Senior IT Operations Manager

Thales Defense & Security, Inc.; Clarksburg (MD); Hybrid; USD 174,000 - 222,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Yearly incentive compensation plan

Medical insurance for self and family

Generous 401(k) 7% employer match

Tuition reimbursement

Paid wellness, vacation, and holidays

Parental leave

9/80 work schedule

Hybrid working environment

Job summary

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. in Clarksburg, MD, seeks an experienced Senior IT Operations Manager to lead the day‑to‑day IT functions across U.S. sites.

You will manage the 24/7 helpdesk, systems, networks, and databases, ensuring uptime and project delivery in classified and unclassified environments. You will drive incident and change management, capacity planning, and security readiness with Cybersecurity to meet government requirements.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required; applicants may be subject to a government security investigation for access to classified information.
• Bachelor’s degree in IT or equivalent relevant experience.
• 6+ years of management experience in systems administration, networking, and IT operations across multiple sites.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams with clear accountability for performance.
• Experience supporting and maintaining complex, multi-data-center infrastructure, including hyper-converged environments, cloud platforms, enterprise backup, and networking.
• Experience working in classified and unclassified environments in accordance with government requirements.
• Proven experience in capacity planning, backup/DR management, change management, and operational reporting.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to convey technical information clearly to stakeholders across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership.
• Experience implementing process improvements and consistent ticket/change practices (Jira/Jira Service Management).
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within the IT leadership team.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs with or without assistance.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.
• Compliance with all Company guidelines, policies, procedures, and Core Values.

Responsibilities

• Lead day‑to‑day IT Operations, including the 24/7 Helpdesk, Systems Administration, Networking, and Database Administration teams.
• Provide hands‑on support as needed and ensure effective service delivery and timely project execution.
• Manage IT personnel, contractors, and equipment across multiple sites, with Clarksburg as the primary operating location.
• Own critical incident and outage management, including triage, assignment, resolution, and stakeholder communication.
• Drive disciplined change management processes, including freeze windows and change success tracking.
• Lead capacity planning for compute, storage, network, and support resources, identifying risks before they impact operations.
• Partner with Cybersecurity to implement security requirements, maintain compliance with government regulations, and meet CMMC Level 2 expectations.
• Validate and test backup and disaster recovery readiness, including ransomware restore scenarios
• Work closely with business stakeholders, Engineering, Manufacturing, and application owners to support infrastructure changes and site requirements.
• Coordinate with vendors such as Microsoft, Nutanix, Commvault, Cisco, and others for escalations, renewals, and support.
• Establish and report operational metrics, including uptime, incident response, restore success rates, ticket aging, and change management performance, to leadership
• Ensure accurate system documentation, configuration records, and operational runbooks.
• Oversee deployment, maintenance, monitoring, and support of core infrastructure, including: Nutanix, Windows Server, Microsoft 365 GCC High and Azure GCC High, Active Directory / Entra ID and Intune, Cisco networking and ClearPass NAC, Commvault backup and recovery.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Capacity planning

Incident management

Security/compliance

Communication

Vendor coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT

Tools

Jira Service Management

Nutanix

Commvault

Microsoft 365 GCC High

Azure GCC High

ClearPass

Windows Server

Active Directory

Job description

Req Id: 543

Location:

CLARKSBURG, MD, US, 20871

Date: Nov 10, 2026

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) Headquartered in Clarksburg, MD, is a U.S. company that has been serving domestic and international defense Air, Land and Sea domains for 60+ years. With over 1,000 employees, TDSI and its four subsidiaries (Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Digital Receiver Technology, Tampa Microwave, and Trusted Cyber Technologies), supports U.S. Joint Services, special operations forces and multi-national partners with a variety of communication, visualization, signal intelligence/electronic warfare, and sensor/sonar capabilities. TDSI’s key technologies include tactical handheld radios, expeditionary satellite terminals, helmet-mounted displays, optics and target recognition capability, advanced radars, undersea sensing and missile systems. Lives depend on what we do!

