Enterprise Identity and Collaboration Operations Lead

Job Description
Position Summary
We are seeking an enterprise identity and collaboration operations lead with deep hands-on experience in enterprise identity and collaboration technologies who is ready to step into leading and mentoring other operational team members. This position is ideal for a technically skilled engineer or administrator with a passion for mentorship and operational excellence. The manager will lead a team responsible for 24/7 support and strategic management of both on-premises and Azure Active Directory, authentication systems, and Microsoft 365 collaboration tools, while maintaining ownership of technical service delivery.

This role is both strategic and hands-on, requiring a balance between leading a team and contributing directly to the administration and engineering of key platforms.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership & Management
Lead, mentor, and grow a team of identity and collaboration engineers responsible for critical IT services.

Manage 24x7 operational support and incident response for directory services and M365 tools.

Define team goals, KPIs, and support metrics to track performance and improve service quality.

Foster a high-performance, customer-centric culture focused on service reliability and user experience.

Act as an escalation point for complex technical and operational issues.

Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Oversee the administration, design, and health of Active Directory (on-prem) and Azure Active Directory environments.

Ensure proper synchronization via Azure AD Connect, including hybrid identity management.

Lead efforts around authentication, including MFA, SSO, Conditional Access, and integration with 3rd-party apps via SAML, OAuth, and OIDC.

Guide the team on managing directory security, domain trusts, replication, DNS, and Kerberos-related issues.

Microsoft 365 Collaboration Tools
Ensure smooth operation of Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, and SharePoint Online, including integrations with AAD.

Oversee configuration and support of collaboration environments and troubleshoot user-facing issues.

Manage user lifecycle and permissions across M365 workloads.

Endpoint and Policy Management
Manage Group Policy Object (GPO) development and maintenance to enforce configuration baselines across Windows endpoints.

Lead efforts to streamline endpoint management using Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune/MEM) where applicable.

Ensure compliance with endpoint security policies, patching, and provisioning.

Security, Compliance & Best Practices

Collaborate with Security and Compliance teams to enforce least-privilege access, RBAC, auditing, and monitoring standards.

Ensure IAM and collaboration systems meet organizational regulatory requirements (SOX, HIPAA, ISO 27001, etc.).

Maintain and improve internal documentation, runbooks, and knowledge articles.

Project & Operational Excellence
Lead or contribute to strategic projects including domain consolidation, hybrid-cloud IAM transformations, or platform migrations.

Drive automation and process improvements using PowerShell or other scripting tools.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (security, architecture, networking) on large-scale IT initiatives.

Expectations & Qualities
Able to roll up sleeves and solve complex technical problems, while guiding and developing team members.

Comfortable balancing operational firefighting with long-term strategic planning.

A self-starter with the ability to lead through ambiguity, set priorities, and execute under pressure.

Brings a "customer-first" mindset to service design and support.

Committed to continuous learning and development—both for self and the team.

Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field; or equivalent work experience.

6+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise systems administration, especially Active Directory and Azure AD.

2+ years in a technical team lead or managerial role, formal or informal.

Deep understanding of authentication protocols (LDAP, Kerberos, NTLM, SAML, OAuth, OIDC).

Experience managing or supporting Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and related workloads.

Expertise in Group Policy, PowerShell, and endpoint configuration.

Hands-on experience with hybrid identity models and modern endpoint management.

Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Intune) and compliance policies.

Certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate, Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator, or Azure Administrator Associate.

Knowledge of Zero Trust and modern security architecture principles.

Familiarity with managing identity integrations for SaaS applications and enterprise federation solutions.

Work Environment and Schedule
May require occasional after-hours or weekend work to support major incidents or upgrades.

Participates in an on-call rotation and ensures team coverage during critical support windows.

Hybrid or remote work model depending on business needs.

Salary Range-$100,000-$140,000 a year