IT Manager

Located in Redwood City, at the heart of Silicon Valley, the San Mateo Superior Court offers the best of both worlds—a mission‑driven organization that values innovation, integrity, and impact. You will play a key role in shaping how justice is delivered in one of California’s most forward‑thinking and community‑centered courts. Lead a high‑impact technology team at one of California’s most innovative trial courts. San Mateo County Superior Court is searching for an experienced, strategic, and hands‑on Information Technology Manager to provide hands‑on technical leadership, advanced systems engineering, and direct supervision in the Infrastructure division of the Information Technology department. This position is a "working manager" role, requiring a seamless blend of strategic project management, team leadership, and direct, technical implementation. The incumbent actively participates in system architecture, deployment, infrastructure maintenance, and advanced troubleshooting alongside assigned staff, ensuring high availability, security, and scalability of all technological environments. This classification represents a fully responsible, hands‑on technology management role. It is distinguished from traditional management positions by the explicit requirement to maintain deep, current technical expertise and to directly execute complex engineering projects. The work requires a balanced execution of administrative supervisory duties (budgeting, personnel management, vendor oversight) and advanced technical operations (systems engineering, security enforcement, infrastructure migrations). This position receives general direction from higher‑level executive management or departmental leadership and exercises direct supervision over technical, analytical, and support staff. Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following: Technical Execution & Engineering (Hands‑On) Lead, design, and directly participate in the execution of critical infrastructure projects, including server, hypervisor, and network migrations. Configure, maintain, and optimize enterprise virtualization environments, handling physical‑to‑virtual and platform‑to‑platform infrastructure transitions. Act as the primary escalation point for complex tier‑3 technical issues and troubleshoot deep architectural, network, or security anomalies alongside staff. Implement, manage, and audit robust enterprise security frameworks, ensuring comprehensive endpoint protection, cloud security posture management, and strict identity and access control compliance. Ensure operational continuity by overseeing and verifying system backups, disaster recovery protocols, and regular server decommissioning/cleanup tasks. Oversee and directly participate in network administration and engineering, ensuring secure data routing, resilient perimeter defense, and optimized connectivity across all campus and remote environments. Project Management & Operations Establish structured workflows, task tracking, and project accountability for IT staff using centralized documentation and collaboration tools. Develop, implement, and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, architecture diagrams, runbooks, and disaster recovery procedures. Analyze departmental business processes and determine the feasibility, cost‑benefit, and technical requirements of new automated systems and software solutions. Coordinate with external vendors, contractors, and shared services to ensure deliverables are met securely, on time, and within scope. Leadership & Administration Supervise, evaluate, and develop assigned IT personnel and provide continuous mentorship, technical training, and performance feedback. Develop, justify, and monitor the annual IT operations and capital expenditure budget. Align short‑and long‑range technology strategies with organizational goals, ensuring infrastructure capabilities meet evolving operational demands. Education and Experience: Experience: Five (5) years of progressive, hands‑on experience in systems engineering, network administration, or IT operations, which must include at least two (2) years of experience in a supervisory, team‑lead, or dedicated project manager capacity. Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Management Information Systems, or a closely related field. (Additional qualifying hands‑on engineering experience may substitute for the education on a year‑for‑year basis). Desired Certifications: Advanced enterprise infrastructure, network administration, or virtualization credentials, such as Nutanix NCP/NCM, VMware VCP, Cisco CCNP, or equivalent professional‑level engineering certifications are highly desirable but not required. Knowledge of: Advanced principles and practices of systems engineering, network architecture, and data security. Enterprise virtualization environments and hypervisor management (e.g., VMware, AHV, Nutanix ecosystem, or industry equivalents). Network security tools and protocols, including next‑generation firewalls, VPN configurations, and identity access management. Modern project management methodologies and task-tracking platforms (e.g., Microsoft OneNote/Planner, Jira, or similar). Principles of personnel supervision, team development, and workload prioritization. Budget preparation, fiscal management, and cost‑benefit analysis for technology acquisitions. Skill/Ability to: Dive deep into technical environments to build, configure, and troubleshoot infrastructure directly. Translate complex organizational needs into robust, scalable, and secure technical architectures. Supervise, motivate, and hold accountable a technical team in a highly collaborative environment. Manage multiple complex projects simultaneously from conception through successful deployment. Communicate technical concepts clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing, to technical staff and non‑technical stakeholders alike. Establish and maintain effective, cooperative working relationships with internal departments, external vendors, and executive leadership. The Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community. The court seeks to hire, support, and retain employees who reflect our diverse community. We encourage applicants with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply. #J-18808-Ljbffr