Top Benefits

• Competitive Salary
• Yearly Incentive Compensation Plan
• Medical insurance for self and eligible family members
• Generous 401(k) program- up to 7% company contribution and 100% immediate vesting
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Paid wellness, vacation, and holiday leave
• Paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave
• 9/80 Work Schedule (every other Friday off)
• Hybrid working environment

Thales has an exciting opportunity for a Senior IT Operations Manager. This position will report to the Senior Director of IT Operations. This position is responsible for service delivery, uptime, capacity, change, and team performance across multiple U.S. sites in a classified and unclassified environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead day‑to‑day IT Operations, including the 24/7 Helpdesk, Systems Administration, Networking, and Database Administration teams.
• Provide hands‑on support as needed and ensure effective service delivery and timely project execution.
• Manage IT personnel, contractors, and equipment across multiple sites, with Clarksburg as the primary operating location.
• Own critical incident and outage management, including triage, assignment, resolution, and stakeholder communication.
• Drive disciplined change management processes, including freeze windows and change success tracking.
• Lead capacity planning for compute, storage, network, and support resources, identifying risks before they impact operations.
• Partner with Cybersecurity to implement security requirements, maintain compliance with government regulations, and meet CMMC Level 2 expectations.
• Validate and test backup and disaster recovery readiness, including ransomware restore scenarios
• Work closely with business stakeholders, Engineering, Manufacturing, and application owners to support infrastructure changes and site requirements.
• Coordinate with vendors such as Microsoft, Nutanix, Commvault, Cisco, and others for escalations, renewals, and support.
• Establish and report operational metrics, including uptime, incident response, restore success rates, ticket aging, and change management performance, to leadership
• Ensure accurate system documentation, configuration records, and operational runbooks.
• Oversee deployment, maintenance, monitoring, and support of core infrastructure, including:
  • Nutanix hyper‑converged platforms
  • Windows Server
  • Microsoft 365 GCC High and Azure GCC High
  • Active Directory / Entra ID and Intune
  • Cisco networking and ClearPass NAC
  • Commvault backup and recoveryRelated storage and virtualization technologies

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Oversee staffing, hiring, training, development, and performance management aligned with company policies and applicable laws.
• Direct and assign work, manage discipline when required, and resolve employee concerns.
• Mentor and develop IT Operations staff and function leads

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required; applicants may be subject to a government security investigation for access to classified information.
• Bachelor’s degree in IT or equivalent relevant experience.
• 6+ years of management experience in systems administration, networking, and IT operations across multiple sites.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams with clear accountability for performance.
• Experience supporting and maintaining complex, multi‑data‑center infrastructure, including hyper‑converged environments, cloud platforms, enterprise backup, and networking.
• Experience working in classified and unclassified environments in accordance with government requirements.
• Proven experience in capacity planning, backup/DR management, change management, and operational reporting.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to convey technical information clearly to stakeholders across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership.
• Experience implementing process improvements and consistent ticket/change practices (Jira/Jira Service Management).
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within the IT leadership team.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs with or without assistance.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.
• Compliance with all Company guidelines, policies, procedures, and Core Values.

Preferred But Not Required

• Hands‑on experience with Nutanix, Commvault, Microsoft 365 GCC High, Azure GCC High, or ClearPass.
• Experience in a defense or manufacturing environment supporting both production and engineering users.
• Prior responsibility for 24/7 support coverage models or multi-site IT operations.

The annualized pay range for this role is $173,576.70 - $221,792.45 USD along with a target incentive compensation plan (ICP) of 10%. The pay range provided is a good faith estimate representative of the experience level for the role described above. TDSI considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Contact

For specific questions about this job posting, candidates may contact talent acquisition at [e-mail].

Equal Opportunity Statement

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. is committed to non-discrimination as applicable under federal, state and local laws. We are an E-Verify Employer.

Accommodation Statement

If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., please call Human Resources at 240-864-7000.

Nearest Major Market

Washington DC