Infrastructure Director with Data center exp

About the Role

IT Infrastructure Director Enterprise Infrastructure, Network, Data Center, Cloud, Security & Compliance Experience: 15+ Years of Enterprise IT Infrastructure Experience (8+ Years in Infrastructure Leadership)

Position Summary
The IT Infrastructure Director is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for the organization's enterprise infrastructure ecosystem, including data centers, enterprise networking, Azure cloud, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, infrastructure modernization, and regulatory compliance. This executive leadership role drives technology transformation initiatives that ensure highly available, secure, resilient, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure services supporting mission-critical business operations.
The Director oversees enterprise data centers, network infrastructure, cloud platforms, storage, virtualization, compute, identity management, cybersecurity, and infrastructure operations while leading large-scale data center migrations, cloud transformation programs, and enterprise modernization initiatives. This role partners closely with executive leadership, enterprise architects, cybersecurity teams, application owners, business stakeholders, and strategic technology vendors to align infrastructure investments with organizational objectives.

Primary Responsibilities

Enterprise Infrastructure Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and execute enterprise infrastructure strategy aligned with organizational goals and digital transformation initiatives.
• Establish long-term infrastructure roadmaps covering cloud adoption, modernization, networking, security, and operational excellence.
• Lead enterprise infrastructure architecture, technology lifecycle planning, capacity management, and infrastructure governance.
• Develop infrastructure standards, operational policies, and best practices.
• Manage infrastructure budgets, financial planning, technology investments, and vendor strategy.
• Present infrastructure performance, technology roadmaps, operational risks, and strategic initiatives to executive leadership.
• Lead enterprise-wide infrastructure transformation and modernization programs.

Enterprise Network Infrastructure & Connectivity

• Provide strategic leadership for enterprise network infrastructure supporting corporate offices, data centers, cloud platforms, branch locations, and remote workforce connectivity.
• Define enterprise network architecture and technology roadmaps supporting business expansion and cloud adoption.
• Oversee enterprise LAN, WAN, SD-WAN, Wireless, MPLS, VPN, Internet, and global connectivity services.
• Manage routing, switching, DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management (IPAM), network segmentation, and traffic optimization.
• Lead data center networking initiatives including Cisco ACI, Spine-Leaf architecture, VXLAN, and Software Defined Networking (SDN).
• Direct Azure networking services including Virtual Networks, Virtual WAN, ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, Application Gateway, VPN Gateway, and Load Balancers.
• Ensure network resiliency, redundancy, scalability, performance optimization, and high availability.
• Lead enterprise network monitoring, capacity planning, bandwidth optimization, and proactive performance management.
• Manage telecommunications providers, ISP relationships, and enterprise connectivity contracts.
• Partner with Cybersecurity teams to implement Zero Trust networking, secure remote access, network segmentation, and Network Access Control (NAC).
• Drive network automation using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), scripting, and software-defined networking technologies.

Data Center Operations & Infrastructure Management

• Lead enterprise data center operations supporting mission-critical business systems.
• Manage compute, virtualization, storage, backup, networking, and infrastructure services across multiple locations.
• Ensure high availability, resiliency, scalability, and operational efficiency.
• Direct infrastructure lifecycle management including hardware refresh, upgrades, and technology standardization.
• Lead infrastructure capacity planning, utilization optimization, and asset management.
• Implement enterprise monitoring, alerting, and operational performance improvements.
• Manage Tier III/Tier IV data center environments and colocation facilities.

Data Center Migration & Modernization

• Lead enterprise data center migration, relocation, consolidation, and modernization initiatives.
• Develop migration strategies, dependency assessments, migration sequencing, cutover planning, and execution governance.
• Coordinate migration of servers, databases, storage platforms, network infrastructure, virtualization platforms, and enterprise applications.
• Manage migration risks while minimizing operational disruption.
• Lead migration validation, rollback planning, post-migration stabilization, and operational transition.
• Collaborate with business leaders, application teams, vendors, and project management offices during migration programs.

Azure Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure

• Lead Azure cloud strategy and hybrid cloud transformation initiatives.
• Develop Azure Landing Zone architecture, governance, subscription strategy, and operational standards.
• Manage Azure networking, compute, storage, identity, backup, disaster recovery, monitoring, and cloud security.
• Lead migration of enterprise workloads from on-premises data centers to Azure cloud.
• Optimize Azure resource utilization, cloud performance, and cost management.
• Establish Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using Terraform, ARM Templates, Bicep, and Azure Automation.
• Promote cloud governance, operational consistency, and cloud security best practices.

Infrastructure Security & Cybersecurity

• Partner with Information Security leadership to establish secure enterprise infrastructure architecture.
• Lead implementation of Zero Trust security principles across infrastructure environments.
• Oversee Identity & Access Management (IAM), Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Privileged Access Management (PAM), and role-based access controls.
• Ensure secure infrastructure configuration baselines and hardening standards.
• Direct vulnerability management, patch management, endpoint protection, infrastructure hardening, and security remediation initiatives.
• Oversee enterprise firewalls, VPN, IDS/IPS, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), SIEM, SOAR, endpoint security, and threat monitoring platforms.
• Support cybersecurity incident response, forensic investigations, and infrastructure recovery efforts.
• Coordinate penetration testing, security assessments, and remediation activities.

