Senior IT Operations Manager

Kinrise is a growing, privately owned powerhouse in Australian food manufacturing with some of Australia’s most loved and innovative brands. We describe ourselves as a ‘start up with scale’ and have a burning ambition to grow our business. Formed in 2018 the Kinrise portfolio covers Biscuits, Breakfast, Baking, Bakery, and Snackfood categories and has 40+ years making iconic Australian food, with a rich Australian heritage that’s grounded in family origins.

The IT Operations Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operational leadership of IT services. The role ensures reliable, secure and scalable delivery of infrastructure, networks, cloud platforms, identity, service desk, endpoint management, vendor performance and operational security controls.

The role reports to the Head of IT and is accountable for ensuring IT operations run effectively, service levels are maintained, incidents and changes are well controlled, vendors are managed, and operational risks are addressed.

The IT Operations Manager is accountable for the delivery and operation of all technology services, from manufacturing and supply chain systems through to corporate applications, cybersecurity and modern workplace platforms. The purpose of the role is to lead, manage and evolve Kinrise’s infrastructure, cloud, network and security platforms to ensure security, reliability, and scalability across Kinrise associated entities.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Multi-site Team leadership through the 5 direct reports and 5 indirect reports across SAP, Infrastructure and BI
• SAP Team Management, work requests and controls around our ERP environment
• Deliver commercial and performance-driven solutions across cloud, infrastructure, network, and security platforms
• Be hands-on while owning core architecture and global administrative platforms, including:
  • Microsoft Azure, Active Directory and Entra ID
  • Core infrastructure, storage, backup and disaster recovery
  • Network, telephony, and connectivity across all sites
  • Security platforms and controls across the enterprise
• Lead the uplift of cybersecurity maturity, including Zero Trust, monitoring, and incident response capabilities
• Own and evolve platform engineering capability including automation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and DevOps integration
• Work closely with IT support vendors and internal teams to deliver projects and improve operational outcomes
• Analyse costs, value and risks of infrastructure environments and implement improvements
• Manage IT asset lifecycle, licensing and vendor relationships
• Manage Helpdesk and Infrastructure teams, including internal staff and managed service providers
• Deliver services across multiple sites and entities, supporting ~700+ users
• Drive a change mindset focused on growth, scalability, and standardisation to the Kinrise model

Team Leadership

• Drive the team focus on our strategy and Kinrise pillars
• Ensure that we have the right resources to support the business needs
• Ensure that the Team have the appropriate targets and goals and support them to achieve them while holding them accountable

Business Engagement

• Engage with business stakeholders to understand operations and identify opportunities to improve processes and leverage technology
• Collaborate with SME groups to drive cost savings, automation and operational efficiency
• Build strong partnerships to ensure IT effectively supports business outcomes
• Drive standardisation aligned to the “Kinrise model”

Infrastructure & Operations

• Ensure reliable delivery of IT services across all sites.
• Manage networks, servers, cloud platforms, telecommunications, endpoint devices, and collaboration systems.
• Drive system availability, performance, resilience, and operational excellence.
• Lead infrastructure modernization programs and lifecycle management activities.
• Manage service providers and outsourced support partners.

Vendor Management

• Manage third-party services, including core data centres, SAAS, network, wireless LAN and operations systems (RF guns, label printers, etc)
• Track and monitor vendor activities to ensure they are aligned to agreements and contractual obligations including supplier performance
• Perform IT procurement activities as required, including supplier selection
• Drive continuous improvement and cost optimization across the technology portfolio

Enterprise Applications & Business Systems – Operational Support

• Support the operational stability, access, environments, integrations and vendor coordination for business-critical systems including SAP, Workday, Blueshift, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Fabric/Power BI and manufacturing platforms.
• Ensure incidents, service requests, access changes and platform changes are managed through appropriate operational processes.
• Support the Head of IT and business system owners with technical input, change control, environment readiness and vendor coordination.
• Ensure system support models, documentation, monitoring and escalation pathways are effective and understood.
• Provide operational governance over system availability, service performance and support handover.

Financial Management

• Control operating expenditure and capital investment programs.
• Build technology business cases and investment proposals.
• Ensure technology investments deliver measurable business value and return on investment.

