Manager, IT - Systems & Operations

About Aspire Bakeries

At Aspire Bakeries, we don’t just bake breads, cookies, and cakes - we create foods that bring people together. From La Brea Bakery® artisan breads to Otis Spunkmeyer® cookies, our products are enjoyed by millions of people every day. We’re an industry leader with 13 commercial bakeries across North America, driven by talented manufacturing and support teams who take pride in their work and our food. We're looking for hard-working people who bring integrity, creativity, and a passion for excellence. In return, we offer a workplace culture built on care, ownership, and growth, where your contributions matter and your career can rise as high as our bread loaves!

Why You’ll Love Working At Aspire Bakeries

• Culture: Our culture thrives on collaboration, diversity, and a shared passion for excellence. We support team members, empower growth, and encourage everyone to bring their authentic selves to work.
• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus company-paid life insurance and additional voluntary options to fit your needs.
• Work-Life Balance: Paid parental leave, generous paid time off, and holidays so you can recharge and spend time on what matters most.
• Financial Security: Competitive retirement plans, plus short- and long-term disability coverage for peace of mind.
• Growth & Development: Opportunities to build skills, grow your career, and develop expertise through Aspire Bakeries’ learning and development programs.
• Flexibility & Support: HSA and FSA plans to help you manage everyday expenses.
• Recognition & Rewards: Performance incentive plans that celebrate achievements across sales, bakery performance, and individual contributions.

About The Role: Manager, IT - Systems & Operations

We are seeking a System Administration Infrastructure Manager to join our Ancaster or Brantford location. This role is responsible for the administration, reliability, security, and high availability of Aspire Bakeries’ enterprise infrastructure across both on‑premises and Microsoft Azure cloud environments. You will oversee hybrid workloads, manage physical and virtualized systems, lead data center operations, and guide a distributed team toward delivering secure, efficient, and scalable services across the enterprise.

This role requires you to be onsite in Swedesboro, NJ or Cayce, SC four days per week, giving you hands-on collaboration with the team and daily exposure to the pulse of the business.

Compensation

Salary Range: $90,000 – 120,000

Core Accountabilities (What You’ll Be Doing)

• Lead and develop a system administration team to ensure exceptional operational performance and customer service.
• Ensure high availability, security, and reliable operation of server, storage, and enterprise application environments across on‑premises and Azure.
• Oversee the design, deployment, and management of hybrid infrastructure solutions that integrate physical, virtual, and cloud environments.
• Drive infrastructure modernization through upgrades, harmonization initiatives, and adoption of best‑practice technologies.
• Maintain infrastructure standards, documentation, and architectural diagrams to ensure consistency and governance.
• Monitor system performance and implement improvements to enhance reliability and efficiency.
• Collaborate with IT leadership to develop processes, procedures, and strategies that improve service delivery and reduce risk.

Minimum Qualifications (What You Bring To The Table)

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or equivalent experience.
• 7–10 years of experience managing server, storage, domain services, and enterprise systems across on‑premises and Azure environments.
• Expertise in Windows and Linux OS, Active Directory, MSSQL, virtualized environments (Hyper‑V, VMware), and enterprise storage (SAN/NAS).
• Experience leading or coaching technical teams in a distributed environment.
• Ability to lift moderately heavy equipment (e.g., computers, peripherals) as needed.
• Ability to participate in on‑call rotation, work evenings/weekends, and travel 25–50%.

Preferred Qualifications (Extra Ingredients For Success)

• Industry certifications such as Microsoft Azure Administrator or Architect, VMware, Cisco Data Center, EMC, GIAC, or CISSP.
• Architect‑level knowledge of Commvault backup solutions.
• Experience with network management tools or large‑scale cloud migrations.
• Strong communication skills, able to explain complex concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities in fast‑paced, high‑pressure environments.

Key skills/competency

• System Administration
• Infrastructure Management
• Microsoft Azure
• Hybrid Cloud
• Server Operations
• Storage Management
• Team Leadership
• IT Security
• High Availability
• Operational Performance