{"id":158087,"url":"https://alion.io/job/thorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations","title":"Senior Manager, IT Infrastructure & Operations","company":{"id":6560,"name":"Thorlabs","domain":"thorlabs.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/thorlabs","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workable","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":79,"open_postings":18,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.833,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":34,"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"}},"role":"DevOps","role_family":"DevOps","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Newton, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":163000,"max":225000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":225000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"Incident Management","optional":false},{"name":"ITIL","optional":false},{"name":"ITSM","optional":false},{"name":"Kanban","optional":false},{"name":"Scrum","optional":false},{"name":"Service Desk","optional":false},{"name":"VPN","optional":false},{"name":"Waterfall","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-28","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T04:55:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":65,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":65},"description":"At Thorlabs, we design and manufacture components, instruments, and systems that transform the world by identifying, enabling, and accelerating key photonics (i.e., light-based) technologies. Backed by a dedicated workforce of more than 3,000 employees worldwide, Thorlabs contributes to cutting-edge research and real-world innovation.\nWhether you're early in your career or bringing years of experience, you’ll find opportunities to grow, take ownership, and make meaningful contributions from day one. We know every employee brings unique talents and perspectives that fuel our success, and we seek driven individuals who are excited to make an impact in a fun, fast-moving culture.\nThe Senior Manager, IT Infrastructure & Operations leads global IT Engineering and local IT Service Management teams to deliver reliable, efficient, and responsive IT operations that support business needs and enterprise platforms. Serving as the primary IT Infrastructure & Operations leader at the global headquarters, this role drives operational excellence, service delivery, incident management, and continuous improvement while aligning local responsiveness with global standards. The position also contributes to Infrastructure & Operations strategy, translates business priorities into operational outcomes, and supports the growth and development of the Global IT organization.\nAlthough the location of the position is in Newton, NJ, from time to time it may be required to undertake duties at other Thorlabs locations.\nEssential Job Functions include the following, but are not limited to:\nLead and develop assigned IT Operations resources, fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.\nEnsure strong alignment with business priorities, executive expectations, and operational responsiveness.\nDevelop and execute IT service and infrastructure strategies aligned with business objectives.\nManage daily operations, performance, and continuous improvement of service delivery, network availability, and system uptime.\nEstablish and monitor service levels, KPIs, and operational metrics to ensure high-quality support and infrastructure performance.\nDirect incident, problem, change, and escalation management processes to minimize business disruption.\nPartner with Information Security and other control functions to ensure infrastructure security requirements, compliance obligations, disaster recovery, and business continuity capabilities are effectively implemented and maintained.\nWorking with the procurement team where needed, this role will manage vendor relationships, service providers, contracts, and technology budgets.\nLead, mentor, and develop IT service and network professionals, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.\nDrive infrastructure modernization, process automation, and operational efficiency initiatives.\nBuild strong relationships with business and IT leaders, understand operational priorities and pain points, and ensure Infrastructure & Operations services and delivery are aligned to business criticality/needs.\nIn addition to the essential functions and duties listed above, all positions are also responsible for:\nMeeting company standards pertaining to quantity and quality of work performed on an ongoing basis, performing all work-related tasks in a manner that is in compliance with all Company policies and procedures.\nAdhering to Company policies, procedures, and directives regarding standards of workplace behavior in completing job duties and assignments.\nThe Company retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position.\nPhysical Activities:\nThe employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch, climb or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and move up to 50 pounds.\nRequirements\nExperience:\n10+ years of progressive experience in enterprise infrastructure and IT operations, including significant leadership responsibility in complex environments.\n5+ years of proven work experience designing, deploying, and managing enterprise-class cloud systems (Azure/AWS/Google, etc.)\n5+ years of experience managing cloud, network, and/or system engineers working on various on-premises and cloud-based systems.\nProven experience operating within a global or multi-site organization, with exposure to both centralized and localized IT delivery models.\nDemonstrated experience supporting critical business operations in a complex, fast-paced environment.\nDemonstrated ability to communicate effectively with senior business leaders, particularly during major incidents, technology decisions, and investment prioritization.\nEducation:\nBachelor of Science in Computer Science or equivalent fields in IT or equivalent experience.\nSpecialized Knowledge and Skills:\nProven leadership of managers and cross-functional technical teams within complex global, multi-site, and matrix organizations.\nExtensive experience leading multiple concurrent infrastructure, operations, and technology initiatives using structured and disciplined methodologies such as Waterfall, Agile (Scrum), and Kanban.\nBroad expertise across enterprise IT infrastructure, including data centers, virtualization, cloud and hybrid environments (Azure, IaaS/SaaS), storage platforms (NAS/SAN), virtual desktop technologies (AVD/Citrix), networking (LAN/WAN/SD-WAN, wireless, VPN), identity management, security, and enterprise services.\nStrong knowledge of IT operations, service management, and governance practices, including ITIL/ITSM, incident, problem, change, configuration, monitoring, patch management, and DevOps methodologies.\nSkilled in developing technical standards, operational documentation, runbooks, and knowledge transfer programs, while effectively communicating complex technical concepts to executive leadership and translating business objectives into actionable technology strategies.\nExperience with data protection, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, business continuity planning, risk management, compliance, and governance frameworks.\nProven ability to evaluate, recommend, and implement scalable technology solutions aligned with business goals while managing vendors, service providers, and strategic partners to optimize cost, performance, and service delivery.\nAssess capability, staffing, skills, and operating models; develop talent and succession plans within the role’s managerial responsibility; and recommend changes to improve scalability, accountability, resilience, and global service delivery.\nPay range for this position is $163,000 - $225,000 depending on experience\nOther:\nAvailability to support night/weekend coverage based on the needs of the business.\nOrganizational Relationships\nDirect Reports:\nThis position has direct supervisory and/or matrixed site leadership responsibilities. Direct reports or assigned resources may include IT Service Desk, Network, Systems, Cloud, Infrastructure, or Engineering personnel and managers, with broader site leadership responsibility for Newton and surrounding locations and influence across global infrastructure and service teams.\nDirect Reports: IT Service/Engineering Managers, with broader influence across additional infrastructure and service teams globally.\nThorlabs values its diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Job descriptions are not intended as and do not create employment contracts. The organization maintains its status as an at-will employer. Employees can be terminated for any reason not prohibited by law.\nBenefits\n Thorlabs offers a complete benefits package that includes medical, dental and vision insurance, company paid life insurance, a generous PTO package, a 401(k) plan, and tuition reimbursement just to name a few.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8019,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":5,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":true},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Lasers & Laser Systems","Test & Measurement Instruments","Optics & Photonic Components"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 6","filings_12m":6,"filings_prev_12m":8,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":82500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":17,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.468,"p_room":0.36,"age_days":65,"expected_fill_days":34,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":225000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/thorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/thorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-01T06:42:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":10353,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-02T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":6560},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=6560"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fthorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fthorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fthorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/thorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fthorlabs-senior-manager-it-infrastructure-operations"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":158087}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"thorlabs.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":158087},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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