Senior Manager - Infrastructure Services

Department: Infrastructure & Security Services
Reports To: Director – Infrastructure & Security Services
Location: Hybrid
Travel: Occasional travel may be required

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About Herff Jones:

Indianapolis-based Herff Jones is the leading provider of graduation and educational products and services designed to inspire achievement and create memorable experiences for students. Herff Jones’ products include class rings and jewelry, caps and gowns, diplomas and announcements as well as motivation and recognition programs. Focused on building long-term relationships through a nationwide network of over 1,400 employees and sales partners, the professionals at Herff Jones have been helping elevate the student experience throughout the lifelong journey of education for more than 100 years. For more information about Herff Jones, please visit www.herffjones.com.

Position Summary

The Senior Manager – Infrastructure Services is a hands-on technical leader responsible for the reliability, governance, architectural direction, and modernization of the organization’s server, cloud, network, and datacenter environments.

This role provides leadership and oversight for the Windows Server, Linux Server, Cloud Engineering (Azure & AWS), and Network teams (including consulting partners). The position serves as the technical authority for infrastructure standards, operational maturity, and long-term platform strategy across hybrid and multi-site environments.

Reporting to the Director – Infrastructure & Security Services, this role bridges executive direction and engineering execution by ensuring infrastructure platforms are resilient, secure, cost-effective, and aligned with enterprise transformation initiatives.

The ideal candidate combines deep infrastructure engineering expertise with proven experience leading senior technical professionals and managing complex, hybrid environments.

Key Responsibilities

Infrastructure Leadership & Operational Accountability

• Provide direct leadership for Windows, Linux, Cloud Engineering, and Network teams, including oversight of consultants and contractors.
• Establish and enforce operational standards that promote high availability, resiliency, and consistent service delivery across platforms.
• Drive continuous improvement in infrastructure reliability, incident reduction, and risk mitigation.
• Participate in annual infrastructure and network risk assessments and ensure remediation plans are executed.
• Identify and eliminate architectural weaknesses, including single points of failure and scalability constraints.
• Oversee performance reporting and operational visibility for executive leadership.

Architecture & Modernization Strategy

• Serve as the technical authority for server, network, datacenter, and hybrid cloud architecture.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year infrastructure roadmap covering server, cloud, and network domains.
• Guide modernization initiatives including cloud adoption, segmentation strategies, automation maturity, and resiliency improvements.
• Ensure infrastructure designs align with scalability, security, and long-term sustainability objectives.
• Review and approve significant architectural changes to ensure consistency with enterprise standards.

Cloud Platform Governance (Azure & AWS)

• Provide architectural oversight of Azure and AWS environments, including workload placement, resiliency, and cost optimization.
• Lead cloud governance practices including resource lifecycle management, tagging standards, and financial accountability.
• Conduct regular reviews of cloud resource utilization and spending trends to ensure efficiency and eliminate unnecessary cost.
• Manage cloud engineers and third-party partners to ensure deployments follow architectural and security standards.
• Promote automation and Infrastructure-as-Code practices to improve consistency and reduce operational risk.

Change Governance & Operational Discipline

• Ensure infrastructure and network changes follow documented change management procedures.
• Promote disciplined execution and reduce emergency or unplanned changes.
• Drive accountability for documentation, architectural artifacts, and configuration management.
• Improve change success rates and ensure transparency of infrastructure activity to executive leadership.

Security & Compliance Alignment

• Partner closely with the Security team to ensure infrastructure platforms align with enterprise security policies and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain strong patching, vulnerability remediation, and configuration hygiene practices across server and cloud workloads.
• Oversee network access controls and firewall policy management to reduce unnecessary exposure and lateral movement risk.
• Support audit readiness through consistent documentation and governance standards.

Financial & Vendor Governance

• Provide oversight of infrastructure-related vendor and consultant performance.
• Ensure network consulting partners align with internal architectural standards and delivery expectations.
• Support budget planning, lifecycle forecasting, and cost management initiatives.
• Promote responsible infrastructure investment and resource optimization.

Talent Development & Organizational Maturity

• Conduct regular development discussions and performance reviews for infrastructure leaders and engineers.
• Promote cross-training and succession planning within infrastructure domains.
• Establish clear ownership models and strengthen documentation maturity.
• Foster a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications

• 8 years of progressive experience in infrastructure engineering (server, cloud, network, or datacenter domains).
• 3–5 years of experience managing senior technical engineers or cloud infrastructure teams.
• Strong hands-on experience with:
• Enterprise Windows and Linux server environments
• Azure and AWS cloud platforms
• Hybrid infrastructure architectures
• Multi-site networking and datacenter operations
• Experience leading cloud cost governance and optimization initiatives.
• Demonstrated success improving operational stability and reducing infrastructure risk.
• Proven ability to balance hands-on technical engagement with leadership oversight.
• Strong analytical, architectural, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication skills, including executive-level reporting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Experience leading hybrid cloud modernization or digital transformation initiatives.
• Familiarity with automation, scripting, or Infrastructure-as-Code methodologies.
• Industry certifications in cloud, virtualization, or networking platforms.
• Experience managing external consultants or managed service providers.

Leadership Attributes

• Technical credibility across datacenter and cloud domains.
• Strong governance and accountability mindset.
• Ability to translate strategy into measurable operational execution.
• Financial awareness and cost discipline.
• Collaborative leader who builds high-performing, resilient teams.
• Forward-thinking and improvement-oriented, with focus on reliability and modernization.

Herff Jones, Inc. and its affiliates are equal opportunity employers and maintain affirmative action plans to recruit, retain, develop, and promote qualified individuals without unlawful consideration of race, gender, gender identity, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Herff Jones strives to maintain a work environment free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, where associates are treated with respect and dignity.

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