IT Manager

IT Manager

Title: IT Manager

Location: Corporate headquarters, Rockville, Maryland area (on-site; partial work-from-home possible over time)

Reports To: Executive leadership

Compensation: $100,000 – $150,000, commensurate with experience

Benefits: Full benefits: health insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, company cell phone, plus standard firm benefits

Schedule: Full-time, with availability for evenings and weekends as systems require

About the Role

A well-established professional-services firm is hiring an IT Manager to run the firm's technology operations across multiple offices. This is a hands-on role. You will own the environment day to day: the ticket queue, user support, Microsoft 365 administration, vendor reports and the compliance platform, and keeping the firm's systems running well.

You'll be responsible for both keeping operations running and steadily improving them — setting priorities, managing the vendor portfolio, and making practical recommendations to leadership, while staying close enough to the work to troubleshoot a ticket or triage a phishing report yourself. The firm values someone who learns the environment and understands why decisions were made before reworking them, and who can then carry the work forward with sound judgment. For the right person, this role can grow into an IT Director position over time.

One area where you'll drive from the start is artificial intelligence. The firm sees practical AI adoption as a core part of how its technology and operations will improve, and wants this role to lead that effort hands-on.

What You'll Do

Day-to-Day IT Operations (the core of the job)

• Own the internal ticketing and desktop support queue: triage, troubleshoot, resolve, and close the loop with users across the firm.
• Administer Microsoft 365 day to day — users, groups, licensing, and Entra / Azure AD basics.
• Provision and manage endpoints: laptop and desktop setup, mobile device management, primarily Windows and iOS.
• Manage multi-office network operations — firewalls, switches, VPNs, ISPs, and redundancy — in coordination with the managed-service provider.
• Handle first-line cybersecurity operations: MFA, EDR alerts, quarantine, and phishing triage and user questions.
• Become functional within the first 90 days across the firm's core platforms (identity, endpoint security, MFA, remote support, file sharing, e-signature, telephony, and document tools).

AI Adoption (a core driver of this role)

• Lead practical, hands-on incorporation of AI tools into the firm's technology and workflows — identifying where AI can reduce manual effort, speed up support, and improve operations.
• Stay current on AI offerings in the marketplace and maintain working proficiency in Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini.
• Build, test, and document repeatable AI-assisted workflows for IT and for non-technical staff, with attention to data handling and firm confidentiality.
• Evaluate AI features in existing vendor platforms and make practical recommendations on what to turn on, pilot, or avoid.

Analysis & Reporting

• Read vendor daily and monthly reports, billing records, ticket data, and compliance dashboards; identify patterns, anomalies, and follow-up actions.
• Build and maintain hardware and software inventory, asset, and configuration spreadsheets.
• Use intermediate-to-advanced spreadsheet skills — formulas, pivots, lookups, conditional logic, basic dashboards — to turn raw data into clear reporting for non-technical audiences.
• Run cost-benefit comparisons across a 3 to 5 year horizon, factoring in total cost of ownership, employee impact, and operational trade-offs.

Vendor & Compliance Management

• Review invoices for accuracy and challenge line items with vendors.
• Manage the vendor portfolio — MSP, MSSP, cyber advisor, cloud, telephony, document management, e-signature, and claims platform vendors.
• Support the firm's compliance posture, applying the vocabulary and expectations of frameworks such as NY DFS Part 500, SOC 2, and cyber-insurance underwriting.

Growth Path For the right person, the role expands over time into broader vendor management, cybersecurity governance, infrastructure leadership, executive communication, and contract negotiation, with a path toward an IT Director position.

What We're Looking For

A strong candidate will not have every item below at an expert level on day one, but should have meaningful exposure to all and demonstrated strength in most. Excellent people skills and very good judgment are essential.

Personal Qualities

• Strong judgment under uncertainty — knows when to escalate, when to ask, and when to decide.
• Curiosity before conviction — asks "why is this done this way?" before changing things.
• Patience with long-standing processes; willingness to learn the environment before reworking it.
• Discretion with confidential HR, financial, legal, and client information.
• Composure under pressure; does not escalate friction.
• Genuine willingness to do operational work — help-desk tickets, phishing questions — alongside higher-level work.
• Comfortable working independently or as part of a team; manages rapidly shifting priorities and multi-tasks well.
• Readily available evenings and weekends when systems require it.
• Honesty when in over their head — surfaces gaps rather than masking them.
• Reliability — closes the loop without being reminded.

Communication

• Clear written communication: can draft a memo, a policy summary, or an email to non-technical staff.
• Can translate technical concepts for a non-technical audience and back again.
• Verbal presence in meetings; can present data and recommendations directly.
• Professional email tone with vendors, partners, and internal staff.
• Comfortable running a recurring meeting — agenda, minutes, follow-ups.

Technical Foundation

• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 administration (users, groups, licensing, Entra / Azure AD basics).
• Familiarity with multi-office network concepts (firewalls, switches, VPNs, ISPs, redundancy).
• Comfort with endpoint management — provisioning, MDM, primarily Windows and iOS.
• Awareness of cloud-hosting models (SaaS vs. IaaS) and basic Entra / cloud-server familiarity.
• Familiarity with core cybersecurity concepts: MFA, EDR, SOC operations, quarantine, phishing triage.
• Proven ability to learn new platforms quickly.
• Familiarity with current AI offerings and working proficiency in Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini.

Analytical & Data Skills

• Strong analytical thinking — can structure an open question, identify the data needed, and reach a defensible recommendation.
• Intermediate-to-advanced spreadsheet skills, including basic dashboard construction.
• Experience building or maintaining inventory / asset / configuration spreadsheets.
• Cost-benefit and total-cost-of-ownership analysis across a multi-year horizon.
• Basic SQL or data-querying ability is helpful but not required.

Cybersecurity & Vendor Awareness

• Solid grasp of cyber-hygiene fundamentals: password management, MFA, phishing recognition, data classification, least privilege.
• High-level awareness of NY DFS Part 500, SOC 2, and cyber-insurance underwriting expectations.
• Comfort with incident-response vocabulary (IR plan, tabletop, MTTR, indicators of compromise, chain of custody).
• Has read IT-services or software contracts and can identify key clauses: term, renewal, termination, SLA, data ownership, indemnification.
• Has worked with at least one MSP, hosting provider, or major software vendor in a meaningful capacity.

Experience & Education

• Bachelor's degree in IT, computer science, information systems, business analytics, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5 to 8 years in IT operations, IT audit, business / data analysis, or a related field.
• At least 1 year in a role requiring cross-functional coordination with finance and/or executive leadership.
• Experience in a regulated or professional-services environment preferred (legal, financial, healthcare, insurance, accounting).
• Experience working with or alongside a managed-service provider preferred.

Certifications (Preferred, Not Required at Hire)

• CompTIA A+ / Network+ / Security+ or equivalent foundational certs.
• Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900) or Endpoint Administrator Associate (MD-102).
• ITIL Foundation.
• AWS Cloud Practitioner or Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900).
• Any entry-level cyber certification: ISC2 CC, Security+, GIAC GSEC.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary of $100,000 to $150,000, commensurate with experience.
• Full benefits package: health insurance, 401(k), and profit sharing.
• Company cell phone.
• On-site at Rockville-area headquarters, with potential for partial work-from-home as agreed with management over time.

Equal opportunity employer.