Infrastructure & Operations Manager

Oregon Metro; Portland (OR); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 172,000; Full time

Job summary

Oregon Metro is seeking an Infrastructure & Operations Manager to lead the Systems and Support teams, ensuring reliable and secure technology that supports the region’s services and venues. You will partner with cybersecurity and business units to modernize workloads and manage budgets and vendors.

The role operates in a hybrid environment, values automation and observability, and requires a proven track record of guiding a team through modernization and outages while keeping critical services

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field with 5 years of leadership experience.
• 2+ years managing IT infrastructure projects such as migrations, consolidations, upgrades, or implementations.
• Experience across enterprise systems, networking, storage, and identity; credible with system admins.

Responsibilities

• Lead Systems and Support teams across 14 staff with two supervisors.
• Ensure systems are dependable and secure, with on-call readiness.
• Mature IT service management with change, incident, and problem practices.

Skills

Leadership

Budgeting

Vendor management

Automation

AI adoption

Security focus

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/IT or related field

Tools

Azure

PowerShell

Job description

Hello, we’re Metro ! Metro is dedicated to shaping a better future for the greater Portland region. The work the people of Metro do every day benefits the lives of the people who live here, today, and tomorrow.

The Information Technology department is looking for an Infrastructure & Operations Manager to lead the teams that run the technology foundation the rest of the organization relies on. Metro is responsible for regional planning, garbage and recycling, conserving natural areas, providing parks, and operating the Portland Expo Center, the Oregon Convention Center, and the Oregon Zoo. The infrastructure behind it works across the offices, venues, transfer stations, and parks. Providing Metro's variety of services with resilient and reliable technology is a point of pride for our team.

Today Metro runs a hybrid environment: on-premises infrastructure alongside cloud services, hybrid identity, a Microsoft enterprise stack, and endpoints spanning all our locations. The environment is stable and well cared for, built and run by a team with deep knowledge of Metro's systems.

The future of infrastructure and operations is being reshaped by automation and AI, and Metro is investing in that future: in stronger service management, in automation that takes on routine work so people can focus their expertise where it matters most, and in AI-assisted ways of working. Every choice along the way gets weighed by whether it makes the work more reliable and the team more capable.

We're looking for a leader who can take us there. Someone who has strengthened an infrastructure team's practices and readiness for what’s next, and who leads as a team player. Someone who takes Metro's goals as their own, partnering with the departments and venues we serve so their needs drive the work, all while keeping our essential technology services on and available. If that sounds like you, we would like to hear from you.

As the Infrastructure & Operations Manager you will

• Lead Metro's Systems and Support teams, 14 staff across systems administration and help desk, through two direct-report supervisors.
• Keep Metro's systems dependable and secure, so the people of Metro can rely on technology to do their work. Your teams run on-call, and major incident escalation ends with you.
• Strengthen the resilience and availability of Metro's systems, including backup and disaster recovery, so critical services hold up through disruption.
• Mature Metro's IT service management, building the change, incident, and problem practices that make service measurable, responsive, and steadily improving.
• Bring modern practices into everyday operations: infrastructure and configuration as code, observability that catches issues before users report them, and shared documentation that makes systems easier for the whole team to support.
• Own the life cycle and architecture of Metro's systems: deciding whether to modernize, consolidate, migrate, or retire, and where each workload should run.
• Lead the practical, responsible adoption of AI and other innovations in operations, and help your teams build the skills to harness this tool.
• Partner with Metro's cybersecurity leadership to run infrastructure that meets Metro's information security needs.
• Work across Metro's departments and venues, translating technology decisions into terms the people who rely on them can understand and trust.
• Develop and manage the infrastructure and operations budget, set vendor and contracting strategy, and get strong value from Metro's technology investments.
• Keep capacity ahead of demand: knowing what the team should own, what's better handled by vendors and partners, and how the mix should shift as needs change.
• Own Metro's major infrastructure initiatives and capital investments: making the case for them, delivering what was promised, and being accountable for the value they return.

Attributes for success

• You've led an infrastructure team through modernization, consolidations, or migrations, while the systems stayed up and the work of the organization carried on.
• You have a strong foundation in enterprise systems, networking, storage, and identity, and you're credible with the system administrators who run them.
• You know the Microsoft ecosystem deeply, on-premises and cloud, including licensing and endpoints, and you keep it evolving as the organization's needs change.
• You've made a service operation measurably better, implementing service management practices that made a difference, and it stayed better after you moved on to the next thing.
• You've led through real incidents: keeping your head while systems are down, running a blameless review after, and making fixes that mean the same failure doesn't repeat.
• You find places to automate repetitive work in your team through scripts, pipelines, or configuration, and you can say what you automated first and why, because you'd rather find a better way than to keep doing it manually.
• You scale process to risk: changes with real blast radius get real controls, and routine work doesn't get buried under them.
• You give people ownership, clear what's in their way, and grow their skills, and it shows in your team: people who work well together and like the work.
• You're a strong collaborator, with the teams you work beside and the people who depend on your services, and they bring you into problems early.
• Your organizational skills let you keep daily operations, projects, budget, and vendors all moving, and your team still gets to the quiet yet crucial work like patching, backup testing, and lifecycle replacement.
• You have demonstrated experience with IT vendor, service, and contract management to get the most value for IT services.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

At Metro, we strive to cultivate diversity, advance equity, and practice inclusion in all of its work. This means attracting and empowering a workforce that is inclusive of a broad range of human qualities. Workplace diversity is both a moral imperative and a business strength, essential to providing quality support and services to our region. Metro’s goal is to hire, develop and retain highly skilled and talented individuals across all departments and programs who best reflect the diversity of our community.

