IT Associate Director - Automation Engineering

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This role is for an engineering leader who will drive a unified automation approach spanning network, data center, compute, storage, virtualization, cloud, ITSM, and observability, enabling a more reliable, scalable, and modern infrastructure platform.

This role is central to Yale ITS’ stability agenda—transforming how infrastructure is built, operated, monitored, and improved through automation and engineering discipline. This leader will help transform Yale’s infrastructure operations by making automation the foundation for reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.

• Define and execute the enterprise automation strategy across all infrastructure domains
• Establish architecture and standards for automation (IaC, CI/CD, configuration management etc)
• Build a cohesive automation ecosystem, not siloed tool implementations

• Lead the design and delivery of automated infrastructure lifecycle workflows (provisioning, patching, scaling, decommissioning)
• Partner with infrastructure engineering teams to embed automation into day to day operations
• Ensure infrastructure is delivered through repeatable, code-based patterns (immutable infrastructure)

• Use automation to improve:
  Change reliability and safety;
  Patching and lifecycle compliance;
  Incident response and recovery speed;
  Resiliency and failover capability
• Enable observability by ensuring automated systems generate actionable telemetry and integrate with monitoring platforms

• Define and track key metrics (e.g., automation coverage, patch compliance, automated change success rate)
• Establish governance for:
  Automation pipelines;
  Infrastructure code quality and security;
  Tool lifecycle and standardization

• Build and lead a high-performing automation engineering team
• Coach and develop engineers across all experience levels
• Foster a culture of:
  Engineering rigor and ownership;
  Collaboration and knowledge sharing;
  Continuous learning and modernization

• Proven experience leading infrastructure automation or platform engineering teams in complex environments
• Deep technical knowledge across:
  Infrastructure (network, compute, storage, cloud);
  Automation and IaC (Ansible, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines)
• Demonstrated success driving automation at scale across multiple domains
• Strong understanding of: ITSM processes (change, incident, problem management);
  Observability and reliability engineering concepts

The leader will work closely with Infrastructure Engineering (network, compute, storage, cloud), Tech Ops (incident, change, observability), Information Security compliance teams.

They need to be able to influence a decentralized organization, aligning teams to shared automation standards and practices and should exhibit the following strengths:

• Technical communicator able to bridge engineering teams and senior leadership
• Execution-oriented leader with strong program delivery discipline
• Influencer without authority in complex, federated environments
• Strong ability to translate vision into actionable roadmaps
• Focus on accountability, outcomes, and measurable impact

• Proven ability to manage and develop staff.
• Well-developed time management, organizational, oral, and written communication, and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to recognize problems and create effective plans.
• Proven ability to manage multiple/complex projects, meeting deadlines and budget.