Manager, IT Systems Applications and Operations

Manager, IT Systems Applications and Operations at SpaceX

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

SpaceX is looking for an experienced Manager, IT Systems Applications and Operations. This role will encompass leading and managing IT teams dedicated to Network Operations Center (NOC), Security Operations Center (SOC), enterprise applications, and DevOps practices. Candidates must have experience working in organizations capable of meeting the demanding needs of “high caliber engineers” while also supporting critical operations such as launch and mission operations and 24x7 manufacturing operations. The ideal candidate will be flexible and flourish in a fast paced, always changing and challenging environment. Candidate should be a self-starter and have excellent motivation, leadership, and ingenuity to excel at this position.

Responsibilities

• Define requirements, perform research, evaluate vendors/solutions, design/implement solutions, and provide ongoing support for all technologies in scope. Provide simple but effective scalability, performance, and reliability.
• Drive consistent standardized solutions across SpaceX for all software, configurations, and processes.
• Implement tools and processes for efficient and effective operational management of the environment -- change management, monitoring, alerting, incident handling, customer request handling, etc.
• Apply security-minded decision processes and maintain strong attention to detail.
• Define, manage, and execute on a roadmap of projects that continues to raise the bar through implementing innovative technology, tools, automation, and processes with a team of engineers and administrators.
• Interact with internal customers to provide solutions and resolve problems in a timely and proactive manner. Serve as a primary liaison from IT to customers.
• Be involved, advise and participate in the technical decisions of the teams they oversee.
• Actively participate in crises as they arise, applying a strong sense of ownership and maintaining appropriate communication with stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline and 5+ years of IT operations/DevOps engineering OR 7+ years of IT operations/DevOps engineering experience in lieu of a degree.
• 4+ years of experience in IT management.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Professional experience with configuration management tools and concepts.
• Experience organizing and leading teams of IT engineers, of varying size and scope, toward common goals.
• Expertise in creating repeatable, reliable, scalable systems architectures, with high availability, fault tolerance, performance tuning, monitoring, and statistics/metrics collection.
• Experience with configuration management, provisioning, infrastructure as code, and other DevOps concepts and tools.
• Must be operationally minded and drive for the highest uptime of systems.
• Experience owning all aspects of corporate IT operations teams in a distributed enterprise environment.
• Networking experience in IPv4, switching, routing, firewalls and HA architecture.
• Must be comfortable working with mission critical and sensitive systems, with a sense of urgency appropriate to the responsibilities.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills with the ability to communicate with internal/external customers, vendors, management etc. in both formal and informal situations.
• Experience managing NOC/SOC functions, enterprise applications support (e.g., ERP, CRM, ServiceNow), threat detection, incident response, CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and observability tools (Splunk/ELK, Prometheus/Grafana).

Additional Requirements

• Ability to pass Air Force background checks for Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg.
• Ability to travel (<25%) to other SpaceX sites.
• Willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• Ability to lift 25 lbs. unassisted.

Compensation And Benefits

The pay range for a Manager, IT Systems Applications and Operations at SpaceX is $150,000.00 - $190,000.00 per year. Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis based on job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience. In addition to base salary, you may be eligible for long-term incentives (stock, stock options, or cash awards), potential discretionary bonuses, and the ability to purchase additional stock. Comprehensive benefits include medical, vision, and dental coverage, a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, various discounts and perks, 3 weeks of paid vacation, and 10+ paid holidays per year. Employees also accrue paid sick leave according to company policy.

Key skills/competency

• IT Operations Management
• DevOps Practices
• Network Operations Center (NOC)
• Security Operations Center (SOC)
• Enterprise Application Support
• Configuration Management
• Scalable System Architecture
• Incident Response
• Containerization (Docker/Kubernetes)
• Observability Tools (Splunk/Grafana)