Senior IT Manager

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Description

The Senior IT Manager leads BridgeTower Media's IT function and sets its direction through an outsourced delivery model. The company does not run a large in-house IT staff. Instead, this position owns the IT roadmap, the partner portfolio, and the standards and accountability for the managed service provider (MSP) and other technology partners. Those partners deliver help desk, infrastructure, cloud, security operations, and website hosting and development services to roughly 265 employees across more than 30 brands. The role also manages connectivity and office equipment, including printer leases, for BTM's physical offices.

The Senior IT Manager is the company's single internal owner for IT and its senior technology voice with executives, vendors, acquirers, and investors. Partners help develop plans and are responsible for carrying out and monitoring the day-to-day work. The Senior IT Manager shapes the IT strategy and sourcing model, agrees plans with partners and approves them, sets the standards partners must meet, and holds them accountable through SLAs, KPIs, and regular reporting. The role also leads major vendor negotiations, manages the IT budget, and represents IT in acquisitions and integrations.

Duties + Responsibilities:

The following are the fundamental duties of this position. An individual must be able to perform each, with or without reasonable accommodation.

IT strategy, planning, and governance

• Own the IT strategy and multi-year technology roadmap, developed with the company's IT partners and approved by the VP Digital Product. Set priorities, make the case for investments, and present tradeoffs and risks to executive leadership.
• Own the IT sourcing and operating model. Assess annually whether the current mix of managed and specialist partners is delivering the right cost, risk, and service outcomes, and recommend changes such as consolidation, re-sourcing, or adding internal capacity.
• Serve as the company's senior point of accountability for IT. Partner with department leaders to translate business goals into clear requirements and service standards for partners to deliver against.
• Run the IT governance cadence: a weekly IT status update, a monthly IT review, and a defined KPI scorecard covering service delivery, security, assets, and licensing, based on partner reporting.
• Build and manage the annual IT budget, including managed services, licensing, hardware refresh, and projects. Track actual spend and renewals against plan, explain variances, and deliver savings through consolidation and renegotiation.

Managed service provider (MSP) and vendor accountability

• Own the company's relationship with its managed service provider (MSP). The MSP performs day-to-day service desk, endpoint, server, network, security operations, Microsoft 365, cloud, and backup work. This role sets expectations, reviews performance, and escalates when standards are not met.
• Define and negotiate formal service level agreements (SLAs) and KPIs with each IT partner. Review performance against them every month, require corrective action plans when targets are missed, and confirm that contracted deliverables are received, including monthly executive reports, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and annual technology reviews.
• Review MSP and vendor invoices each month against contracts, asset inventory, and license counts, and resolve discrepancies.
• Lead negotiations for major IT agreements, including MSP renewals, with Legal and Finance. Manage the full contract lifecycle: scope, statements of work, change orders, renewals and notice windows, RFPs, vendor evaluations, and transitions.
• Maintain a single vendor responsibility map (RACI) across the MSP, the web development partner, hosting providers, telecom and internet carriers, printer lease vendors, and other technology vendors, so every system and process has a clear owner and escalation path.
• Hold partners to ITIL-aligned processes for incident, problem, change, and service request management, and approve significant changes before they are made.

Cybersecurity, risk, and compliance

• Partner with the MSP on the company's cybersecurity plan, covering endpoint detection and response, identity protection, multi-factor authentication, zero-trust access, email security, patching, vulnerability management, and backup. The MSP develops the plan and is responsible for implementing and monitoring it. This role approves the plan, sets the standards, and holds the MSP accountable to them through regular reporting.
• Review security reporting from the MSP and its 24×7 security operations (SOC) service, including detections, patch compliance, vulnerability remediation, and backup success. Escalate gaps and confirm remediation is completed on time.
• Ensure the incident response plan and playbooks are kept current and tested through tabletop exercises with partners. Serve as the company's decision-maker and point of communication with leadership during security incidents.
• Approve disaster recovery and business continuity standards, including recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO/RPO), and confirm that partners carry out periodic restore tests and report results.
• Ensure the annual risk assessment, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security awareness training are completed by the responsible partners, and maintain the IT risk register.
• Own and approve the IT policy library (acceptable use, access control, password, onboarding/offboarding, software procurement, data handling). Make sure partners keep evidence ready for audits, customer security questionnaires, and cyber-insurance renewals.
• Work with Legal on the technical side of privacy and data protection (e.g., CCPA/CPRA, vendor data processing agreements) and accessibility (ADA/VPAT).
• Collaborate directly with Human Resources (HR) and Legal counsel when technical compliance violations occur

Infrastructure, identity, and end-user services

• Review and approve standards for the Microsoft 365 and Entra ID environment, which the MSP administers. Approve access policies, confirm that the joiner/mover/leaver process with HR is followed, and review the results of quarterly access reviews and privileged-account checks.
• Hold partners accountable for network and cloud infrastructure that supports a cloud-first, distributed workforce, including zero-trust network access, firewall services, and the company's Azure footprint.
• Manage local office networks and connectivity at each BTM office. Own the contracts for internet circuits and ISPs, confirm that partners maintain LAN, Wi-Fi, network equipment, and backup connectivity to agreed standards, and coordinate installs, moves, upgrades, and outage escalation with carriers and partners.
• Manage leases for the multifunction printers and copiers in BTM offices: lease and service contracts, vendor performance, supplies, usage and cost reviews, secure configuration standards, and right-sizing the fleet at renewal or end of lease.
• Set hardware standards and approve purchases. Hold the MSP accountable for an accurate asset register, verify it each quarter, and approve refresh plans, recovery of equipment from departing employees, and secure disposal.
• Hold the MSP accountable for help desk performance. Review ticket volume, response and resolution times, aging tickets, and customer satisfaction against SLAs. Act as the escalation point, and require root-cause fixes for recurring issues.
• Set service standards for collaboration and communication systems, including Microsoft Teams, Teams Phone, video conferencing, and conference-room technology, and confirm partners meet them.

Software and license management

• Own the consolidated software and renewal inventory spanning corporate and digital-platform applications.
• Lead regular license utilization reviews with partners. Approve right-sizing of subscriptions, reclamation of unused seats, and consolidation of duplicate tools.
• Run the software procurement and security review process for new applications and vendors.

Website hosting, domain, and email infrastructure

• Hold the company's website hosting and web development partners accountable for the technical and security standards of BTM websites, including hosting, web application firewall and CDN, uptime, security posture, and incident escalation. Work alongside Digital Operations, which owns site product and content.
• Own the authoritative inventory of domains, DNS, registrars, and SSL certificates. Approve the consolidation of registrar management and make sure renewals are tracked well ahead of expiry.
• Set the standard for email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) across company domains, and confirm that partners implement and maintain it.

Mergers and acquisitions - due diligence and integration

• Coordinate IT due diligence for acquisitions, divestitures, and investor transactions. Gather evidence from partners on security posture, architecture, assets, licensing, and vendor contracts, respond to diligence request lists, and represent IT in diligence sessions.
• Approve technology integration plans for acquired businesses that partners develop and carry out, including identity and email migration into Microsoft 365, device onboarding, application rationalization, website and domain migration, and assignment or exit of vendor contracts. Track execution against the agreed plan.
• Ensure partners keep IT documentation diligence-ready at all times, including network and data-flow diagrams, policies, and recurring security and operational reports.

IT projects and documentation

• Hold partners accountable for delivering IT projects against agreed scope, milestones, and budgets. Track status, risks, and decisions in one project portfolio view (ClickUp).
• Ensure partners maintain the IT runbook, architecture diagrams, and operational documentation, so the environment does not depend on any one person or vendor.

Additional Responsibilities

• Provide technical input to company initiatives and committees, including the evaluation and governance of new SaaS and AI tools.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills + Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of progressive IT experience, including at least four years in an IT management role with responsibility for budget and vendor strategy.
• At least 3 years as the accountable owner of one or more managed service provider relationships, including defining SLAs, managing performance, leading contract negotiations or renewals, and reconciling invoices, with a track record of improving outsourced service delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to govern outsourced IT through agreed plans, SLAs, KPIs, and scorecards: reviewing partner reporting, holding partners to standards, and escalating effectively, rather than performing the day-to-day work directly.
• Broad, credible technical knowledge across IT disciplines, including Microsoft 365 and Entra ID, endpoint management, networking and zero-trust access, Azure or other cloud platforms, security operations, backup and disaster recovery, and SaaS administration. The candidate must be able to evaluate partner plans and work, and challenge partner recommendations.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity programs aligned with a recognized framework (e.g., NIST CSF, CIS Controls), including incident response, vulnerability management, and security awareness training, sufficient to approve and evaluate a partner-delivered program.
• Working knowledge of ITIL/ITSM processes for incident, problem, change, and request management.
• Experience supporting a distributed or remote workforce of 200 or more users in a multi-site or multi-brand organization.
• Experience participating in or leading IT due diligence and/or post-acquisition technology integration.
• Experience leading RFPs, vendor selections, and contract negotiations, including telecom/ISP circuits and office equipment leases.
• Experience managing office network infrastructure and connectivity (circuits, LAN/Wi-Fi, firewalls) across multiple locations through partners and carriers.
• Strong written and verbal communication and executive presence, with the ability to turn technical issues into clear business risk, cost, and options for executives, and to hold firm with vendors in negotiations.
• Experience building and managing an IT budget and making investment cases to senior leadership.
• Ability to work as the company's sole internal IT owner, with the technical depth to verify partner work and the judgment to know when to escalate.
• Reliable home internet connection with minimum 50mbps up/10mbps down.
• Professional certifications such as ITIL 4 Foundation, CISSP, CISM, CompTIA Security+, or Microsoft 365/Azure certifications. (preferred)
• Experience in media, publishing, or a digital-first business. (preferred)
• Experience with CrowdStrike Falcon, Cloudflare Zero Trust, Mimecast, AvePoint, Keeper, and KnowBe4, or comparable tools. (preferred)
• Experience with managed WordPress hosting (e.g., WP Engine), multi-registrar DNS consolidation, and DMARC enforcement at scale. (preferred)
• Experience running an MSP or IT services RFP and transition. (preferred)
• Experience with ClickUp. (preferred)

Physical/Mental/Environmental Requirements:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

• Sitting for extended periods at a computer workstation.
• Extended computer and screen use.
• Communication with colleagues and clients through Microsoft Teams, including messaging and video conferencing; must be able to exchange accurate information.
• Sustained attention to detail.
• Managing multiple concurrent projects against strict deadlines.
• This position does not require in-person presence, and no lifting or material handling is required.

Remote Work Requirements:

• This position is fully remote and does not require in-person presence. The employee must maintain a quiet, distraction-free, safe workspace and reliable internet access, and must remain accessible and responsive during scheduled work hours.
• The employee must comply with the Company's Remote Work and Remote Work Conduct policies, including data security requirements.
• The employee must notify Human Resources in advance of any change in the state from which work is performed, because work location affects payroll withholding, benefits, and overtime rules.

What does BridgeTower Media offer?

• A competitive benefits package which includes Employer-funded Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) that provides employees with tax-free funds to help pay for individual health insurance premiums
• Robust supplementary options that include vision and dental
• Company paid Life, AD&D Insurance & Short and Long-Term Disability coverages
• Employee Assistance Program
• Unlimited PTO
• Sick Time
• Summer weekend jumpstart hours
• Over 10 holidays paid
• Tuition Assistance Program
• 401K with a company match
• Growth opportunities to build your career
• Learning & Development programs

As long as business needs are met

About BridgeTower Media

BridgeTower Media is a leading business intelligence, marketing and event platform providing authoritative content and expert analysis through its 40+ B2B media and research brands. More than 4.4 million business decision-makers rely on BridgeTower Media for timely information and expert insights to grow their businesses. These deep and trusted first-party customer relationships power tailored insights for business executives and precision audience targeting for omnichannel marketing solutions. BridgeTower Media also celebrates professional and organizational success through 200+ events and its Best Companies Group. BridgeTower Media is a Transom Capital portfolio company. For more information, please visit www.bridgetowermedia.com.

BridgeTower Media and all subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and value diversity in our workplace.