IT Operations Manager

Role Purpose

The IT Operations Manager is responsible for the overall coordination, oversight, and continuous improvement of service delivery across the MSP organization. This role ensures that service desk operations, technicians, engineers, cabling resources, and operational processes are aligned, efficient, and delivering a high-quality client experience across all supported regions, with primary focus on Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

This position plays a key leadership role in maintaining operational consistency, improving service performance, supporting team development, and ensuring client issues are resolved effectively and professionally. The IT Operations Manager works closely with Managed IT leadership to improve operational efficiency, scalability, accountability, and the overall client experience.

Core Areas of Responsibility

1. Service Delivery Oversight

Oversee day-to-day service delivery across managed clients and internal operational teams.

Ensure ticket flow, dispatching, escalations, and service execution are functioning efficiently.

Monitor SLA performance, response times, resolution times, and backlog trends.

Step in on major service issues, outages, or client-impacting incidents to ensure proper coordination and follow-through.

Maintain consistency in service standards across Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and any other supported service regions.

2. Team Leadership and Accountability

Provide direct leadership to service desk leadership, project engineering supervisors, cabling leadership, IT administrative resources, and project coordinators.

Hold team leaders and staff accountable to service expectations, productivity standards, communication requirements, and documentation standards.

Conduct regular check-ins, coaching, and performance conversations with direct reports.

Support employee growth through training, mentorship, development planning, and clear expectations.

Assist with staffing alignment, workload balancing, resource planning, and coverage across teams and locations.

3. Operational Process Ownership

Own and improve the operational processes that drive service delivery across the business.

Ensure incident management, escalation management, change management, problem management, dispatching, and service coordination processes are clearly defined and followed.

Establish consistency around documentation, ticket hygiene, internal communication, and knowledge management.

Identify inefficiencies or breakdowns in workflows and drive corrective action.

Help create scalable processes that support growth, operational maturity, and consistent client service.

4. Client Experience and Escalation Management

Serve as a senior operational escalation point for service-related client concerns.

Work closely with leadership and client-facing teams to address service issues, communication gaps, and recurring concerns.

Participate in client meetings, service reviews, and internal planning discussions when operational input is needed.

Ensure clients receive timely and professional communication during service disruptions, high-priority issues, and major changes.

Help maintain a service culture focused on responsiveness, ownership, professionalism, and client satisfaction.

5. Performance Management and Reporting

Track and review operational KPIs across the service organization.

Monitor key performance areas including SLA compliance, first response time, ticket resolution time, mean time to resolution, ticket backlog, escalation volume, technician utilization, and customer satisfaction.

Provide visibility to leadership on team performance, risks, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities.

Use reporting and trend analysis to guide staffing decisions, process improvements, and operational priorities.

Establish accountability measures for team and departmental performance.

6. Technology and Service Operations Coordination

Maintain operational oversight of the teams supporting core technologies and services, including Microsoft 365, endpoint management and security, network infrastructure, backup and disaster recovery, field services, and low-voltage cabling.

Partner with technical leadership to ensure service readiness, supportability, and operational consistency.

Evaluate tools, automations, and workflows that can improve efficiency, visibility, and service delivery performance.

Support smooth coordination between support, project, cabling, onboarding, and administrative functions.

Ensure operational teams are aligned around company standards, client expectations, and service commitments.

7. Cross-Functional Coordination

Work closely with Directors of Managed IT, project management, project engineering, help desk leadership, cabling leadership, compliance resources, administrative staff, and sales or account management when operational input is needed.

Coordinate resources and priorities across teams to reduce missed handoffs, delayed work, and unclear ownership.

Support alignment between service delivery, project execution, client communication, and leadership priorities.

Ensure operational concerns are communicated early and clearly to the appropriate stakeholders.

Help create better communication between departments that directly impact client experience.

8. Continuous Improvement

Identify recurring issues, service trends, and operational pain points and turn them into improvement initiatives.

Drive better workflow efficiency, stronger accountability, and greater standardization across teams.

Reduce reactive work by promoting preventative action, process discipline, better documentation, and improved escalation flow.

Collaborate with leadership on operational strategy, scalability, staffing, and service delivery improvements.

Help build an organization that can grow while maintaining service quality, operational visibility, and client trust.

Leadership Expectations

The IT Operations Manager is expected to:

Lead with accountability, consistency, and professionalism.

Create structure and clarity for teams.

Address issues directly and constructively.

Drive follow-through on commitments, action items, and operational priorities.

Support collaboration across departments and service locations.

Balance client satisfaction with internal operational discipline.

Escalate risks early and communicate clearly with leadership.

Maintain focus on both short-term execution and long-term improvement.

Internal Working Relationships

This role works closely with:

Directors of Managed IT

Service desk leadership

Help desk technicians and dispatch resources

Project engineers and technical escalation staff

Cabling leadership and field resources

IT administrative and coordination resources

Project managers and project coordinators

Solutions Engineer and Compliance Engineer

Account management and client-facing leadership

Sales and onboarding teams as needed

Executive leadership on reporting, performance, and operational strategy

Success in This Role Looks Like

Strong SLA and service performance across teams.

Clear accountability throughout the service organization.

Reduced backlog, fewer missed handoffs, and better escalation flow.

Consistent operational execution across all locations.

Improved client communication and satisfaction.

Better team development and stronger management cadence.

Standardized processes that scale with the business.

Data-driven decisions and visible operational improvement over time.

Reporting Structure

Reports To: Director of Managed Services / Directors of Managed IT

Primary Direct Reports:

Help Desk Supervisor

Project Engineer Supervisors

Cabling Team Supervisors

IT Administrative Coordinator / IT Admin Team

Project Coordinators

Internal Focus Areas

This role is primarily accountable for:

Service delivery oversight

Team leadership and accountability

Operational process ownership

SLA and KPI performance

Client escalation management

Resource planning and workload alignment

Cross-team coordination

Service desk and field operations consistency

Operational reporting and continuous improvement

Project Engineer Supervisors

Compensation:

$75,000 - $85,000 annual

Potential $10,000 annual bonus