Director IT Operations

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director, IT Operations, is accountable for the availability, reliability, security, and operational performance of Fenix Marine Services technology infrastructure and support services. The role leads infrastructure, network, systems administration, cloud, backup and recovery, and service-delivery activities; maintains operational control over privileged access, production changes, critical vendors, and disaster recovery; and ensures technology services support safe and reliable terminal operations.

The Director establishes clear operational ownership, measurable service levels, current technical documentation, resilient support coverage, and disciplined infrastructure lifecycle planning while aligning IT operations with business objectives, growth, and innovation goals.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Develop and implement strategic plans for IT operations, aligning the department's objectives with the overall business strategy. Ensure that IT operations support the company's growth and innovation goals.
• Lead, mentor, and organize personnel responsible for infrastructure, networks, systems administration, cloud services, and end-user support. Establish primary and backup ownership for all critical operational functions.
• Provide operational oversight of managed service providers, contractors, and infrastructure vendors in addition to assigned employees.
• Oversee the design, implementation, maintenance, and lifecycle management of servers, networks, storage, virtualization, cloud services, telecommunications, and supporting infrastructure.
• Maintain current infrastructure diagrams, inventories, system dependencies, administrative ownership records, operating procedures, support contacts, and recovery documentation. Ensure critical knowledge does not reside with a single employee or provider.
• Maintain governance and operational control over privileged administrative access for infrastructure, network, cloud, security, backup, and management platforms. Require named accounts, multifactor authentication where supported, approved credential-vault practices, periodic access reviews, and tested emergency-access procedures.
• Ensure delivery of high-quality IT services to internal stakeholders. Establish and monitor service level agreements, key performance indicators, availability measures, incident trends, and corrective actions.
• Ensure delivery of high-quality IT services to internal stakeholders. Establish and monitor service level agreements, key performance indicators, availability measures, incident trends, and corrective actions.
• Collaborate with the Chief Information Officer and corporate security teams on cybersecurity standards, risk treatment, and incident response. Remain accountable for implementing approved operational controls within infrastructure, including secure configuration, patching, vulnerability remediation, logging, privileged access, and technical containment actions.
• Manage relationships with IT vendors, service providers, and partners. Evaluate and negotiate contracts, ensuring cost-effective solutions and high service quality.
• Develop and maintain disaster recovery and technology continuity plans. Define recovery objectives, monitor backup exceptions, verify corrective actions, and conduct periodic restoration and recovery exercises.
• Coordinate planned maintenance, outages, and technology changes with terminal operations and business stakeholders to reduce operational disruption.
• Conduct regular capacity assessments to anticipate and plan for future IT infrastructure needs. Ensure scalability and reliability to support business growth.
• Develop and manage the IT operations budget, forecasts, renewals, and capital requests, ensuring disciplined resource allocation and adherence to financial targets.

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrated leadership of enterprise infrastructure, IT operations, and service-delivery functions in a high-availability environment.
• Strong working knowledge of ITIL practices, IT governance, incident and problem management, change control, configuration management, and service measurement.
• Working knowledge of enterprise networking, server and virtualization platforms, Microsoft 365 and Azure services, identity and access management, backup and recovery, monitoring, and cybersecurity operations.
• Ability to translate technical risk, service performance, and investment needs into clear business impact, priorities, and decisions.
• Strong organizational, strategic planning, documentation, and succession-readiness skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication, including critical-incident leadership and communication with executives, operational stakeholders, technical teams, and vendors.
• Demonstrated ability to build accountable teams, define ownership, develop personnel, and manage third-party providers.
• Sound judgment and the ability to prioritize under operational pressure while maintaining disciplined controls.

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field. Advanced degree or relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, CCNP, CISSP) is advantageous.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible information technology experience, including at least 5 years in a leadership role with responsibility for IT infrastructure, operations, and/or service delivery.
• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise infrastructure, including networks, compute, virtualization, cloud services, backup and recovery, and third-party technology service providers.
• Prior experience supporting IT infrastructure and operations within a containerized marine terminal environment is highly preferred. Experience in ports, intermodal logistics, transportation, or other 24x7 mission-critical operational environments may be considered comparable.
• Experience leading critical incident response, disaster recovery, infrastructure lifecycle planning, vendor management, and technology projects is required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to remain in a stationary position for extended periods of time
• Work is performed in an office environment and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and keyboards. Must have the ability to walk short distances, lift and small carry parcels, packages and other items
• The physical demands listed are intended to provide a general overview of what will be required in the role and are not an exhaustive list of requirements. Keelson remains compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and will engage in the interactive process for all reasonable accommodation requests to successfully perform the duties of the position

EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS

• Willingness to submit to pre-employment background check and drug screening
• Compliance with Fenix Marine Services Drug Free Workplace Policies
• Ability to obtain a Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC)