Senior IT Infrastructure & Operations Manager

Position Overview

The Senior IT Infrastructure & Operations Manager will own and scale the internal technology infrastructure, IT services and operations, ensuring that our labs, offices, and remote staff are running reliably and securely across the organization. This is a working manager role. Reporting to the Chief Information Technology Officer, you will own the day-to-day operation of our Systems team and forward direction of the IT service desk, systems operations, networking, cloud and data center environments. This role manages and maintains on-call rotation for after-hours coverage across the Infrastructure and Systems team for incident response.

The role will be expected to translate business and technology objectives into resilient infrastructure, strong end-user support, and a mature security posture, while managing the teams, vendors, and budgets that underpin these services. The Manager will act as a senior escalation point of accountability for uptime, internal end-user experience, major incidents and security events and will partner closely with internal stakeholders to ensure technology enables, rather than constrains, business performance.

In addition to broad business-as-usual responsibilities, this role will also provide opportunities to lead and contribute to interesting projects as required for a growing business. Equally important will be an aptitude for combining technical depth with commercial judgment to deliver dependable and cost-effective operations, a flair for building highly collaborative working relationships, and the energy and drive to manage competing priorities in a growth-focused and high-performing corporate environment.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities

Systems & Infrastructure Operations

• Define the organization’s requirements, standards, and roadmap for on-premises and cloud infrastructure, including compute, storage, virtualization, network, and identity.
• Ensure systems are designed and implemented for availability, performance, scalability, and recoverability in line with business requirements.
• Direct infrastructure portfolios, including upgrades, migrations, and capacity planning, ensuring delivery on time and within budget.
• Establish and govern configuration, patching, and lifecycle management standards across the server and platforms.
• Define, maintain, and oversee the testing of backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity capabilities.
• Strategically evaluate and recommend new technologies that improve reliability, efficiency, or cost.

Fostering Team Success

• Model leadership and champion an institutional commitment to safety and risk mitigation in the workplace
• Champion and align organizational directives with organizational values, procedures, and systems.
• Provide strategic leadership, development, and mentorship to the infrastructure, operations, service desk, and security teams.
• Set strategic objectives, manage performance frameworks, and build the capability and resilience of the team.
• Act with the mindset of a strategic business partner; collaborate and drive alignment when required to create win-win outcomes and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrate agility and flexibility, steering the coordination of business activities or other duties as directed by executive leadership.
• Embrace and thrive in a changing environment, successfully navigating and leading through ambiguity.
• Enforce and uphold strict standards to ensure confidentiality is respected and always maintained.

Cybersecurity & Information Security

• Collaborate in building out the cybersecurity program and work closely with cybersecurity lead to ensure appropriate cybersecurity risk mitigation.
• Run IT security operations, including identity, access, endpoint protection, patching, logging, and backups.
• Monitor, review, and implement vulnerability, patch, threat management, and logging programs, ensuring robust monitoring, detection, and timely remediation with appropriate technical parties.
• Govern identity and access management standards, including provisioning, privileged access, and periodic access reviews.
• Lead incident response, directing investigation, containment, and reporting efforts.
• Champion security awareness training and enforce acceptable-use and information-security policies.
• Creation and review of documentation, controls and evidence to support audits, cyber-insurance requirements, and regulatory obligations (i.e. CAP/CLIA, HIPAA, GDPR, Australian Privacy Principles, etc.)
• Escalate material security risks and incidents to the Chief Information Technology Officer.

IT Service Desk & End-User Support

• Oversee the IT service desk to deliver responsive, high-quality support against agreed service levels (SLAs).
• Manage incident, request, and problem management processes, driving root-cause resolution and reducing recurring issues.
• Define and enforce end-user computing standards, including hardware, software, and onboarding / offboarding frameworks.
• Govern performance intelligence, evaluate strategic service metrics and user satisfaction, and direct continuous-improvement frameworks.

