Senior IT Manager

Senior IT Manager

Intellisense Systems, Inc. is a fast-growing Southern California technology innovator that solves tough, mission-critical challenges for our customers in the aerospace, defense, and commercial markets. We design, develop, and manufacture advanced products for ground, maritime, and airborne applications. We are seeking a highly motivated Senior IT Manager to lead our network infrastructure, oversee our cybersecurity compliance program, and drive the enterprise AI capability that is changing how our engineers, program managers, and back-office teams work. This is a hands-on leadership role at an inflection point: we are executing toward CMMC Level 2 while simultaneously deploying a two-tier AI architecture that lets the business move fast on unrestricted work without ever putting controlled data at risk. Our goal is to deliver excellent, responsive service to our employees and to operate a stable, secure environment worthy of the sensitive information our customers entrust to us.

Location: Torrance, CA 90501 (On-site)

Responsibilities

Business Management

• Strategic Planning: Develop and execute a strategic IT roadmap that aligns with our organizational objectives, fostering innovation and growth.
• Oversee the department budget and make cost-effective decisions to meet business needs.
• Own vendor management and accountability, including cloud and managed service providers supporting controlled environments.
• Perform special IT projects and system integrations/installations that improve access to information and decrease administrative costs across the organization.
• Flexible working hours: availability to respond to urgent system needs and maintain IT services at times that minimize impact to the operation.
• Manage IT staff to achieve business results through communicating job expectations, monitoring, and coaching employees.
• Lead by example and stay hands-on in the day-to-day operation.

Network and Infrastructure

• Ensure our IT infrastructure (network and IT systems) will support scalability.
• Build and maintain a business recovery plan, ensuring we can bounce back swiftly from IT interruptions.
• Own network and system performance.
• Establish and maintain a schedule of system maintenance and software updates.
• Maintain recovery and restoration procedures, in conjunction with backup management and incident management.
• Lead the administration, configuration, and maintenance of the SharePoint/Microsoft 365 environment, ensuring optimal performance, security, and accessibility — including the boundary between our general-use and controlled environments.
• Maintain and enforce the technical separation between systems that may process CUI, ITAR, and EAR-controlled technical data and those that may not.

AI Infrastructure and Enablement Intellisense operates a bifurcated AI architecture, and this role owns it end to end:

• Administer and scale our commercial AI platform for unrestricted business and engineering work — user provisioning, single sign-on, license management, usage monitoring, and support.
• Administer and scale our government-cloud AI environment (FedRAMP High / GovCloud-hosted models) approved for work involving CUI and ITAR/EAR-controlled technical data, including US-person access controls, logging, and retention.
• Enforce the routing rules that keep data in the correct tier: data-marking-driven controls, DLP policies tuned to CUI and export-controlled content, egress monitoring, and clear guardrails at the point of use.
• Partner with Security, Export Compliance, and Legal to maintain the acceptable-use policy, model and tool approval process, and audit evidence for AI systems.
• Evaluate emerging AI tooling and integrations against our compliance boundary, and give the business a fast, honest answer on what can be adopted, where, and under what conditions.
• Train and support employees so the right tier is the easy tier to use.

Cybersecurity and Compliance

• Drive our path to CMMC Level 2: maintain the System Security Plan, close POA&M items, keep our SPRS score current, and prepare the organization for assessment readiness.
• Implement and sustain the NIST SP 800-171 security requirements across our environment, working with leadership and employees to land IT changes that stick.
• Support compliance with DFARS View phone number on click.appcast.io, -7019, -7020, and -7021, including 72-hour incident reporting to DIBNet, FIPS 140-validated cryptography for CUI transmission and storage, and multifactor authentication.
• Review, update, and implement cybersecurity policies on a regular basis.
• Ensure third-party vendors, cloud service providers, and external service providers meet applicable NIST SP 800-171 and DFARS requirements; partner with Purchasing and Security on flowdown and supplier assessments.
• Support internal assessments, vulnerability scanning, tabletop exercises, and remediation tracking.
• Assist with other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree (required) in MIS or an IT-related field (preferred)
• 10+ years of related technical experience
• Knowledge and experience with network administration and installation
• Extensive experience with SharePoint/Microsoft 365 administration and infrastructure
• Proven experience in IT security or compliance, with experience implementing NIST SP 800-171 controls
• Working familiarity with enterprise SaaS and cloud administration (identity, SSO, conditional access, DLP); willingness to become the company's expert on AI platform administration and governance
• Self-motivated, with strong verbal and written communication skills, a team and goal orientation, solid problem-solving ability, and the ability to work with a diverse workforce
• US Citizenship is required. Must have an active Secret security clearance or be willing and able to obtain one.

Preferred

• Experience administering AI/LLM platforms in a regulated or controlled environment (FedRAMP Moderate/High, GovCloud, or a segmented CUI enclave)
• Experience with Microsoft 365 GCC High or an equivalent controlled enclave
• Familiarity with vulnerability scanning, tabletop exercises, and penetration testing
• Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CISA, CCP, or CCA

What You Can Expect

• The ability to innovate, transition a prototype technology into a new product, and to be rewarded.
• The chance to continually work on new differentiating technologies and implement simple, elegant solutions that meet customer needs and make an impact.
• Ownership of a genuinely modern problem — building the AI and compliance infrastructure that a defense manufacturer needs to compete — with executive visibility and support.
• Leadership that enables its engineers with all the tools they need to be successful.

Pay Range: $150,000 – $190,000

Benefits:

• 4 Weeks PTO a year (including 40 hours of PTO your first day)
• 10 paid holidays
• 401(k) with 100% employer matching up to 4% of salary (no vesting period)
• Multiple options for Medical, Vision, Dental Insurance plans
• Health Savings Accounts
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Tuition Assistance (30% of Tuition with a minimum qualifying grade)
• 100% Paid Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• 100% Paid Basic Life and AD&D Insurance
• 100% Paid Workers Compensation Insurance
• Voluntary Life Insurance

The unique culture at Intellisense offers the entrepreneurial spirit of a smaller company with the support and expertise of a larger organization. We are looking for individuals that have a wide breadth of experience while also being subject matter experts in their respective field. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please contact us by phone at View phone number on click.appcast.io or by email at View email address on click.appcast.io Unless otherwise stated in the requirements section of an individual job listing, our positions require U.S. Citizenship, U.S. Permanent Residency, or other status as a U.S. Person as defined by 8 USC 1324b(a)(3). We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D