Risk Management, Governance & Compliance

• Establish enterprise infrastructure governance frameworks and operational controls.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and industry standards, including:
• ISO 27001
• SOC 2
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• CIS Controls
• PCI-DSS
• SOX IT General Controls (ITGC)
• HIPAA
• GDPR
• Lead infrastructure compliance audits and regulatory assessments.
• Conduct enterprise infrastructure risk assessments and mitigation planning.
• Maintain compliance documentation, technical standards, and operational evidence.
• Establish policies for infrastructure security, backup, disaster recovery, change management, and operational governance.
• Ensure secure data retention, encryption, and infrastructure resilience.

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

• Develop enterprise Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BCP) strategies.
• Define Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).
• Conduct disaster recovery testing, failover exercises, and operational readiness assessments.
• Ensure business continuity across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Manage enterprise backup, replication, recovery, and resilience platforms.

Infrastructure Operations

• Lead enterprise infrastructure support organizations across multiple locations.
• Manage Windows Server, Linux, VMware, Hyper-V, Azure, storage, networking, identity, and backup environments.
• Drive operational excellence through automation and continuous improvement.
• Establish operational KPIs, SLAs, dashboards, and service performance reporting.
• Oversee ITSM processes including Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Configuration, and Capacity Management.
• Ensure infrastructure availability and operational reliability.

Automation & Infrastructure Modernization

• Promote Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, ARM Templates, Bicep, PowerShell, and Ansible.
• Implement Azure Automation and orchestration solutions.
• Standardize configuration management and deployment automation.
• Drive infrastructure modernization through cloud-native technologies, automation, and operational transformation.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related discipline (Master's degree preferred).
• 15+ years of progressive enterprise infrastructure experience.
• 8+ years leading enterprise infrastructure organizations.
• Extensive experience managing Tier III/Tier IV enterprise data centers.
• Proven success leading enterprise data center migration and modernization programs.
• Extensive Azure Cloud and Hybrid Cloud infrastructure experience.
• Strong leadership experience managing enterprise networking and cloud connectivity.
• Deep understanding of cybersecurity, infrastructure governance, and regulatory compliance.
• Experience managing enterprise virtualization, storage, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
• Strong financial management, vendor management, and executive stakeholder management skills.

Technical Skills Infrastructure

• VMware vSphere
• VMware ESXi
• Hyper-V
• Windows Server
• Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu)
• Active Directory
• Microsoft Entra ID
• DNS
• DHCP
• PKI
• SAN
• NAS
• Dell EMC
• NetApp
• Pure Storage

Enterprise Networking

• Cisco Catalyst
• Cisco Nexus
• Cisco ACI
• Arista
• Juniper
• Palo Alto Networks
• Fortinet
• Check Point
• F5 BIG-IP
• SD-WAN
• MPLS
• VPN
• LAN/WAN
• Wireless Infrastructure
• Cisco ISE
• BGP
• OSPF
• EIGRP
• VXLAN
• Software Defined Networking (SDN)
• IPAM
• Azure Networking
• Load Balancers
• Application Gateway

Cloud Platforms

• Microsoft Azure
• Azure Landing Zones
• Azure Virtual Network
• Azure Virtual WAN
• Azure ExpressRoute
• Azure Firewall
• Azure Site Recovery
• Azure Backup
• Azure Monitor
• Azure Arc
• Azure Policy
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Security

• Microsoft Defender
• Microsoft Sentinel
• CrowdStrike
• Splunk
• CyberArk
• Microsoft Intune
• Azure Key Vault
• Microsoft Purview
• SIEM
• SOAR
• IDS/IPS
• Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• Zero Trust Architecture

Automation

• PowerShell
• Terraform
• ARM Templates
• Bicep
• Azure Automation
• Ansible

Monitoring

• SolarWinds
• Azure Monitor
• Dynatrace
• Grafana
• Splunk
• PRTG
• ThousandEyes

IT Service Management

• ServiceNow
• Jira
• Confluence

Preferred Certifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate (AZ-700)
• Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP Enterprise)
• Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure)
• Palo Alto PCNSE
• CISSP
• CISM
• CCSP
• VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
• ITIL Managing Professional
• PMP
• TOGAF

Preferred Experience

• Enterprise Data Center Modernization
• Enterprise Network Transformation
• Data Center Relocation & Consolidation
• Azure Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Transformation
• Infrastructure Security Architecture
• Zero Trust Implementation
• Regulatory Compliance & Audit Readiness
• Financial Services, Banking, Healthcare, Insurance, or other regulated industries
• Enterprise Infrastructure Transformation Programs
• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Infrastructure Integration
• Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Environments
• Global Infrastructure Operations

Core Leadership Competencies

• Enterprise Infrastructure Strategy
• Enterprise Network Strategy & Architecture
• Data Center Operations & Migration
• Azure Cloud & Hybrid Cloud Transformation
• Enterprise Networking & Cloud Connectivity
• Cybersecurity Leadership
• Infrastructure Governance & Compliance
• Risk Management
• Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
• Infrastructure Automation & Modernization
• Digital Transformation
• Executive Stakeholder Management
• Strategic Planning