Operations Shift Lead

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.; Connecticut; Hybrid; USD 94,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Job summary

WWE is seeking an Operations Shift Lead within the IT Infrastructure team to drive day‑to‑day global infrastructure operations and ensure stable, secure services across enterprise platforms. You will collaborate with engineering, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to deliver reliable IT services for corporate operations, media production, and live events.

The role demands leadership, incident management discipline, and hands‑on experience with identity, cloud and endpoint management, plus

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in IT fields.
• Minimum 5+ years supporting enterprise IT infrastructure.
• 2+ years leading technical operations teams or senior role.
• Familiarity with monitoring/observability tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead global 24×7 infrastructure operations (endpoint, messaging, etc.).
• Drive RCA and problem management after incidents.
• Implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Maintain documentation and post-incident reporting standards.
• Mature ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change, CMDB).
• Oversee infrastructure changes per change management.
• Coordinate maintenance across teams and vendors.
• Ensure stability during upgrades/deployments.
• Identify inefficiencies and drive improvements.
• Support automation initiatives to reduce manual work.
• Support readiness for new deployments.
• Establish weekly Operations Review with KPIs for exec visibility.
• Collaborate with project teams for run transitions.

Skills

Operational Leadership

Reliability Engineering

Service Management

Technical Breadth

Financial Acumen

Crisis Management

People Leadership

Strategic Communication

Execution Focus

Continuous Improvement

Communication

Resilience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or related

Tools

ServiceNow

Datadog

Splunk

Okta

Entra ID

Job description

Who We Are

TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) is a premium sports and entertainment company. TKO owns iconic properties including UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization; WWE, the global leader in sports entertainment; and PBR, the world’s premier bull riding organization. Together, these properties reach 1 billion households across 210 countries and territories and organize more than 500 live events year-round, attracting more than three million fans. TKO also services and partners with major sports rights holders through IMG, an industry‑leading global sports marketing agency; and On Location, a global leader in premium experiential hospitality.

Job Title

Operations Shift Lead

Department

TKO IT Infrastructure

Main Purpose

The Infrastructure Operations Team Lead is responsible for the day‑to‑day operational execution of TKO’s global infrastructure services. This role ensures stability, performance, and continuous improvement of core enterprise platforms supporting business operations across sports, media production, and corporate environments. The Team Lead will coordinate operational activities across endpoint, identity, network, and core infrastructure services while driving disciplined incident management, operational maturity, and service reliability. Acting as the frontline leader for infrastructure operations, this role bridges engineering, service delivery, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to ensure enterprise technology services remain resilient, secure, and responsive to business needs.

Why Join TKO?

TKO unites three of the most recognizable brands in global sports, UFC, WWE, and PBR, with the premier hospitality brand, OLE, and the world‑class broadcast, sports, and events company, IMG, to form a next‑generation technology, sports, and entertainment powerhouse. As TKO prepares to separate from Endeavor and build a fresh infrastructure, this is a rare opportunity to engineer core systems at scale in a greenfield environment. You’ll work with cutting‑edge identity, cloud, and infrastructure technologies from Okta and Entra ID and enterprise automation using Workato, Service Now, Workday, and Okta Workflows. The challenges are complex, the expectations are high, and the impact is real. Your work will support everything from corporate operations to global broadcasts and live events. If you want to build something that lasts and do it with autonomy and purpose, then TKO is where you want to be.

Reporting & Role Details

Line Manager: Director, Workplace Technology

Direct Reports: —

Working Hours: Dynamic

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Stamford, CT or Remote

Key Responsibilities

• Lead global 24 ×7 infrastructure operations encompassing endpoint management (Intune/JAMF/Endpoint Central), and messaging collaboration (M365/Slack/Box/Zoom) service reliability.
• Drive root cause analysis (RCA) and problem management activities following significant incidents.
• Implement corrective actions and operational improvements to prevent recurrence.
• Maintain clear operational documentation and post‑incident reporting standards.
• Partner with Service Delivery leadership and ServiceNow operators to mature Infrastructure ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change Request, CMDB, Knowledgebase) and drive service‑level accountability across all teams.
• Oversee infrastructure changes to ensure they are properly reviewed, documented, and executed according to change management processes.
• Coordinate maintenance activities across infrastructure teams and external vendors.
• Ensure production environments remain stable during infrastructure upgrades and deployments.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and drive process improvements across infrastructure support models.
• Support automation initiatives to improve service delivery and reduce manual operational overhead.
• Contribute to operational readiness for new infrastructure deployments, ensuring services are supportable in production.
• Establish a weekly Operations Review with key performance, change, and risk metrics for executive visibility.
• Partner closely with enterprise project teams to ensure seamless transitions from build to run.
• Drive operational readiness for all infrastructure projects and platform changes.

