Position Summary
We are seeking a hands-on IT Manager to lead infrastructure operations across automotive manufacturing facilities. This role is responsible for ensuring high availability, low-latency, and resilient IT systems that directly support production lines, plant floor systems, and global manufacturing operations.
The ideal candidate will bridge traditional enterprise IT with operational technology (OT), ensuring seamless integration between infrastructure, MES, and plant systems.
Salary & Shift
- $90,000 per year
- Day shift; hours may vary
- Mandatory weekends when needed
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing Infrastructure Leadership
- Lead IT infrastructure strategy and operations across multiple manufacturing plants and datacenters.
- Ensure near-zero downtime for systems supporting production (JIT sequencing, MES, plant floor applications).
- Partner with manufacturing, engineering, and operations teams to align IT capabilities with production goals.
- Standardize infrastructure across plants to improve scalability, reliability, and supportability.
Networking (Plant & Enterprise)
- Design and manage highly resilient plant networks (industrial LAN, WAN, SD-WAN).
- Support low-latency, high-availability connectivity for robotics, PLCs, MES, and sequencing systems.
- Implement network segmentation (IT/OT separation) to enhance security and performance.
- Manage firewalls, VPNs, and secure remote access for plant support and vendors.
- Ensure redundancy and rapid failover to avoid production disruptions.
VMware / Virtualization
- Architect and operate VMware environments supporting plant and enterprise workloads.
- Manage ESXi, vCenter, HA/DRS clusters with a focus on uptime for production-critical systems.
- Implement and maintain disaster recovery solutions (SRM, replication) for manufacturing continuity.
- Drive virtualization standardization across plants and datacenters.
Storage & Data Management
- Design and manage high-performance, highly available storage solutions (SAN, NAS, HCI).
- Ensure real-time data availability for MES, production tracking, and analytics systems.
- Implement robust backup, replication, and disaster recovery strategies aligned with production SLAs.
- Optimize storage performance to support high-throughput manufacturing environments.
Manufacturing Systems Integration
- Support and integrate infrastructure with:
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
- JIT/JIS sequencing platforms
- SCADA and plant floor systems
- Ensure real-time data flow between production systems and enterprise platforms (ERP, analytics).
- Partner with application teams to improve system reliability and performance.
Operations & Reliability
- Establish proactive monitoring for infrastructure supporting plant operations.
- Lead incident response with a focus on minimizing production impact.
- Conduct root cause analysis on outages affecting manufacturing systems.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to increase uptime and efficiency.
Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
- Design and maintain fully redundant, DR-capable environments for manufacturing systems.
- Conduct regular DR testing with plant stakeholders.
- Ensure rapid recovery capabilities to meet strict production SLAs.
Team Leadership
- Lead and develop a team of infrastructure engineers supporting plant and enterprise environments.
- Foster a no-blame, collaborative culture across IT and manufacturing teams.
- Coordinate support across multiple sites and time zones.
Security & Compliance (IT/OT)
- Implement cybersecurity best practices across IT and OT environments.
- Ensure segmentation, patching, and vulnerability management for plant systems.
- Support compliance with automotive and manufacturing standards.
Qualifications Required
- Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 7+ years of infrastructure experience, with leadership responsibility.
- Strong expertise in:
- Industrial and enterprise networking
- VMware (ESXi, vCenter, HA/DRS)
- Storage (SAN/NAS, backup, replication)
- Experience supporting manufacturing or plant environments.
Preferred
- Experience with MES, SCADA, or plant automation systems.
- Knowledge of OT networking and industrial protocols.
- Experience with hybrid cloud and edge computing in manufacturing.
- Certifications:
- VMware (VCP/VCAP)
- Cisco (CCNA/CCNP)
- Relevant storage certifications
Key Competencies
- Deep understanding of production-critical environments
- Ability to operate under high-pressure, uptime-driven conditions
- Strong cross-functional leadership (IT + Operations + Engineering)
- Strategic mindset with hands-on execution
- Focus on standardization, resiliency, and scalability
Success Metrics
- Production system uptime (targeting 99.99%+ for critical systems)
- Reduction in plant-related IT incidents and downtime
- Mean time to recovery (MTTR) for production-impacting issues
- Successful DR test execution and recovery times
- Standardization and scalability across manufacturing sites