IT Infrastructure and Operations Specialist

Nagase America LLC is a global leader in innovative products and solutions through expertise in chemicals, plastics, electronics, automotive and life sciences. Founded 1832, NAGASE Group now has 114 group companies, spanning over 32 countries, with more than 7,000 team members worldwide. By bringing together good science with great people our customized solutions shape the future of our ever-changing world.

Benefits of Joining Nagase:

· Competitive compensation and benefits packages.

· Generous paid time off and holidays.

· Retirement savings plans with company match.

· Opportunities for career growth and professional development.

Be part of a team that values innovation, collaboration, and customer success. Apply today to contribute to our mission of delivering exceptional solutions across industries!

IT Infrastructure & Operations Specialist

Location: Hybrid – Onsite at Nagase America office in Itasca, IL (minimum 3 days/week)

Nagase America is seeking a highly skilled IT Infrastructure & Operations Specialist to take ownership of our regional IT ecosystem. This is a hands-on, high‑impact role for an experienced infrastructure professional who thrives on designing resilient systems, solving complex problems, and driving continuous improvement across infrastructure, networking, and operations.

You will serve as a technical leader and escalation point, partnering with business and global IT stakeholders to ensure our environment is secure, scalable, and aligned with evolving business needs.

What You’ll Do

Infrastructure Leadership

• Design, implement, and optimize secure, scalable infrastructure aligned with enterprise and security standards
  
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies to improve performance, reliability, and cost efficiency
  
• Monitor performance and capacity to ensure high availability and business continuity
  
• Develop and lead disaster recovery and business continuity planning and testing
  
• Implement safeguards and controls to protect against cyber threats
  
• Maintain clear, accurate infrastructure documentation, diagrams, and standards
  

Network Engineering

• Design, deploy, and maintain reliable and secure network architectures
  
• Manage WAN, LAN, VPN, firewalls, routers, switches, and access points
  
• Work with advanced networking technologies including SD‑WAN, OSPF, and BGP
  
• Perform traffic analysis and proactively optimize network performance
  
• Create and maintain comprehensive network documentation
  

IT Operations Excellence

• Configure, support, and maintain infrastructure and IoT devices for stability and uptime
  
• Monitor systems, resolve incidents, and lead root cause analysis
  
• Identify opportunities for automation and process improvement
  
• Apply patches, updates, and upgrades to maintain secure configurations
  
• Maintain accurate inventories of IT assets and configurations
  
• Provide Tier 1–3 support and demonstrate mastery of ticketing systems
  

Documentation, Compliance & Vendor Management

• Develop roadmaps, policies, procedures, knowledge bases, and user documentation
  
• Support audits, security assessments, and evidence collection
  
• Evaluate vendors and technologies through quantitative and qualitative analysis
  
• Prepare technical proposals and business justifications
  
• Manage vendor relationships, contracts, and performance
  
  

Technologies You’ll Work With

• Cloud & Endpoint: Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Intune, Entra ID, Jamf, ABM
  
• Networking: WAN, LAN, VPN, Firewalls, DNS, DHCP, SD‑WAN
  
• Security: EDR, MFA, SSO, SIEM
  
• Infrastructure: Windows Server, VMware ESXi, vSphere
  
• Tools: Endpoint management, project management, ticketing systems
  
  

What You Bring

• 3–5 years of hands-on corporate IT experience
  
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Systems Security, or related field
  
• Deep expertise in infrastructure, networking, IT operations, endpoint management, and security
  
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and critical-thinking skills
  
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and operate in ambiguous environments
  
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate across cultures and teams
  
• Strong documentation, organization, and stakeholder management skills
  
• Commitment to continuous learning and professional development
  
• Bilingual (English & Japanese) is a plus
  

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