Manager of Infrastructure

About Our Company

Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. Operating out of Indianapolis, IN, our retail stores offer officially licensed headwear and apparel from collegiate and professional sports teams, plus top brands like Nike, New Era, Adidas, and Mitchell & Ness.

We currently operate 1,200 locations domestically and 50 internationally, including specialty concept stores for the NBA, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, and numerous MLB teams. In recent years, Lids has built partnerships with iconic global brands including Marvel, Playboy, and the Harlem Globetrotters, and gained ambassadors like Justin Jefferson, Quavo, and Josephine Skriver – creating a community for both sports fans and fashion lovers.

The company is currently expanding with the goal of becoming the largest licensed brick-and-mortar sports retailer across the globe.

General Position Summary

As the leader of Network Operations team within a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) environment, the Network operations Manager oversees the technical expertise and execution of the team that builds and supports critical IT infrastructure that ensures the business integrity and continuity of Lids retail operations. This role is in-office at our Indianapolis HQ.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the Network and Systems teams and work collaboratively with the business and IT associates in a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) model.
• Follow Scrum or Kanban practices for team delivery.
• Build successful and productive relationships with cross-functional teams.
• Play a leadership role in managing the configuration, installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of network and related equipment.
• Oversee the design of network and equipment implementations and upgrades, including requirements gathering.
• Lead improvement efforts to software, hardware, design, etc.
• Create best practices to drive timely closure of Incidents, Changes and Service Requests within SLAs and priorities.

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Minimum of 3 years managing a technology engineering team.
• Familiarity with supporting and troubleshooting network and equipment such as; TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, Ethernet, Frame Relay, ATM, OSPF, VoIP, BGP, Network security tools, and packet analyzers.

• Experience configuring and supporting Cisco networking tools e.g., Nexus, Catalyst, ISR, ASR, Meraki.
• Knowledge and understanding of Open Systems Interconnection and Azure.
• Experience managing workflows in the following areas:
  • Network topologies and protocols -  including BGP, HSRP, and OSPF
  • Cloud architecture and services
  • VPN, VPN Posturing, VLAN, LAN, and WAN.
  • Fortinet firewalls.
  • Configuring and maintaining F5 Load balancers (LTM, GTM).
  • Network security tools to monitor network traffic, security alerts, identifying potential threats and instructions.

Preferred Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Familiarity with load balancing and disaster recovery and managing an enterprise network with multiple datacenters.
• CCNA, CCNP or equivalent certification preferred.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in the following areas:
  • Cybersecurity requirements analysis, design development and implementation
  • Cybersecurity concepts and requirements development and analysis; cybersecurity planning and management
  • Cybersecurity policy development
  • Contingency planning

Reports To

• VP of Infrastructure & Operations

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