IT Manager

About Rydin Rydin is an established print operations company based in Streamwood, Illinois. We combine advanced manufacturing operations, secure print production and modern digital workflows to serve customers across multiple industries throughout North America. Our environment blends a fully equipped on-premise server room — redundant ISP circuits, virtualized server clusters, enterprise networking, and production storage — with cloud platforms including Microsoft 365, AWS, and Salesforce. Technology plays a critical role across nearly every area of our business, including manufacturing operations, production workflow systems, customer-facing applications, cybersecurity, automation, and operational scalability. Position Summary Lead the technology environment behind a specialized manufacturing and technology business. The IT Manager is a senior technology leader at Rydin, accountable for the day-to-day operation, security, and continuous improvement of all technology used across the business. This is a hands-on role for an experienced manager who is equally comfortable troubleshooting a Cisco firewall, leading a vendor renewal, mentoring a help desk technician, and presenting a roadmap to executive leadership. Technology at Rydin is deeply integrated into manufacturing operations, customer-facing systems, business workflows, and operational scalability. You will own all three pillars of our environment — on-premise infrastructure, cloud platforms, and corporate IT — supported by an existing infrastructure contractor, a part-time help desk engineer and a part-time cloud engineer. Daily presence in the server room and on the print floor is an important part of the role; this is a hybrid position. You will also partner with leadership to identify where modern automation and AI-enabled tools can practically improve operations. Key Responsibilities Infrastructure Operations & On-Premise Environment Own day-to-day operations of the on-premise environment: virtualization clusters, server hardware and storage, backup and recovery systems, Active Directory and domain services, file services, and print workflow servers. Oversee the network environment alongside our infrastructure contractor: enterprise switching, redundant ISP routing, perimeter firewall, VPN, and wireless infrastructure. Lead hardware and software lifecycle planning across virtualization, networking, server, and storage platforms; develop replacement roadmaps and budget proposals ahead of end-of-support timelines. Maintain a complete inventory of certificates, licenses, and renewal schedules across infrastructure and application platforms. Own disaster recovery and business continuity planning: maintain documented recovery procedures, validate backup integrity, run periodic restore tests, and define recovery time and recovery point objectives for critical systems. Security & Compliance Manage the relationship with our managed security service provider (Arctic Wolf), including alert triage workflow, escalation procedures, scheduled service reviews, and tuning of monitoring scope. Coordinate day-to-day security operations across endpoint protection, email security, MFA, and patching workflows; ensure issues identified through monitoring are addressed and documented. Coordinate annual PCI compliance scanning in partnership with our QSA, ensuring scope covers both on-premise and cloud environments where cardholder data transits. Maintain documented security incident response procedures and participate in periodic tabletop exercises with the MSSP and leadership. Cloud & Corporate IT Administer Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive), Duo MFA, KnowBe4, Barracuda, and other corporate SaaS platforms. Oversee the AWS environment hosting customer-facing applications, working with our cloud engineer to maintain security, cost, and architecture standards. Support print operations applications including Cloud Flow, Onyx, Caldera, HP Print OS, PrintVIS on Microsoft Business Central, and Adobe Creative Cloud — coordinating with the Director of Print Operations and creative department leads. Partner with business owners on Salesforce administration and integrations. Help establish practical governance and best practices around the use of AI-enabled tools, automation platforms, and business data security. Vendor, License & Lifecycle Management Maintain a complete vendor inventory and renewal calendar across all IT contracts: virtualization and infrastructure software, networking support, backup and recovery, hardware warranties, ISP circuits, certificates, and cloud and SaaS subscriptions. Build and maintain a multi-year hardware and software lifecycle plan tied to the annual budgeting cycle. Own the annual IT operating and capital budget: forecast spend, track against plan, identify cost-savings opportunities, and present financial performance to executive leadership. Negotiate renewals and new vendor agreements; benchmark pricing and challenge auto-renewals. Documentation & Knowledge Management Own the IT documentation framework on SharePoint, including server room runbooks, network diagrams, application inventory, vendor contacts, change logs, and disaster recovery procedures. Capture institutional knowledge from existing contractors and ensure no critical operational knowledge sits with a single individual. Establish change management practices appropriate to the size and risk profile of the environment. Team Leadership & Help Desk Mentor and lead the IT Support / Help Desk team member; support career development and expand on-premise capability over time. Coordinate with our part-time infrastructure contractor and part-time cloud engineer as part of a hybrid team model. Be the calm, on-site face of IT for executive meetings, all-hands events, and day-to-day employee support. Required Qualifications 7-10+ years of progressive IT experience, including at least 3 years of IT management or senior-level ownership in a small-to-mid-sized environment.

Hands-on expertise across on-premise infrastructure:

VMware vSphere, Windows Server, Active Directory, enterprise storage, and backup/DR (Veeam preferred). Strong working knowledge of Cisco networking (routing, switching, ASA/Firepower) with the ability to read configurations and troubleshoot effectively. Working knowledge of IT security at a manager level: experience managing MSSP relationships, familiarity with PCI DSS, endpoint protection, MFA, and incident response coordination. Microsoft 365 administration experience: Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, identity, and conditional access. Track record of building or improving IT documentation, vendor management, and lifecycle planning in environments where these have been informal or undocumented. •Strong business and operational mindset with the ability to identify opportunities for process improvement, automation, and practical use of modern technology platforms. Excellent written and verbal communication; comfortable presenting to executive leadership and translating technical risk into business language. Experience managing a cloud-based infrastructure such as AWS. Ability to travel to the corporate office in Streamwood, IL at least 2 days a week. Preferred Qualifications Experience in print operations, manufacturing, or production-floor environments. Familiarity with print workflow systems such as Onyx, Caldera, Print OS, EFI/Cloud Flow, PrintVIS, or Adobe Creative Cloud at scale. Experience leading a hypervisor migration off VMware (to KVM-based platforms, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, or similar). Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.

Industry certifications:

CCNA/CCNP, VMware

VCP, AWS

Solutions Architect, Microsoft Certified:

Identity and Access Administrator, CISSP, or CompTIA Security+. • Experience deploying or governing AI-enabled business tools or workflow automation (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Power Automate, or similar). Experience managing hybrid teams that include part-time contractors and remote engineers. Compensation & Benefits Base salary: $120,000 - $140,000, commensurate with experience. 401K Medical/Vision/Dental/Life Insurance Short and Long Term Disability Profit Sharing Paid Holidays Paid Vacations Meaningful ownership and direct visibility to executive leadership. Rydin is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Pay:

$120,000.00 - $140,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) Dental insurance Employee assistance program Health insurance Life insurance Paid time off Referral program Vision insurance

Work Location:

In person