Skills & Abilities

• Operational Leadership: Proven ability to run mission‑critical, global IT Infrastructure operations and serve as executive escalation point during major incidents.
• Reliability Engineering: Strong grasp of SRE principles, automation, observability, and resilience engineering.
• Service Management: Deep understanding of ITIL and ITSM tools, with focus on metrics‑driven improvement.
• Technical Breadth: Familiar with enterprise‑grade systems including Okta, Entra ID, M365, Box, Zoom, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto SASE/NGFW, SD‑WAN, Wi‑Fi, and endpoint management.
• Financial Acumen: Skilled at managing OPEX budgets, vendor contracts, and FinOps initiatives.
• Crisis Management: Composure under pressure with the ability to lead coordinated incident response efforts.
• People Leadership: Builds strong teams through clarity, mentorship, and accountability.
• Strategic Communication: Effectively interfaces with executives, translating technical risk and operational performance into business terms.
• Execution Focus: Balances long‑term vision with tactical delivery, driving measurable uptime and performance outcomes.
• Continuous Improvement Mindset: Uses data and metrics to improve stability, reduce MTTR, and optimize cost‑to‑serve.
• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to influence stakeholders and explain complex concepts to technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Comfort with Ambiguity: Thrives in environments where direction is still forming and able to bring structure and clarity to grey areas.
• Resilience: Maintains focus and composure under pressure in fast‑moving, high‑visibility environments.
• Customer Orientation: Keeps business impact front of mind; balances technical excellence with pragmatic execution.

Qualifications & Training

• Required Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or a related technical field (or equivalent professional experience).
• 5+ years of experience supporting enterprise IT infrastructure environments.
• 2+ years of experience leading technical operations teams or acting in a senior operational role.
• Hands‑on familiarity with operational platforms such as ServiceNow, Datadog, or Splunk for monitoring and observability.
• Excellent executive communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills.
• Preferred Exposure to M&A or carve‑out transformations.
• Certifications such as ITIL Expert, PMP, or equivalent leadership credentials.

Per local requirements and in the interest of transparency, the hourly rate shown below reflects the prevalent current hiring range for this position. Hiring pay rates are based on a number of factors, including location and may vary depending on job‑related qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience. The company strives to provide locally competitive rewards packages, which include base rate along with, as applicable, short‑ and long‑term incentives, growth and developmental opportunities, and robust benefits, such as health care, retirement, vacation and other paid time off, and additional offerings.

Hiring Rate Minimum: $93,750 annually(minimum will not fall below the applicable State/local minimum salary thresholds)

Hiring Rate Maximum: $125,000 annually

TKO is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding non‑discrimination in employment.

The company also provides reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state or local laws.

For information about Privacy and Information Security for TKO employment candidates, please review our Privacy Policy.

For information regarding Terms of Use for this and other TKO websites, please review our Terms of Use.

About WWE

WWE is an integrated media organization and the recognized global leader in sports entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family‑friendly entertainment on its television programming, premium live events, digital media, and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV‑PG programming can be seen in more than 1 billion households worldwide in more than 20 languages through world‑class distribution partners including NBCUniversal, The CW and Netflix. In the United States, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is the exclusive home to all premium live events, a variety of original programming and a massive video‑on‑demand library. Netflix is the exclusive home for WWE programming around the world, other than select international markets. WWE is part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO). Additional information on WWE can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

About UFC

UFC is the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization (MMA), with more than 700 million fans and approximately 290 million social media followers. The organization produces more than 40 live events annually in some of the most prestigious arenas around the world while broadcasting to over 975 million households across more than 170 countries. UFC’s athlete roster features the world’s best MMA athletes representing more than 80 countries. The organization’s digital offerings include UFC FIGHT PASS, one of the world’s leading streaming services for combat sports. UFC is part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC and @UFC on X, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok: @UFC.

About IMG

IMG is a leading global sports marketing agency, specializing in media rights management and sales, multi‑channel content production and distribution, brand partnerships, strategic consulting, digital services, and events management. It powers growth of revenues, fanbases and IP for more than 200 federations, associations, events, and teams, including the National Football League, English Premier League, International Olympic Committee, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, ATP and WTA Tours, the AELTC (Wimbledon), Euroleague Basketball, CONMEBOL, DP World Tour, and The R & A, as well as UFC, WWE, and PBR. IMG is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company.

About PBR

PBR is the world’s premier bull riding organization. More than 1,000 bull riders compete in more than 200 events annually across the televised PBR Unleash The Beast tour (UTB), which features the top bull riders in the world; the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour (PWVT); the PBR Touring Pro Division (TPD); and the PBR’s international circuits in Australia, Brazil, and Canada. In 2022, PBR launched the nationally televised PBR Teams league—eight teams of the world’s best bull riders competing for a new championship expanding to 10 teams in 2024—as well as the PBR Challenger Series with more than 60 annual events nationwide. The organization’s digital assets include PBR RidePass on Pluto TV, which is home to Western sports. PBR is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, X at X.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.

About On Location

On Location is a global leader in premium experiential hospitality, offering ticketing, curated guest experiences, live event production and travel management across sports, entertainment, fashion and culture. On Location provides unrivaled access for corporate clients and fans looking for official, immersive experiences at marquee events, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup 2026, Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and more. An official partner and/or service provider to over 150 iconic rights holders, such as the IOC (the Milano Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games), FIFA, NFL, NCAA, UFC, WWE, and PGA of America, the company also owns and operates a number of its own unique experiences. On Location is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company.

About Zuffa Boxing

Zuffa Boxing is a joint venture between TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (TKO) (NYSE: TKO) and Sela, the entertainment conglomerate. TKO serves as managing partner, providing day‑to‑day operational expertise, management, and oversight of the promotion, with executive leadership anchored by UFC President and CEO Dana White and WWE President and TKO Board Member Nick Khan. The promotion aims to reimagine the sport of boxing by evolving the current model to restore the sport’s rightful place in the forefront of the global sports ecosystem. For more information, follow @Zuffa_Boxing on X; and @ZuffaBoxing on Snapchat, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok.