Director of Technology

POSITION: Director of Technology DEPARTMENT: Engineering

REPORTS TO: SVP Operations & Technology FLSA: Salaried Exempt

JOB CLASS: Management LOCATION: Rye Brook, New York

POSITION SUMMARY: The Director of Technology will provide strategic vision and manage the IT systems, SOP's, growth planning, redundancies, security and integrity of the IT environment for a rapidly expanding independent media organization. .

KEY RESPONSIBLITIES:

• Oversee projects and technology initiatives in support of the operation
• Ensure network stability. Oversee expeditious solutions are implemented to address and resolve business needs.
• Manage day to day operations, project workloads, design and implementation reviews, provide subject matter expertise, escalation point for the Network team
• Manage day-to-day operations and projects in the areas of Microsoft 365 Entra/Azure/Active Directory/Exchange and other cloud based systems, Routers, Switches, LAN, WAN, WLAN, Firewalls(internet, 3rd party and internal), DMZ, Remote Access, Authentication, DNS, Intrusion, Prevention/Detection Systems (IDS), wireless authentication clients, traffic shaping and policy management and other operational/engineering activities as required
• Participate in new vendor product review and selection
• Maintain Enterprise level IT solutions for corporate and television production facility
• Manage capital and operational budgets
• Identify trends and strategies, industry tools, technology and best practices to maintain a state of the art facility

Critical Competencies for Success:

• Ability to understand all aspects of running an IT environment with an emphasis on redundancy
• Ability to manage and perform upgrades and enhancements during off hours
• Strong understanding of fiber and electrical interconnectivity
• Ability to work with Microsoft 365 environment
• Strong knowledge of major telecom vendor IT Circuit Technology (i.e. TLS, EPL, MPLS from Verizon, Lumen, Comcast)
• Capacity to design, plan and implement WAN/LAN architecture, including capacity planning and technical troubleshooting
• Strong background in file storage, SAN environment and enterprise backup solutions
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including a predisposition to providing excellent customer service both internally and externally
• Strong analytical and organizational skills to effectively prioritize work and resolve issues
• Ability to develop RFPs, evaluate proposals, and negotiate long term deals, including providing high level guidance to the Executive Team
• Ability to work and be available by phone and email to ensure a consistent point person during any critical issues and outages
• Solid understanding of how to maintain and upgrade facilities while working around a live production environment with 100% Uptime

Management Competencies:

• Drive and Initiative - establishes aggressive goals and drives for results, readily puts in extra time and effort, tackles problems and works to resolve them, and establishes high performance
• Meet Client Needs - meets commitments to internal/external clients, continually searches for ways to improve client services, provides clients with exceptional service or work, and seeks feedback from customers
• Build Realistic Plans - develops realistic plans, action steps, and timetables for projects and assignments, identifies specific actions steps and accountabilities, prepares realistic estimates of budget, staff, and other resources,
• Develops Others - attracts high caliber talent, provides clear, motivating, and constructive feedback, provides challenging assignments' to facilitate individual development and a willingness to shares expertise and experience with others
• Establishes Trust - Treats people fairly, shows consistency between words and actions, and accepts responsibility for own mistakes
• Adaptability - responds resourcefully to new demands and challenges, works effectively in ambiguous situations, and adapts behavior in response to feedback and experience

DIRECT REPORT(S): IT Staff

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE:

• A degree in Information Technology, or other technical discipline or equivalent work experience.
• Networking certification and certification in Microsoft 365 products required.
• A minimum of 8 years senior IT experience with a minimum of 5 years leading a staff.
• Project management skills from planning to implementation and go-live required.
• Must have experience in data network infrastructure architecture, network security, application selection and implementation.
• Experience with VOIP (hosted or local.) Understanding of non-linear edit systems and experience with broadcast television system integration a plus

WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those encountered while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts. Noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to see, talk and hear. The employee must frequently lift up to 50 pounds and/or move up to 50 pounds. The employee frequently is required to sit and use hands along with fingers, to handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

The language skills described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the job successfully. Ability to read, analyzes, and interprets general business periodicals, professional journals, or technical procedures. The ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedures. The ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

REASONING ABILITY

Ability to define problems collects data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.