Senior Manager Technology Operations

WHAT A DIFFERENCE
 
At Primrose, our mission - to forge a path that leads to a brighter future for all children - is why we do what we do each day. Primrose provides a life-changing early learning experience for children and their families. We believe who children become is as important as what they know.
 
We believe who YOU are is as important as what you know. We make every effort to ensure everyone feels they belong in our Primrose community. Our commitment to Belongingness means we seek similarities and respect differences in our unique backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives. 
 
WHAT YOU WILL DO 
The Senior Manager, Technology Operations is a hands-on operational leader responsible for the stability, security, and scalability of Primrose School Franchising's technology environment. This role owns the day-to-day health of corporate and franchise-facing technology systems, leads the Change Advisory Board (CAB) process, manages the IT help desk, and serves as the primary point of accountability for infrastructure, cybersecurity, and vendor performance. Equally important is the ability to translate technology operations into business terms — communicating risk, cost, and capability to non-technical stakeholders across a 567-school franchise network. This is a full-time role.
 
Infrastructure and Security
•  Own the design, reliability, and performance of corporate IT infrastructure including network, cloud, endpoint, and telecommunications environments.
•  Lead capacity planning, lifecycle management, and refresh planning for hardware and software assets.
•  Oversee business continuity and disaster recovery planning, documentation, and annual testing.
•  Manage technology standup for new school openings (NSO tech readiness track), coordinating across departments to ensure franchise locations are operational on day one.
•  Own the corporate cybersecurity program including 24/7 SOC monitoring, endpoint protection, vulnerability management, and franchise owner security awareness training.
•  Maintain the IT risk register and ensure technology controls meet audit requirements (SOC 2, PCI, and applicable regulatory frameworks).
•  Lead incident response coordination and post-incident reviews.
 
Change Advisory Board (CAB) and Stakeholder Communications
•  Own the CAB process end-to-end: chair weekly meetings, maintain the change log, enforce change windows, and ensure proper risk assessment and rollback planning for all significant technology changes.
•  Drive continuous improvement of change management practices and educate stakeholders on the process.
•  Serve as the escalation point for emergency changes and conflict resolution between change owners.
•  Translate technology operations performance and risk into plain-language reporting for the executive leadership team.
•  Serve as the technology operations voice in cross-functional initiatives, including platform migrations, new school launches, and process improvement workstreams.
•  Support franchise owner communications related to technology outages, changes, and new capabilities.
 
IT Help Desk and Asset Management
•  Lead the IT Help Desk function, championing a service-oriented support culture with particular sensitivity to franchise owner and school-level end users.
•  Track and report on help desk KPIs; drive root cause analysis on recurring incidents to eliminate systemic issues.
•  Own the full IT asset lifecycle from procurement through disposition, including asset tracking, warranty management, and ITAD.
•  Develop, manage, and optimize the technology operations budget; track actuals against plan and provide variance commentary to the CIO.
 
Team Leadership and Vendor Management
•  Lead, develop, and mentor a team of technology operations professionals including help desk, systems, and security staff.
•  Set clear performance expectations while fostering a culture of growth, accountability, continuous learning, and customer service orientation.
•  Own and evaluate vendor relationships for technology operations partners including managed service providers, telecommunications carriers, SaaS platforms, and hardware suppliers.
•  Conduct quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with key vendors; maintain vendor scorecards tracking SLA adherence, cost, and strategic alignment.
 
Governance & Documentation
•  Own IT policy and procedure documentation, ensuring policies are current, communicated, and enforced.
•  Maintain audit-ready evidence for IT controls and coordinate with external auditors as needed.
 
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR 
• 7+ years of progressive IT experience with at least 3 years in a senior operations management role.
• Demonstrated experience owning infrastructure, security, help desk, and vendor management simultaneously.
• Hands-on experience leading a CAB or formal change management process.
• Strong communication skills with a proven ability to communicate technology risk and performance to non-technical business stakeholders.
• Strong vendor negotiation and relationship management skills.
• Experience managing and developing small-to-midsize IT teams.
• Experience with IT budget development and management.
• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment with competing priorities.
 
Preferred Qualifications:
•  Experience in a franchise, multi-unit retail, or distributed enterprise environment (50+ locations strongly preferred).
•  Familiarity with childcare, education, or consumer services technology ecosystems.
•  ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent practical ITSM experience.
•  Experience with managed SOC providers, endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms, and identity management tools (e.g., Entra ID / Azure AD).
•  Exposure to Snowflake, Databricks, or other modern data infrastructure environments.
•  Experience supporting platform migrations or technology transitions at scale.
•  PMP, CISSP, CompTIA Security+, or similar certification a plus.
 
 
WHAT YOU WILL GET 
• Commission or bonuses based on personal and company performance 
• 50% tuition reimbursement for up to three children and/or one grandchild at any Primrose School 
• Full-time team members are eligible for health, dental and vision insurance
• 401k with company matching up to 3.5% and company provided life insurance
• Employee Assistance Program