Senior IT Manager

Description

The Senior IT Manager leads BridgeTower Media’s IT function and sets its direction through an outsourced delivery model. The company does not run a large in-house IT staff. Instead, this position owns the IT roadmap, the partner portfolio, and the standards and accountability for the managed service provider (MSP) and other technology partners. Those partners deliver help desk, infrastructure, cloud, security operations, and website hosting and development services to roughly 265 employees across more than 30 brands. The role also manages connectivity and office equipment, including printer leases, for BTM’s physical offices.

The Senior IT Manager is the company’s single internal owner for IT and its senior technology voice with executives, vendors, acquirers, and investors. Partners help develop plans and are responsible for carrying out and monitoring the day-to-day work. The Senior IT Manager shapes the IT strategy and sourcing model, agrees plans with partners and approves them, sets the standards partners must meet, and holds them accountable through SLAs, KPIs, and regular reporting. The role also leads major vendor negotiations, manages the IT budget, and represents IT in acquisitions and integrations.

Duties + Responsibilities:

The following are the fundamental duties of this position. An individual must be able to perform each, with or without reasonable accommodation.

IT strategy, planning, and governance

• •Own the IT strategy and multi-year technology roadmap, developed with the company’s IT partners and approved by the VP Digital Product. Set priorities, make the case for investments, and present tradeoffs and risks to executive leadership.
• •Own the IT sourcing and operating model. Assess annually whether the current mix of managed and specialist partners is delivering the right cost, risk, and service outcomes, and recommend changes such as consolidation, re-sourcing, or adding internal capacity.
• •Serve as the company’s senior point of accountability for IT. Partner with department leaders to translate business goals into clear requirements and service standards for partners to deliver against.
• •Run the IT governance cadence: a weekly IT status update, a monthly IT review, and a defined KPI scorecard covering service delivery, security, assets, and licensing, based on partner reporting.
• •Build and manage the annual IT budget, including managed services, licensing, hardware refresh, and projects. Track actual spend and renewals against plan, explain variances, and deliver savings through consolidation and renegotiation.

Managed service provider (MSP) and vendor accountability

• •Own the company’s relationship with its managed service provider (MSP). The MSP performs day-to-day service desk, endpoint, server, network, security operations, Microsoft 365, cloud, and backup work. This role sets expectations, reviews performance, and escalates when standards are not met.
• •Define and negotiate formal service level agreements (SLAs) and KPIs with each IT partner. Review performance against them every month, require corrective action plans when targets are missed, and confirm that contracted deliverables are received, including monthly executive reports, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and annual technology reviews.
• •Review MSP and vendor invoices each month against contracts, asset inventory, and license counts, and resolve discrepancies.
• •Lead negotiations for major IT agreements, including MSP renewals, with Legal and Finance. Manage the full contract lifecycle: scope, statements of work, change orders, renewals and notice windows, RFPs, vendor evaluations, and transitions.
• •Maintain a single vendor responsibility map (RACI) across the MSP, the web development partner, hosting providers, telecom and internet carriers, printer lease vendors, and other technology vendors, so every system and process has a clear owner and escalation path.
• •Hold partners to ITIL-aligned processes for incident, problem, change, and service request management, and approve significant changes before they are made.

Cybersecurity, risk, and compliance

• •Partner with the MSP on the company’s cybersecurity plan, covering endpoint detection and response, identity protection, multi-factor authentication, zero-trust access, email security, patching, vulnerability management, and backup. The MSP develops the plan and is responsible for implementing and monitoring it. This role approves the plan, sets the standards, and holds the MSP accountable to them through regular reporting.
• •Review security reporting from the MSP and its 24×7 security operations (SOC) service, including detections, patch compliance, vulnerability remediation, and backup success. Escalate gaps and confirm remediation is completed on time.
• •Ensure the incident response plan and playbooks are kept current and tested through tabletop exercises with partners. Serve as the company’s decision-maker and point of communication with leadership during security incidents.
• •Approve disaster recovery and business continuity standards, including recovery time and recovery point objectives (RTO/RPO), and confirm that partners carry out periodic restore tests and report results.
• •Ensure the annual risk assessment, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security awareness training are completed by the responsible partners, and maintain the IT risk register.
• •Own and approve the IT policy library (acceptable use, access control, password, onboarding/offboarding, software procurement, data handling). Make sure partners keep evidence ready for audits, customer security questionnaires, and cyber-insurance renewals.
• •Work with Legal on the technical side of privacy and data protection (e.g., CCPA/CPRA, vendor data processing agreements) and accessibility (ADA/VPAT).
• •Collaborate directly with Human Resources (HR) and Legal counsel when technical compliance violations occur

Infrastructure, identity, and end-user services

• •Review and approve standards for the Microsoft 365 and Entra ID environment, which the MSP administers. Approve access policies, confirm that the joiner/mover/leaver process with HR is followed, and review the results of quarterly access reviews and privileged-account checks.
• •Hold partners accountable for network and cloud infrastructure that supports a cloud-first, distributed workforce, including zero-trust network access, firewall services, and the company’s Azure footprint.
• •Manage local office networks and connectivity at each BTM office. Own the contracts for internet circuits and ISPs, confirm that partners maintain LAN, Wi-Fi, network equipment, and backup connectivity to agreed standards, and coordinate installs, moves, upgrades, and outage escalation with carriers and partners.
• •Manage leases for the multifunction printers and copiers in BTM offices: lease and service contracts, vendor performance, supplies, usage and cost reviews, secure configuration standards, and right-sizing the fleet at renewal or end of lease.
• •Set hardware standards and approve purchases. Hold the MSP accountable for an accurate asset register, verify it each quarter, and approve refresh plans, recovery of equipment from departing employees, and secure disposal.
• •Hold the MSP accountable for help desk performance. Review ticket volume, response and resolution times, aging tickets, and customer satisfaction against SLAs. Act as the escalation point, and require root-cause fixes for recurring issues.
• •Set service standards for collaboration and communication systems, including Microsoft Teams, Teams Phone, video conferencing, and conference-room technology, and confirm partners meet them.

Software and license management

• •Own the consolidated software and renewal inventory spanning corporate and digital-platform applications.
• •Lead regular license utilization reviews with partners. Approve right-sizing of subscriptions, reclamation of unused seats, and consolidat