IT Manager Ryan Field at Northwestern University

Position Summary

The IT Manager is responsible for the day‑to‑day reliability, support, and maintenance of technology infrastructure at New Ryan Field and Welsh‑Ryan Arena. Reporting to the Director of Venue Technology, the role serves as a senior, hands‑on technical resource, providing Tier II support while independently troubleshooting and resolving Tier III‑level network, systems, and infrastructure issues. The IT Manager ensures that all venue technology endpoints—including point‑of‑sale terminals, ticket scanners, cameras, wireless access points, digital signage, access‑control devices, and other connected systems—remain operational and event‑ready at all times.

The position supports venue business operations, event production, ticketing, point‑of‑sale, security, broadcast, audiovisual, building systems, and other event‑critical technologies.

This is a 100% on‑site, field‑based position. The majority of each workday is spent inspecting systems, resolving issues, testing endpoints, and supporting users throughout the venues. Availability for evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours is required based on the event schedule.

Salary: $90,000 – $100,000 per year.

The position will remain open until October 2, 2026.

Health, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) savings plan, 401(k) matching, and paid time off (vacation days, sick days, and 11 holidays).

Oak View Group (OVG) is a global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services. We support seven world‑class venues and a roster of iconic arenas and stadiums across four continents.

The new Ryan Field is a 35,000‑seat football stadium designed to be the premier venue of its size in America for college sports, concerts, and other live events.

Welsh‑Ryan Arena is a 6,500‑seat multipurpose arena located on the campus of Northwestern University and home to university and community events.

• Serve as the primary on‑site escalation resource for complex IT, network, systems, and infrastructure issues.
• Provide advanced Tier II support with the ability to independently diagnose and resolve Tier III‑level incidents.
• Ensure venue endpoints are connected, functional, properly configured, and ready for daily operations and live events.
• Conduct routine field inspections and testing of point‑of‑sale terminals, ticket scanners, cameras, access points, IPTV devices, access‑control systems, digital signage, and other network‑connected equipment.
• Support and maintain the Cisco network environment, including switches, routers, wireless infrastructure, VLANs, access ports, network closets, and related platforms.
• Troubleshoot LAN, WAN, WLAN, VPN, DHCP, DNS, TCP/IP, routing, switching, authentication, and connectivity issues.
• Monitor network and system performance and proactively address potential service interruptions.
• Provide technical leadership and event‑day support for football games, basketball games, concerts, and other live events.
• Respond quickly to issues affecting ticketing, point‑of‑sale, credentialing, Wi‑Fi, broadcast, audiovisual, IPTV, security, digital signage, and back‑of‑house operations.
• Determine when issues should be resolved internally and when escalation to manufacturers, integrators, service providers, or other third‑party support is necessary.
• Support computers, mobile devices, printers, phones, conference rooms, and enterprise applications.
• Maintain network diagrams, equipment inventories, IP records, system documentation, and troubleshooting procedures.
• Coordinate technology projects, infrastructure upgrades, equipment replacements, structured cabling, and vendor work.
• Support temporary event connectivity and technical requirements for visiting productions, promoters, and event partners.
• Coordinate with OVG Corporate IT, Northwestern University Information Technology, cybersecurity teams, and service providers to implement organizational standards.
• Recommend improvements that increase reliability, security, operational efficiency, revenue opportunities, and the guest experience.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to part‑time staff and event personnel.
• Perform…