Senior Manager Data Center & Networking

CAS; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health benefits

Retirement plan options

Job summary

A leading technology firm in Columbus, Ohio seeks a Senior Manager, Data Center & Networking to drive strategy and operations in networking and hardware services. The role demands strategic leadership, effective team development, and expertise in AI infrastructure. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in IT infrastructure management and proven abilities in leading diverse technical teams. This position offers significant influence on the firm's technology roadmap and operational success in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in enterprise IT infrastructure management.
• 4+ years in a management role leading technical teams.
• Proven ability to innovate and devise long-term solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Network & Hardware Services.
• Oversee technical staff hiring, coaching, and development.
• Develop hosting strategy across private and public cloud models.

Skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Vendor Management

Communication

AI Infrastructure Knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in technical discipline

Tools

Data Center Equipment

AI/ML Tools

Job description

Senior Manager, Data Center & Networking (Columbus, Ohio)

Reports to the Sr. Director of Technology IPS.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Owns the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Network & Hardware Services practice area, ensuring alignment with enterprise technology strategy and business growth objectives.
• Guides the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of compute, network, and infrastructure services that underpin mission‑critical scientific information products.
• Anticipates future infrastructure needs, evaluates industry trends, and uses forward‑looking insights to inform strategic decisions and long‑term architecture planning.
• Makes decisions that have a direct and measurable impact on functional area performance, operational reliability, and customer satisfaction.
• Incorporates AI and machine learning infrastructure requirements into the long‑term technology roadmap, ensuring the compute, networking, and storage environment is capable of supporting CAS’s expanding AI‑enabled scientific information capabilities.

People Leadership & Organizational Development

• Provides strong, inclusive leadership to a multidisciplinary technical team; responsible for hiring, performance management, coaching, talent development, succession planning, and organizational design.
• Builds a high‑performing culture centered around accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Influences cross‑functional partners and senior stakeholders to advance priorities, secure alignment, and deliver results.

Execution Excellence & Decision‑Making

• Oversee complex issues of diverse scope, requiring the ability to interpret ambiguous data, evaluate multiple variables, and balance operational risk with business needs.
• Develops solutions using incomplete or emerging information, applying sound judgment and deep technical insight.
• Leverages forecasting and predictive analysis to shape infrastructure capacity planning, resource needs, and investment decisions.

Strategic Planning & Policy Influence

• Contributes to the development of departmental and functional strategic plans, translating strategic objectives into executable initiatives.
• Advise on shaping technology policies, standards, and governance approaches that strengthen enterprise infrastructure capabilities.
• Ensures the team’s work aligns with evolving business priorities, compliance needs, and operational best practices.

Enterprise Hosting Strategy

• Develops and maintains CAS’s enterprise hosting strategy, defining the principles and governance framework for determining the appropriate hosting model—on‑premises private cloud, public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), or hybrid—for each class of workload based on cost, performance, security, compliance, and strategic fit.
• Leads the design and operation of CAS’s private cloud environment, ensuring it delivers the agility, self‑service capabilities, and economics that align with on‑premises investment while meeting the reliability and security requirements of mission‑critical scientific information systems.
• Evaluates and governs public cloud adoption in partnership with application and platform teams, establishing standards for cloud landing zones, connectivity, cost management, and security posture to ensure consistent and accountable use of public cloud services.
• Conducts ongoing total cost of ownership analysis across private and public cloud hosting models, providing leadership with data‑driven recommendations that balance capital and operating expenditures against business agility, scalability, and risk.
• Contributes to budget planning and serves as a sub‑department budget owner.
• Monitors and manages operating expenses, vendor costs, and resource utilization to ensure financial stewardship.
• Recommends investments in tools, hardware, and platforms that advance long‑term strategic goals.
• Manages requests and sourcing vendors for the purchasing and acquisition of hardware/software to support the business needs. Negotiate with vendors and ensure payment requests are processed.
• Leads the development and execution of complex projects within the Network & Hardware Services scope, often involving multiple teams or stakeholders.
• Identifies and drives business process improvements that enhance efficiency, scalability, and service reliability.
• Ensures project outcomes support broader infrastructure modernization, risk reduction, and operational excellence goals.

AI & Emerging Technology Leadership

• Designs and provisions infrastructure to support AI and machine learning workloads, including GPU compute clusters, high‑speed network fabric (e.g., InfiniBand, RoCE), and high‑throughput storage architectures optimized for model training and inference at scale.
• Evaluates and adopts AIOps platforms and AI‑driven tools for network monitoring, predictive infrastructure maintenance, anomaly detection, and capacity forecasting, reducing manual toil and improving mean time to resolution.
• Partners with data science, application development, and research teams to translate AI compute and networking requirements into infrastructure capacity plans, ensuring the platform can scale in support of CAS’s AI‑driven product roadmap.
• Stays current on AI‑optimized hardware trends—including accelerated computing platforms, SmartNICs, Data Processing Units (DPUs), and liquid cooling advancements—and leads evaluation efforts to determine strategic fit within the CAS environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in technical discipline
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience with an advanced understanding of planning, provisioning, and maintaining enterprise‑class IT infrastructure (compute, network, storage, structured/unstructured cabling, etc.) to deliver business value. In‑depth experience with one or more types of infrastructure systems is desired.
• Minimum of 4 years in a management position leading technical staff who are collectively responsible for ensuring the availability, reliability, and performance of enterprise‑class data center equipment meets business requirements. Demonstrated success in mentoring, developing, and leading direct reports.
• Expertise in operating in enterprise data center environments and understanding of their space, power, and HVAC capacities.
• Ability to manage budgets and/or spending plans, justifying and executing acquisitions of enterprise hardware, software, and tech services.
• Experienced in product and service procurement, vendor management, providing financial project estimates, and recommending sensible investments in tech infrastructure.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, multi‑phased transformations and driving division‑wide operational strategies.
• Exceptionally strong communication, negotiation, and relationship‑building skills with sensitivity to diverse perspectives.
• Proven ability to innovate, forecast, and devise long‑term solutions with organization‑wide implications.
• Working knowledge of AI and machine learning infrastructure requirements, including GPU/accelerated compute environments, high‑performance networking fabrics, and the operational considerations of running AI/ML workloads in an enterprise data center; hands‑on experience or AIOps tool exposure is a plus.