IT Operations Lead — Hands-on, Scalable Infra & Security

Linuxconfig

Toronto

On-site

CAD 145,000 - 170,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Health/dental/vision insurance

Unlimited vacation

Relocation packages

$1,500 annual professional development

Toronto office kitchen & snacks

Company-wide events

Great Place to Work certificate

Job summary

Kepler Communications in Toronto is hiring an experienced IT Manager to lead the IT Operations team spanning networks, systems, DevOps, and IT support. You will ensure reliable, secure, and scalable technology powering engineers and mission systems.

In a player-coach role you set priorities, mentor staff, and stay hands-on with escalations, infrastructure design, and incident response. The environment blends on-prem and AWS in a fast-paced setting.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
7+ years of progressive IT experience, with 3+ years leading or managing multidisciplinary technical teams.
Demonstrated success in a player-coach role combining people management with hands-on technical responsibility.
Track record of quickly picking up unfamiliar technologies and self-learning.
Strong experience with network administration, Linux/Windows systems, identity and access management, virtualization, and infrastructure operations.
Ability to troubleshoot complex issues across infrastructure, cloud services, and tooling.
Experience with AWS or other cloud platforms.
Experience with CI/CD, IaC, configuration management, containers, and scripting.
Familiarity with security, monitoring, backups, and DR practices.
Proven ability to manage incidents and projects, and drive execution through ambiguity.
Strong communication and leadership to explain technical concepts to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and grow a cross-functional IT team that may include Network Administrators, Systems Administrators, DevOps Specialists, and IT Specialists, fostering a culture of accountability, documentation, and continuous learning that exemplifies Kepler's Values
Provide ongoing coaching, technical guidance, and career development through regular 1:1s and structured performance reviews
Work alongside the team as a technical contributor, leading through hands-on involvement rather than delegation alone, while growing the team's independence rather than becoming a bottleneck
Serve as senior technical escalation point for complex incidents across networks, servers, cloud platforms, identity systems, DevOps tooling, and business-critical applications
Own IT operations end to end: service delivery, prioritization, support quality, incident response, root-cause analysis, and after-hours escalation coverage
Own the reliability, scalability, and lifecycle management of Kepler's infrastructure, including network operations, Linux and Windows systems, identity and access management, virtualization, AWS, monitoring, backups, and disaster recovery
Drive DevOps practices and automation, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, configuration management, containerization, and controls around production access, deployments, and secrets
Lead IT security practices and technical controls, including privileged access, endpoint protection, network security, vulnerability remediation, patching, and system hardening; partner with Security and Legal on customer, contractual, and compliance requirements
Develop and maintain the IT operations roadmap, balancing immediate operational needs against longer-term investment in reliability, security, and operational maturity
Contribute to annual planning, budgeting, vendor management, and technology lifecycle planning, and guide make/buy decisions
Ensure accurate technical documentation and provide regular reporting to senior leadership on service performance, infrastructure health, security posture, operational risks, and resource needs
Support hiring plans, lead interviews, onboard new team members, and act as primary liaison between IT Operations and Engineering, Security, People and Culture, Finance, and Facilities