Senior Manager, Systems Operations

Information Technology (IT) is the unified IT organization that supports the vision, values, mission, and goals of the University by providing IT infrastructure, systems, administrative applications, academic resources and related services to faculty, students and staff. Embracing DUs Impact 2025, the division aligns IT resources with University and unit strategic goals and operational plans, providing service in the spirit of One DU.
The IT Systems team is responsible for implementation, operation and support of all hardware, servers and datacenter infrastructure in support of university applications and services. The team must understand the Big Picture view of the university's compute environment and research, recommend, implement and support modifications and/or enhancements necessary to keep the environment current, highly available and secure.

The Senior Manager, Systems Operations partners with the Director, IT Systems to advise the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and University leadership on technology investments that balance immediate operational requirements with long-term institutional strategy. The role helps shape technology guidance—including roadmaps, principles, standards, and best practices—to support the delivery and continuous evolution of the IT strategic roadmap. In addition, the Senior Manager maintains a hands-on technical presence, contributing directly to system reliability, performance, and operational excellence.

• Develops long-term strategies for the implementation of technology platforms, such as virtualization, cloud infrastructure, and data center operations in alignment with university goals
• Assists with disaster recovery planning
• Assists with strategy and planning for the use of Cloud infrastructure (IaaS) solutions
• Contributes to the creation of policies, standards, guidelines and procedures to ensure consistency and compliance
• Manages the research and evaluation of emerging technology, industry and market trends
• Ensures the conceptual completeness of technical solutions

• Oversees the lifecycle management of data center infrastructure, physical and virtual servers; the procurement, testing, training, implementation, decommissioning, and disposal
• Manages vendor relationships to maximize value to DU and ensures responsible stewardship of available resources
• Contributes to the budgeting process to promote responsible resource management and operational excellence
• Collaborates with project management and IT leaders to ensure Systems Operations is in alignment with project goals and requirements

• Designs, plans, and implements new IT solutions and major enhancements to existing solutions
• Manages the day-to-day operations of the University’s data centers, ensuring environmental (power and cooling) components are monitored and for business continuity
• Design and implement data backup / recovery and disaster recovery solutions to meet established university RTO and RPO requirements
• Maintain high availability for virtualization, compute, and storage systems
• Establishes and maintains effective partnerships with other IT units to ensure excellence in service delivery and a high level of customer satisfaction
• Provides hands‑on support in day-to-day operations
• Ensures systems meet Information Security standards and policies

• Introduce principles that foster trust, commitment, and accountability among team members
• Set clear goals, duties and standards for the team and utilize the performance management system to enable continuous feedback and to align individual employee goals with those of the university
• Ensure employees understand and adhere to all university policies