Service Desk

• Manage the Service Desk operation
• Identify opportunities to improve service levels and automation
• Ensure service desk is the single source of truth for asset and ticket management
• Drive ITIL best practices and operational maturity
• Automate onboarding and device lifecycle management
• Maintain high-quality documentation and system coverage

Infrastructure & Networking

• Own enterprise-wide infrastructure including:
  • Network (Meraki – routers, switches, Wi-Fi)
  • Connectivity (Telstra, TPG, Starlink)
  • Hardware lifecycle (Dell / Insight)
• Ensure reliability and performance across manufacturing and office environments
• Deliver initiatives such as:
  • OT/IT network separation
  • Site resiliency and redundancy improvements
  • Implement centralised monitoring and observability

Cloud & Platform

• Own and manage Microsoft Azure platform, including compute, storage and services
• Manage identity platforms (Entra ID, Active Directory, MFA, identity federation)
• Deliver and maintain:
  • Disaster Recovery automation and testing
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and platform automation
• Oversee DevOps tooling and platform capability (Azure DevOps)
• Manage managed service providers (e.g. Ethan Group) and ensure accountability
• BI Management and support of Azure and Fabric usage and management

Security & Risk

• Own enterprise security platforms including: Zscaler, Microsoft Defender, Purview, Egress, KnowBe4
• Ensure security monitoring, incident response and compliance capability
• Contribute to enterprise risk management and cyber strategy

IT Project Management

• Manage and deliver IT and security related projects
• Coordinate internal and external resources to ensure outcomes are achieved
• Govern project handover into operations
• Manage budgets, timelines and stakeholder expectations
• Work across IT and business teams to deliver technical initiatives

Requirements

Skills and competencies:

• Senior leadership experience in Information Technology.
• Strong knowledge of cybersecurity, cloud platforms, ERP systems, integrations, and governance.
• Experience managing technology budgets and vendor contracts.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and executive communication skills.
• Demonstrated success delivering complex technology programs.
• 7–10 years of IT infrastructure, cloud and security experience
• Strong experience across enterprise infrastructure, networking, cloud platforms and cybersecurity
• Ability to lead and coach geographically dispersed teams
• Strong vendor management and commercial capability
• Experience driving automation and modern platform engineering practices
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability
• High resilience and ownership mindset

Technology Stack

• Microsoft Azure (VMs, storage, networking, DevOps)
• Entra ID / Active Directory / Identity Federation
• Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL (platform support)
• Security:
  • Microsoft Defender
  • Microsoft Purview
  • Zscaler (ZIA/ZPA)
  • Egress, KnowBe4
  • SIEM/XDR (Sentinel roadmap)
• Infrastructure & Network:
  • Cisco Meraki
  • Dell / Insight ecosystem
  • Telstra / TPG / Starlink
  • Intune / Endpoint management

KPI’s / Measurements

•      Successful rollout and support of infrastructure and security solutions and services
•      Uplift of security and infrastructure maturity
•      Infrastructure availability, performance and reliability metrics
•      Reduction in incidents and response times
•      Disaster recovery readiness and execution capability
•      % of infrastructure delivered through automation
•      Vendor performance and cost optimisation outcomes
•      Support team engagement and capability uplift
•      Feedback from business stakeholders

Experience:

•  Manufacturing, FMCG, supply chain or distribution experience

• SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA experience.
• Microsoft 365, Azure, Fabric, Power Platform and Copilot expertise.
• Data and analytics leadership experience.
• Experience with Digital Twin, IoT, Edge Computing and Industry 4.0 technologies.
• Experience across infrastructure, security, service desk, network and cloud environments
• Experience with enterprise platforms and hosted applications

Qualifications:

•     Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience)

Why Join Us?

Kinrise is a fast paced, agile business that focuses on your talents and challenges you to perform at your best. An opportunity with us would mean:

• An opportunity to work with leading Australian-made brands and products

• An exciting role in a growing business with a great history and an ambitious growth agenda

• Supportive and collaborative team culture

Kinrise is committed to creating an environment that welcomes all, celebrates our diversity in all its forms and fosters an environment of inclusion. We recognise that our unique differences are what sets us apart and how we succeed as a team. We are an equal opportunity employer.