IT Operations Manager

MSF; Helena (MT); On-site; USD 114,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance with dental/vision

Dependent care FSA

Retirement plan with employer match

457(b) deferred compensation

Education reimbursement

Paid time off and holidays

Training and development programs

Job summary

Montana State Fund is seeking an IT Operations Manager to lead the team responsible for enterprise systems, data center operations, and both on-premises and cloud infrastructure. The role combines hands-on management with strategic direction, ensuring secure, efficient operations and guiding future MSF IT initiatives.

The position requires a Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years in IT operations/business ops, with leadership experience and familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS and insurance tech

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a field relevant to IT operations.
• 5+ years IT business operations or applications experience.
• 2+ years in IT operations technical leadership role.
• Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, implement and maintain on-premises and cloud systems.
• Manage IT operations teams, hiring, scheduling and development.
• Collaborate with business leaders, vendors and IT teams on projects.
• Assist with budgeting, vendor management and lifecycle planning.
• Ensure 24x7 coverage and disaster recovery procedures.

Skills

Customer-driven mindset

Growth mindset

Empathy

Accountability

Resilience

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Five years IT operations or applications experience

Tools

AWS Cloud

Guidewire Insurance Suite

Job description

This INTERNAL-ONLY posting is open to current MSF employees and is scheduled to close on November 1, 2026.

About the Job:

The IT Operations Manager is a hands-on role that encompasses not only leading the team responsible for implementing and maintaining enterprise systems, supporting production environments, and ensuring stable, secure, and efficient data center operations, but also the design, implementation and day to day support of Montana State Fund (MSF) on-premises and cloud systems infrastructure. Key components of this role include conducting analysis and research to inform the technical direction of future MSF systems, providing strategic insights, supporting and manage complex IT and insurance projects, and carry out special projects as assigned.

Responsibilities:

• IT Operations Management: Leads the efforts to design, implement and maintain the Montana State Fund on-premises and cloud systems infrastructure. Manages all Systems Administration, Production Support and Data Center operations, including ongoing performance monitoring and tuning, IT batch processing, and hardware and software platform upgrades. Directs all system administration functions, including new system procurement and configuration, software installations, code deployments as well as proactive system monitoring and maintenance.


• People Leadership and Talent Development: Leads IT operations teams to include hiring, work assignments, scheduling, training and professional development, and problem resolution. Motivate, coach and develop staff do their best work as aligned to business goals and expectations.


• Cross-Functional Collaboration and Partnership: Partner collaboratively with business leaders, vendors, contractors, and cross-functional IT teams to deliver technology solutions, manage critical incidents, drive operational excellence, and support strategic initiatives and projects.


• Operational Governance and Administration Support: Works directly with IT Operations Director to support operational planning, IT operations budgets, vendor management, and infrastructure lifecycle management.

Additional functions:

• Ensure appropriate coverage of on call schedule for 24x7 support of MSF data center mission critical systems.


• Manage backup and recovery as well as disaster recovery procedures for MSF systems and data.

Required Skills

About You:

At Montana State Fund, how we do our jobs matters to us as much as what we do. To support our customer-centered workplace, successful candidates are team players who possess:

• Customer and growth mindset


• Empathy


• Accountability


• Resiliency

Required Experience

Minimum Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a field relevant to the position, and


• Five (5) years of IT business operations experience or IT applications experience, including two (2) years in IT operations technical leadership role.

An equivalent combination of education and experience of the above requirements may be considered.

Preferred:

• Master's degree in a field relevant to the position.


• Three (3) years' experience in insurance or related industry.


• Experience working with Guidewire Insurance Suite or similar insurance solutions.


• Experience with AWS cloud.


• Certifications such as AWS Solution Architect, PMP, or Agile.

Working conditions:

Fast paced general office environment.Some stress may occur.Regular travel is not expected but may occur occasionally around organizational specific events or during the course of employment.Requires sitting for extended periods of time, standing, visual acumen, manual dexterity, detailed verbal communications and fine finger manipulation for working with computer keyboards.

Compensation and Benefits:

Starting salary for thisexempt position begins at $114,300 - $143,000 per year.

Montana State Fund offers excellent benefits, paid time off, and a competitive compensation program, including:

• Excellent health insurance with dental, vision, life, long-term disability and more, with optional dependent coverage.


• Flexible spending accounts for dependent care and medical expenses.


• Public employees’ retirement plan tax-deferred contributions with a generous employer match.


• Optional 457(b) deferred compensation to further increase retirement savings.


• Higher education reimbursement and other training and development programs.


• Robust personal leave, paid holidays, and extended leave.