Manager of IT Infrastructure

About Slate

Slate is building safe, reliable, and customizable vehicles in the United States, focusing on reindustrialization and sustainability. We empower our employees' creativity and control over the appearance, feel, and function of our trucks.

We seek an experienced Manager of IT Infrastructure to lead our Systems and Network Engineering teams at the Warsaw, IN manufacturing plant. The role will shape and execute the infrastructure strategy across server, network, cloud, and operational technology (OT) environments, while partnering with plant operations and business stakeholders.

• Team Leadership & Development:
  Directly manage and develop a team of Systems Engineers and Network Engineers; provide clear direction, coaching, and career growth opportunities.
• Set team priorities, manage workload distribution, and ensure consistent, high‑quality delivery across infrastructure disciplines.
• Foster a culture of accountability, documentation, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and goal‑setting aligned with departmental objectives.
• Infrastructure Strategy & Execution:
  Own the overall infrastructure roadmap for the Warsaw plant, covering server, network, cloud, and OT/ICS environments.
• Lead planning and execution of infrastructure projects including new deployments, upgrades, migrations, and capacity expansion.
• Ensure infrastructure reliability, security, and scalability to meet production demands.
• Drive adoption of automation, monitoring, and infrastructure‑as‑code practices across the team.
• Operations & Incident Management:
  Establish and maintain operational standards, runbooks, and change management processes.
• Serve as the escalation point for critical infrastructure incidents; lead post‑incident reviews and drive resolution of systemic issues.
• Oversee on‑call rotations and after‑hours maintenance coverage to ensure 24/7 operational readiness.
• Partner with plant operations to minimize downtime and ensure IT/OT systems support production continuity.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management:
  Manage relationships with infrastructure vendors, service providers, and managed service partners.
• Collaborate with IT leadership, plant management, and engineering teams to align infrastructure initiatives with business priorities.
• Support budgeting, procurement, and asset lifecycle management for infrastructure hardware and software.

• Education:
  
  Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field required. Advanced degree a plus.
• Experience:
  
  8–12 years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure, with at least 3 years in a people management role.
• Proven track record leading infrastructure teams in complex, multi‑site or manufacturing environments.
• Hands‑on background in systems engineering (Linux/Windows server administration) and/or network engineering.
• Experience managing infrastructure in mixed IT/OT environments is strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of Linux server administration (RHEL/Rocky), virtualization platforms (Proxmox, VMware, or Hyper‑V), and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Solid understanding of enterprise networking: routing, switching, VLANs, firewalling, VPNs, and network segmentation.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, particularly AWS (EC2, RDS, VPC, IAM, security groups).
• Familiarity with infrastructure automation and monitoring tools (Ansible, Terraform, Zabbix, Prometheus/Grafana).
• Working knowledge of OT/ICS environments and industrial networking concepts is a strong plus.
• Certifications (Preferred): ITIL Foundation or equivalent service management certification; AWS Solutions Architect, Certified Sys Ops Administrator, or equivalent cloud certification; RHCSA/RHCE, CCNA/CCNP, or other relevant infrastructure certifications.
• Leadership &
  
  Soft Skills:
  
  Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, and develop high‑performing technical teams; strong project management skills; excellent communication skills; data‑driven decision maker; comfortable with ambiguity and capable of building structure in a high‑growth environment.

Base salary range: $114,000 – $143,000 (Warsaw, IN). Compensation may vary based on relevant experience, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location.

Benefits:
Competitive salary and benefits package; opportunities for professional growth and development; access to state‑of‑the‑art facilities and tooling; paid training and certification support for continued professional development.

Slate is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Aff… [full EEO statement omitted for brevity]