Associate Director, IT Infrastructure

The Associate Director – IT Infrastructure will oversee the design, implementation, and management of enterprise-wide IT infrastructure supporting R&D, manufacturing, quality, and commercial operations within a regulated (GxP) environment. The role requires a balance of strategic leadership, deep technical expertise, and compliance awareness to ensure that IT systems are secure, reliable, and aligned with regulatory standards such as FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and CSV (Computer System Validation) requirements.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:  

The following reflects management's definition of essential functions for this job but does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned.  Management may assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons.

• Design and Implementation: Design integration solutions, create and manage IT infrastructure, including hardware, WAN, LAN, WIFI networks, cloud services, and implement middleware to facilitate data exchange between systems.  Establish forecasting models, right-size environments, and execute scaling plans across computers, storage, network, and cloud to meet growth and project demand.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery: Maintain DR runbooks, conduct regular failover tests, and ensure recovery objectives are met for critical platforms, in partnership with the Director of Information Security
• Collaboration and Communication: Work with development, operations, and other technical teams to understand requirements, implement solutions, and ensure successful deployments. 
• Troubleshooting and Maintenance: Proactively identify, resolve, and prevent issues related to system communication and data flow, and maintain the integrity of integration systems. 
• Project Management: Manage integration projects, including planning, scheduling, and monitoring progress. In partnership with the Director of International IT Operations, lead infrastructure workstreams for global initiatives such as site openings, migrations, and platform upgrades. Build integrated plans, manage risk, and deliver to scope, schedule, and budget.
• Documentation: Creating, maintaining, and publishing documentation for integration processes, user manuals, and technical specifications. 
• Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor system performance, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing enhancements to optimize integration processes. 
• Global Audio/Visual Team liaison: Responsible for the coordination of the architecture of AV systems at Ford Foundation to ensure alignment with Global IT's strategy, goals, and objectives. Ensure that A/V systems have proper documentation regarding integration with Network/Collaboration/Voice and Security infrastructure globally.
• Security and compliance liaison: Coordinate with the Director of Information Security on patching, vulnerability remediation, and configuration hardening for infrastructure. Supports audits and evidence collection for SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other frameworks. 
• Relationship Management: Maintain and manage relationships with key vendors, acting as a technical liaison to resolve problems and concerns, manage escalations, and foster productive partnerships. Lead vendor performance reviews and contribute to RFPs, renewals, and cost optimization.
• Team leadership and development: Mentor engineers, build career paths, and training plans. Foster a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 10–15 years of IT infrastructure experience, including 5+ years in leadership roles within pharma or life sciences.
• Strong leadership, team building, and performance management skills.
•  Hands-on experience in IT infrastructure, including networking, cloud services (AWS, Azure), virtualization (Hyper-V, VMware), and enterprise applications.
•  In-depth knowledge of IT service management (ITSM), ITIL frameworks, security best practices, and compliance standards.
•  Certifications such as ITIL, PMP, CCNP, CISSP, or cloud certifications (AWS, Azure) are highly preferred.
•  Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to make data-driven decisions in a fast-paced environment.
•  Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across all organizational levels.
• Strong experience with GxP-compliant infrastructure environments
• Data center management (on-prem & hybrid cloud)
• Network architecture (LAN/WAN/SD-WAN, firewalls, VPNs)
• Storage and backup solutions (SAN, NAS, Veeam, NetBackup)

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Frequently required to stand
• Frequently required to walk. 
• Frequently required to sit. 
• Frequently required to talk or hear. 
• Occasionally required to lift light weights (less than 25 pounds) 
• Specific vision abilities required for this job include: close vision, color vision and ability to adjust or focus

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• The noise level in the work environment usually is quiet.

Equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.