IT Operations Service Manager

Do you desire to be part of a hardworking, dynamic Enterprise Services Team that is passionate about advancing an organization into the next generation of information technology business services?

Are you keenly interested in working in an environment that offers the opportunity to partner with staff across the organization on varying efforts?

If so, we're looking for someone like you to join our team at APL!

The nation 's leading university affiliated research center is looking for a Classified IT Service Manager. You will be working with engineers, scientists and business professionals that are addressing critical challenges of our nation.

We are ranked as one of Computerworld 's Top Places to Work in IT 6 years running, and we are seeking bright, dedicated hard-working members to add to our team.

Position Overview: We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Classified IT Service Manager to lead the delivery of critical operational services initiatives in our classified areas, ensuring operational reliability across multiple classified networks. The Service Manager will play a key role in managing operational efforts, working closely with customers to implement projects, establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring customer satisfaction, and building Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the team. Additionally, this role requires delivering regular status briefings and reports to both internal teams and external stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Operational Reliability:
• Manage service delivery to ensure availability, performance, and responsiveness to customer needs across multiple classified networks.
• Coordinate with technology leads to maintain service reliability and support seamless operations of classified environments across the entire service architecture.
2. Strategic Leadership:
• Work with the service owner and key stakeholders to develop and implement a road map for the service, based on changing business needs and leveraging the latest technology developments.
3. Customer Engagement & Projects:
• Collaborate with customers to gather feedback, understand short- and long-term needs, and implement projects that enhance service capabilities to meet customer requirements.
• Act as the primary advocate for customer-centric projects, ensuring they align with government compliance standards as well as the overall service roadmap.
• Partner with internal teams to identify, scope, and execute improvement initiatives focused on optimizing service delivery and enhancing the operational efficiency of the networks.

4. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) & SOP Development:
• Create and maintain detailed SOPs to support efficient service delivery and operations, ensuring best practices and consistency.
• Establish and track SLAs, ensuring adherence to defined standards, and manage expectations across service delivery teams.
5. Governance & Stakeholder Engagement:
• Engage with key stakeholders to build and maintain a multi-year service roadmap aligned with business needs and emerging technologies.
• Lead governance/advisory groups to prioritize projects and service enhancements.
6. Incident & Problem Management:
• Oversee service disruptions and outages, coordinating with CNOC and other support staff to ensure continued communication as well as timely and effective resolutions.
• Lead root cause analysis and develop strategies for continuous service improvement.
7. Operational Planning & Initiative Management:
• Manage major service changes, ensuring proper communication with user communities regarding outages, disruptions, and overall status.
• Lead and mentor resources to manage incidents and ensuring high levels of performance and accountability.
• Foster a culture of innovation and motivate teams to meet tight deadlines while delivering excellent service.
8. Reporting & Presentations:
• Prepare and deliver service briefings and presentations, including key performance metrics, cost analysis, and variance reports for both internal teams and external customers.
• Communicate effectively with users through regular updates, feedback sessions, and training on service updates and best practices.
9. Documentation & Service Definition:
• Maintain comprehensive service documentation, ensuring the service definition and related materials are up to date and easily accessible.

You meet our minimum qualifications for the job if you have:

• A Bachelor 's degree in IT, communications, business administration, operations, public relations, or a related field.

• 5+ years proven experience managing complex projects that include customer communications with tight deadlines within government regulations.
• Strong customer service focus with the ability to build strong relationships while balancing customer needs between quality service delivery and resource management.
• Experience in matrix-management and dotted-line team leadership.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with the ability to influence decisions and build relationships.
• Proven ability to manage multiple high-priority projects, meeting tight deadlines while driving innovation and process improvements.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with experience in root cause analysis and service recovery.
• Results-driven leader with a focus on operational excellence and customer service.
• Experience using IT project management tools (e.g., Smartsheet, Microsoft Project).
• Are able to obtain Top Secret level security clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

You'll go above and beyond our minimum requirements if you have...

• Experience with business applications development and deployment
• Change management experience and user adoption
• Experience creating and giving presentations to executive-level stakeholders to gaining consensus and buy-in.
• PMP Certification
• Experience working APL IT technical sector leaders
• Experience working with the government or DoD

• A Master's degree in IT, communications, business administration, operations, public relations, or a related field.

• Top Secret-level (or higher) security clearance.

Why work at APL?

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) brings world-class expertise to our nation's most critical defense, security, space and science challenges. While we are dedicated to solving complex challenges and pioneering new technologies, what makes us truly outstanding is our culture. We offer a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere where you can bring your authentic self to work, continue to grow, and build strong connections with inspiring teammates.

At APL, we celebrate our differences and encourage creativity and bold, new ideas. Our employees enjoy generous benefits, including a robust education assistance program, unparalleled retirement contributions, and a healthy work/life balance. APL's campus is located in the Baltimore-Washington metro area. Learn more about our career opportunities athttp://www.jhuapl.edu/careers.

APL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, occupation, marital or familial status, political opinion, personal appearance, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

APL is committed to promoting an innovative environment that embraces diversity, encourages creativity, and supports inclusion of new ideas. In doing so, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals of all abilities, including those with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in any part of the hiring process, please contact Accommodations@jhuapl.edu. Only by ensuring that everyone's voice is heard are we empowered to be bold, do great things, and make the world a better place.

The referenced pay range is based on JHU APL's good faith belief at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on factors such as geographic location, work experience, market conditions, education/training and skill level with consideration for internal parity. For salaried employees scheduled to work less than 40 hours per week, annual salary will be prorated based on the number of hours worked. APL may offer bonuses or other forms of compensation per internal policy and/or contractual designation. Additional compensation may be provided in the form of a sign-on bonus, relocation benefits, locality allowance or discretionary payments for exceptional performance. APL provides eligible staff with a comprehensive benefits package including retirement plans, paid time off, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, education assistance, and training and development. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.