Data Center & Network Operations

• Oversee the strategic operation, monitoring frameworks, and maintenance standards of data center and network environments, whether on premises, collocated, or in cloud.
• Ensure appropriate power, cooling, physical security, and environmental control frameworks are sustained and governed.
• Review and uphold network performance, connectivity, and resilience standards across sites, including LAN, WAN, wireless, and remote access.
• Direct capacity, redundancy, and lifecycle of data center, network, and hardware assets.

Vendor & Budget Management

• Govern key vendors, service providers, and contracts to ensure value, performance, and accountability.
• Develop and manage the IT systems, infrastructure and operations budget, including capital and operating expenditure, and forecasting in partnership with Finance.
• Oversee the compliance and integrity of asset, license, and contract records.

Compliance, Governance & Risk

• Partner with the compliance function to ensure infrastructure and operations comply with applicable regulations, policies, and contractual obligations.
• Establish and update IT policies, standards, and documentation, ensuring organizational readiness for internal and external audits.
• Identify, assess, and govern technology risks, authorizing controls to mitigate them.

Position Requirements

Skills & Knowledge

• Strong knowledge of enterprise operations and infrastructure: servers, virtualization, storage, networking, OS governance and identity (e.g., Windows Server, RHEL, Active Directory / IdM / FreeIPA, VMware / KVM, Group Policy, SSSD)
• Strong knowledge of IT service management practices (e.g., ITIL) and SLA-based support delivery.
• Understanding of data center operations, networking (LAN / WAN / wireless), and backup / disaster-recovery design.
• Exceptional skills in troubleshooting and performing root cause analysis.
• Solid understanding of cybersecurity principles, controls, and frameworks (e.g., NIST CSF, CIS Controls).
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, OCI or Azure) and hybrid environments.
• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder-management skills across all levels of the business.
• Ability to plan, prioritize, and deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Sound commercial judgment, including budget and vendor management.
• Excellent skills in Google Workspace or Microsoft Office 365.
• Experience with security tooling (SIEM, EDR, MFA, vulnerability management) is preferred.
• Experience managing managed service providers (MSPs) and colocation / data-center providers is preferred.

Experience

• Minimum 8 years of experience in IT infrastructure and operations, including at least 3 years in a leadership or supervisory role.
• Demonstrated experience managing infrastructure, service desk, and security functions.
• Proven experience leading infrastructure or cybersecurity programs.
• Ability to work autonomously in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and a diverse workload.
• Experience operating within high-pressure situations and on-call schedules.
• Experience in a regulated, healthcare, pharmaceutical, or FMCG environment is preferred.
• Previous exposure to mergers, integrations, or organizational change is preferred.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience. Relevant professional certifications strongly preferred (e.g., ITIL, CISSP, CISM, AWS, Microsoft / Azure, CCNA / CCNP).

Travel and Schedule

• Occasional, including travel across sites and data center facilities.
• Ability to work a standard shift of Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
• Based in the Houston area with the ability to work on-site 3 days a week, plus flexibility for additional on-site presence as needed for hands-on management or critical incidents.

Why Join Us

At Gene by Gene, you’ll join a mission-driven team advancing the science of genetics and discovery. You’ll have the opportunity to shape meaningful campaigns, tell compelling brand stories, and collaborate with talented professionals who share your passion for creativity, curiosity, and impact.

Comprehensive Benefits

Medical & Health Savings: Choice of 3 medical tiers generously sponsored by the company, with a monthly $50–$100 employer HSA contribution based on plan type and dependent level.

100% Covered Dental & Vision: No premium costs for employees or dependents.

401(k) Matching: Generous 50% company match up to 6% of annual base salary.

Diverse PTO Framework: Structured time off incorporating vacation, sick leave, mental health days, personal days, company holidays, and a flexible floating holiday.

Income Protection & Family Leave: Full company sponsorship of Short-Term and Long-Term Disability (STD/LTD) alongside Paid Family Leave offerings.