IT Operations Manager

Jma Wireless; City of Syracuse (NY); On-site; USD 115,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

JMA Wireless is seeking an IT Operations Manager to own day-to-day IT services, lead the help desk, and expand the ITSM platform from Freshservice toward Enterprise Service Management. You will shape service processes, workflows, and standards while guiding a team focused on reliability and cost efficiency.

The role requires hands-on ITSM, automation, and strong leadership to mature IT services across the business and manage budgets, vendors, and SLAs in a fast-growing environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of IT operations or technical support experience.
• 3–5+ years in a team lead or management role.
• Hands-on experience administering an ITSM platform (Freshservice, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management or Ivanti).
• Experience running a help desk and managing SLAs.
• Strong automation skills with workflows, integrations/APIs, and scripting (PowerShell).
• Knowledge of ITIL or similar frameworks.
• Experience writing and maintaining runbooks, SOPs, and operational docs.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, software licensing, and IT budgets.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the ongoing implementation and buildout of the ITSM platform (Freshservice) with catalogs, workflows, SLAs, automations, and reporting.
• Lead the help desk team, triage tickets, define escalation paths, and ensure quality across tiers.
• Drive automation to reduce manual work across support and operations.
• Create and maintain runbooks, SOPs, and knowledge base articles for recurring tasks and incidents.
• Manage IT operational billing, including vendor invoices, SaaS subscriptions, licensing, and recurring costs.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop IT operations staff; set goals and conduct reviews.
• Oversee monitoring, alerting, and observability; detect issues before users are affected.

Skills

IT operations experience

Team leadership

ITSM administration

Automation and scripting

ITIL knowledge

Operational documentation

Vendor management

Communication and stakeholder mgmt

ESM concept understanding

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT / CS or related field

Tools

Freshservice

ServiceNow

Jira Service Management

Ivanti

Job description

JMA is restoring U.S. leadership in wireless technology at a critical time in the transition to 5G. It makes the world’s most advanced software-based 5G platform, designed, coded, and manufactured in Syracuse, NY at the only U.S.-owned 5G factory in the country.

Across its global tech centers, JMA makes 5G possible for organizations with the most critical connectivity demands in the world. JMA’s technology is ushering in a new era of connectivity for leading mobile carriers, the most iconic stadiums, major universities, leading healthcare centers, the busiest transit centers, and the U.S. Military.

5G is more than another G on your phone — it is a generational opportunity to change the way the world operates. Join the industry’s fastest growing technology company to shape that future today.

The IT Operations Manager owns the day-to-day delivery, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of the organization’s IT services. This role leads the help desk team, owns the new IT service management (ITSM) platform (Freshservice), and drives automation and continuous improvement across IT support and operations. The ITSM platform is in the early stages of onboarding, so the successful candidate will help shape service processes, workflows, and standards from the ground up. A key objective is to mature the platform from an IT-focused ITSM tool into a broader Enterprise Service Management (ESM) capability, extending standardized service delivery, workflows, and self-service to other departments across the business. The ideal candidate combines hands-on operational discipline and strong automation skills with people leadership and a service-delivery mindset, and is energized by building and leading the way.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead the ongoing implementation and buildout of the ITSM platform (Freshservice), establishing the service catalog, ticketing workflows, SLAs, automations, and reporting from an early-stage foundation.
• Lead and manage the help desk team, owning ticket triage, escalation paths, and resolution quality across all support tiers.
• Drive automation as a core operating principle, reducing manual, repetitive work across support and operations.
• Build, maintain, and continuously improve runbooks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and knowledge base articles for recurring tasks and incident response.
• Manage IT operational billing, including review and reconciliation of vendor invoices, SaaS subscriptions, licensing, and recurring service costs.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop the IT operations and support team; set clear goals and conduct regular performance reviews.
• Oversee monitoring, alerting, and observability for core systems and services; ensure issues are detected before they impact users.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 5+ years of IT operations or technical support experience
• 3–5+ years in a team lead or management role.
• Hands-on experience administering an ITSM platform such as Freshservice, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or Ivanti.
• Demonstrated experience running a help desk or service desk and managing SLAs.
• Strong automation skills: building workflow automations, integrations/APIs, and scripting (e.g., PowerShell) to streamline operations.
• Strong working knowledge of IT service management frameworks (ITIL or similar).
• Experience writing and maintaining operational documentation, runbooks, and SOPs.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, software licensing, and IT operational budgets/billing.
• Excellent communication, prioritization, and stakeholder-management skills.

Desired Skills & Experience:

• Experience extending an ITSM platform into Enterprise Service Management (ESM) for non-IT departments; direct Freshservice experience is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Relevant certifications such as ITIL Foundation, an ITSM platform administrator credential (e.g., Freshservice/Freshworks), CompTIA Network+/Security+, or a cloud provider certification.
• Experience integrating ITSM with Microsoft 365, Entra ID, and other business systems.
• Experience with low-code/no-code automation and orchestration platforms.
• Experience in a regulated or compliance-driven environment (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, etc.).

$115,000 - $130,000 a year

The US national annual base salary range for this is $115,000 - $130,000. The range includes base salary that is expected to be paid for this role. Actual base salary will be based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the scope and complexity of the role, the successful candidate's relevant experience, skills, and knowledge, peer and market data and geographic location.

At JMA, our people are deeply committed to their work and we provide benefits to match. When you join JMA you have immediate access to everything you need. Whether you're looking for employee discounts, financial, legal and/or childcare resources and support, we have you covered. We believe in providing comprehensive health and wellness coverage along with monetary rewards towards health goals, in addition to numerous company-provided personal protection benefits at no additional cost to you.

At JMA, we don’t just accept differences — we embrace them. JMA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.