IT Manager

ABOUT KRAKEN KINETICS

Kraken Kinetics designs and manufactures advanced kinetic solutions that enable modern war fighting capabilities for the United States Armed Forces and its allies. We specialize in mission-tailored warheads and firing systems for unmanned and autonomous weapon platforms, delivering production-ready solutions at speed to address urgent national security challenges.

Our team brings decades of specialized Department of War experience across the full lifecycle of kinetic system development—from concept and design through testing, manufacturing, and operational deployment. Built on a foundation of work that helped lead the DoW into the era of kinetic drones, Kraken Kinetics combines commercial agility with deep technical expertise to deliver DEFINITIVE LETHALITY
™when it matters most.

Position Summary

We are seeking an IT Manager to lead Kraken Kinetics' IT function: setting the policies, procedures, priorities, and plans that our IT team works from, and making sure IT supports where the business is headed.

Kraken is a rapidly growing defense manufacturer working in a Microsoft 365 GCC High environment. We're looking for an experienced technical professional to lay the groundwork and help shape the documented IT policies, standards, and clear decision-making structure that enable our company to operate efficiently in a compliant environment. You will design the IT operating model, own the IT roadmap and budget, and lead a team of two: a Systems Administrator who owns infrastructure and systems, and an IT Support Specialist who owns Tier 1–2 support.

This is a leadership and governance role, not a hands-on administration role. Day-to-day infrastructure work sits with the Systems Administrator, front-line support sits with the IT Support Specialist, and cybersecurity strategy and CMMC/NIST compliance sit with the Cybersecurity & Compliance Manager and Analyst. The IT Manager makes sure all of that work is prioritized, documented, and moving in one direction.

Key Responsibilities IT Governance, Policies & Procedures

• Develop, document, and maintain Kraken's foundational IT policies, including acceptable use, access control, account provisioning and deprovisioning, password and MFA standards, device management, data backup and retention, change management, incident response, and other security-related policies in coordination with the Cybersecurity & Compliance Manager.
• Own the library of IT standard operating procedures (SOPs), assigning the Systems Administrator and IT Support Specialist to draft procedures for their areas and approving the final versions.
• Define the IT service model: support tiers, escalation paths, ticket priorities, and service level targets.
• Establish an approval process for IT purchases, new software, system changes, and policy exceptions.
• Review and update policies at least annually, or as the business, contracts, or regulatory requirements change.

IT Strategy & Planning

• Build and maintain a multi-year IT roadmap aligned with company growth, contract requirements, and leadership priorities.
• Approve infrastructure standards and major architecture decisions proposed by the Systems Administrator, including the design and rollout of the on-premises server environment.
• Lead IT planning for enterprise systems (ERP, MRP, IMS) with business stakeholders, from selection through integration.
• Act as IT's point of contact for company leadership and department heads, translating business needs into IT projects and priorities.

Team Leadership

• Supervise, mentor, and evaluate the Systems Administrator and IT Support Specialist.
• Set team priorities and manage the IT project and request backlog so that above-tier work does not land on the help desk.
• Resolve priority conflicts,…