds value.
• Perform other duties as assigned in a timely and effective manner.

Job Qualifications and Requirements:

• This position requires a Bachelor's degree.
• 8+ years of progressive IT infrastructure, Cloud, End User Computing & Service Delivery Management experience. 
• Strong hands on experience with Microsoft Azure (IaaS/PaaS) in enterprise and hybrid environments. 
• Experience supporting on premises data center infrastructure within a regulated or financial services environment preferred.
• Experience with M365, O365, Teams, and Azure integrations.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging AI technologies—such as automation platforms, predictive analytics, or intelligent assistants—to streamline IT operations, reduce incident volume, enhance monitoring, or support data‑driven operational decisions. Ability to identify and implement AI‑supported improvements across infrastructure, cloud, and service management functions.
• We offer hybrid work options after two weeks of employment with Farm Credit East. Hybrid work options are determined based on job role and balancing the needs of the customers, the team, and individual work performance. This will be reviewed based on manager discretion.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Salary range: $120,000 - $140,000 commensurate with experience.
• Short Term Incentive to reward business results
• Retirement Contributions:
  • 401(k) match up to 6% of salary; or for those unable to take full advantage of the 401(k) match, verified student loan payments may qualify for an employer match in your 401(k) up to 6% of salary
  • Defined Contribution retirement plan funded at 2-9% of salary depending on years of service
• Time Off:
  • 15-25 days of vacation leave per year, depending on years of service
  • 12 days of holiday leave per year
  • 7.5 days of sick leave in your first year, followed by 12 days of sick leave per year thereafter; unlimited rollover of unused sick leave year to year
  • Paid Parental Leave: Up to 80 hours of paid leave for birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive parents
  • Family Care Leave: Additional leave options available under FMLA and company policy
• Health and Insurance:
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, including preventive care and wellness programs to support your overall health and well-being
  • Health Savings Account
  • Life insurance at 2x base pay
  • Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance at 2x base pay
  • Long-term disability insurance at 2/3 base pay
• Additional Benefits:
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Continuing education and training
  • Employee Assistance Program offering a wide variety of tools and resources
• Benefits Eligibility:
  • Eligibility Begins: First of the month following your hire date
  • Eligible Employees: Full-time employees working 30+ hours per week; Part-Time employees working 20+ hours per week.

Farm Credit East is an Equal Opportunity Employer. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability status, protected veteran status, genetic information or any other status protected by federal, state or local law. It is our goal to make employment decisions that further the principle of equal employment opportunity by utilizing objective standards based upon an individual's qualifications for a specific job opening. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), if you have a disability and would like a reasonable accommodation in order to apply for a position with Farm Credit East, please call 1-800-562-2235 or e-mail FarmCreditCareers@farmcrediteast.com.