Learn more about how Metro is advancing diversity

TO QUALIFY

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific in your application materials on how your background is relevant.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, and Five (5) years of experience leading or supervising technical staff or teams in IT infrastructure or IT operations, and
• Two (2) years of experience managing IT infrastructure projects or initiatives, such as migrations, consolidations, upgrades, or system implementations, or
• Any combination of education, professional, volunteer and lived experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the classification duties and responsibilities.

If this statement is true for you, then you may be ineligible to apply

If you were terminated for cause during any employment with Metro, or resigned in lieu of termination, you may be ineligible for rehire for a minimum of 3 years.

Hybrid Telework

This position is designated as “hybrid telework.” You will be required to work onsite and at times have the option to work away from your assigned work location. The specific schedule and balance of onsite and telework will be discussed with the hiring manager at the time of offer. Employees must reside in Oregon or Washington to work at Metro.Please note, the designation of hybrid telework may be subject to change at a future time.

This position supports systems that operate outside business hours, including at Metro's venues. Travel between Metro locations, evening and weekend work, and extended hours may be required.

The teams this position leads provide on-call coverage. During major incidents and emergencies, this position may be required to report onsite on short notice.

Like to have qualifications

You do not need to have the following preferred qualifications/transferable skills to qualify. However, keep in mind we may consider them when identifying the most qualified candidates. Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience, including the military, or life experience that are relevant for this position.

• Training or certification in an IT service management framework or methodology, such as ITIL, COBIT, or an equivalent.
• Experience in government or another highly regulated industry, such as healthcare, utilities, or financial services.
• Experience leading or working within a union-represented workforce.
• Demonstrated use of AI tools in your own work, and experience bringing a team along in adopting them.

SCREENING AND EVALUATION

The application packet consists of the following required documents. Please ensure that you upload these documents in your online application. Make sure your application is complete, missing any part of these items could result in an incomplete application and will not be moved forward in the recruitment.

• A completed resume that includes the following details for each employer:

• Name of employer, working title
• Dates of employment; including if the work was full-time or part-time your title,
• Number of employees supervised
• Summary of your responsibilities

• A cover letter that addresses following:
  • What kind of infrastructure and operations environment have you run, and what did you change about it?
  • Your interest in the position and how your experience aligns with the role.

The selection process:We expect to evaluate candidates for this recruitment as follows. The selection process is subject to change.

• Initial review of minimum qualifications
• In-depth evaluation of application materials to identify the most qualified candidates
• Consideration of top candidates/interviews
• Testing/assessments
• Reference check
• Background check for finalist candidate

COMPENSATION, BENEFITS AND REPRESENTATON

The full-salary range for this position is step 1: $134,836.98 to step 6: $172,089.69.However, unless a candidate’s qualifications justify, based on the Oregon Pay Equity Act requirements.and Metro’s internal equity review process, the appointment will likely be made between step 1: $134,836.98 to the equity range step 4: $156,091.17.

This position is not eligible for overtime and is non-represented. It is classified as a Manager II position. Classification descriptions are typically written broadly and do not include the specific duties and responsibilities of the positions. View the classification description.

Equal employment opportunity

All qualified persons will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, familial status, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability for which a reasonable accommodation can be made, or any other status protected by law.

Non-discrimination in hiring decisions

Metro is committed to equal employment opportunity and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local civil rights laws. Metro employment decisions – including recruitment, screening, interviewing, selection, promotion, compensation, and separation – must not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected class.

Accommodation

Metro will gladly provide a reasonable accommodation to anyone whose specific disability prevents them from completing this application or participating in this recruitment process. Please contact the recruiter outlined in the job announcement in advance to request assistance.

Veterans' preference

Under Oregon Law, qualified veterans may be eligible for veterans' preference when applying for Metro positions. If you are a veteran and would like to be considered for a veterans' preference for this job, please provide qualifying documents as instructed during the application process.

Hybrid Telework

Positions designated as “hybrid telework,” meaning you will have the option to work away from the office, although there may be times that coming into the office will be required. The designation of Hybrid Telework may be subject to change at a future time. All employees must reside in Oregon or Washington; Metro cannot support ongoing telework from other locations.

Pay equity at Metro

No matter who you are or where you work at Metro, you deserve to be paid fairly for the work you do. Every worker must get equal pay for equal work regardless of your gender, race, age, or other protected characteristics. Metro has established processes and conducts routine pay equity reviews as part of the hiring process to ensure compliance with the 2017 Oregon Pay Equity Act.

Online applications

Metro accepts job applications online. If you need assistance or accommodation with your application, or access to a computer, please contact the recruiter outlined in the job announcement in advance to request assistance.

Metro

Led by an elected council, this unique government gives all residents of greater Portland a voice in shaping the future and provides parks, venues, services, and tools at a regional scale. We find solutions for our area’s garbage and recycling that protect clean air and water; help plan land use and development to provide jobs and safe transportation; manage local venues that provide a connection to arts and culture and help keep the economy growing; protect 17,000 acres of parks and natural areas, and run the Oregon Zoo, to keep nature close to home.