Systems & Applications Manager

The University of Pittsburgh’s Information Technology (Pitt IT) department is seeking a qualified Systems & Applications Manager for the Operations division.  The Systems & Applications Manager will report to and work closely with the Assistant Director of Operations leading the team of systems engineers that support the University’s enterprise and research IT services to include high performance computing, web hosting, backups, monitoring, disaster recovery, and cloud-based solutions.

The Systems & Applications Manager oversees the management of daily operations, offering solutions, managing a group of highly skilled systems engineers, and making process improvements to achieve goals and resolve problems within Pitt IT Operations for on-premises, hosted, and cloud-based IT services.  The incumbent is responsible for ensuring a strong and focused customer-service setting within Systems & Applications. The incumbent is also to be a key contributor to the development and execution of the vision set forth by the Operations and Pitt IT.  
As Systems & Applications Manager, the incumbent will engage with and lead a strong team of engineers who are responsible for the availability, performance, and integrity of the IT operations, research computing, enterprise IT services, and other critical University systems.  This includes the ability to understand, respond, and lead the team to quickly address major incidents, perform root cause analysis, and report status to the Assistant Director and the leadership team.  

The incumbent will also communicate and collaborate with systems engineers, Pitt IT leadership,  and customers toward the resolution of problems, requests, and needs for IT services.  The incumbent will lead the team in delivering solutions that bring value to the academic and research mission of the University by aligning IT infrastructure with current and future business requirements and goals.  The Systems & Applications Manager will work together with the Assistant Director to develop vision, bring opportunities and recommendations to drive effectiveness, efficiencies, and simplification for the enterprise and research IT services provided to the University.

Expert knowledge in progressive systems and technology to include cloud services and a minimum of seven years of performing in a management role in an IT operations environment is required.  A candidate must also demonstrate results in overseeing a team handling enterprise-wide services and also must possess the following: 

• Excellent problem solving, decision-making, communication, and interpersonal skills to enable effective collaboration with faculty, students and staff as well as peers, management, and senior leadership.
• Ability to assess and recruit top candidates, train new IT staff, supervise and motivate team members for high performance.
• Ability to prioritize and balance the daily business-as-usual problems and requests against the short and long term goals of the organization. 
• Strength in planning and executing projects.
• Strong administrative and organizational skills with the ability to break down large ideas into smaller obtainable objectives.
• Primarily working during the day, must be willing to work evening and night as required to support a 24-hour, seven-day operation.

Combination of education, experience and/or industry certifications will be considered in lieu of listed education/experience levels.

Experience in complex systems analysis, enterprise IT services, and design in addition to administrative experience.  At least seven years of management experience working in an IT operations environment and overseeing an IT team is preferred.