IT Manager | Full-Time | Ryan Field at Northwestern University

Oak View Group Oak View Group (OVG) is the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services, with a platform spanning venue development and end-to-end capabilities across venue management, hospitality, and sponsorship sales. Founded in 2015, the company serves a collection of seven world-class owned venues and a client roster of the most iconic arenas, stadiums, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions, spanning four continents. Position Summary The IT Manager is responsible for the day-to-day reliability, support, and maintenance of technology infrastructure at New Ryan Field and Welsh-Ryan Arena. Reporting to the Director of Venue Technology, this position serves as a senior, hands-on technical resource, providing Tier II support while independently troubleshooting and resolving Tier III-level network, systems, and infrastructure issues. A primary responsibility of this position is ensuring that all venue technology endpoints—including point-of-sale terminals, ticket scanners, cameras, wireless access points, digital signage, access-control devices, and other connected systems—remain operational and event-ready at all times. The IT Manager supports venue business operations, event production, ticketing, point-of-sale, security, broadcast, audiovisual, building systems, and other event-critical technologies. This role requires a proactive team player who can collaborate effectively with OVG Corporate IT, Northwestern University Information Technology when applicable, venue partners, vendors, tenants, promoters, and event personnel. This is a 100% on-site, field-based position. The majority of each workday will be spent throughout the venues inspecting systems, resolving issues, testing endpoints, supporting users, and proactively identifying technology concerns. Availability for evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours is required based on the event schedule. This role pays a yearly salary of $90,000 - $100,000 Benefits for Full-Time role: Health, Dental and Vision insurance, 401(k) savings plan, 401(k) matching, and paid time off (vacation days, sick days, and 11 holidays). This position will remain open until October 2, 2026. About The Venue New Ryan Field is a new 35,000-seat football stadium designed to be the premier venue of its size in America for college sports, concerts, and other live events. Welsh-Ryan Arena is a 6,500-seat multipurpose arena located on the campus of Northwestern University and home to Northwestern basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and other university and community events. Responsibilities Serve as the primary on-site escalation resource for complex IT, network, systems, and infrastructure issues. Provide advanced Tier II support with the ability to independently diagnose and resolve Tier III-level incidents. Ensure venue endpoints are connected, functional, properly configured, and ready for daily operations and live events. Conduct routine field inspections and testing of point-of-sale terminals, ticket scanners, cameras, access points, IPTV devices, access-control systems, digital signage, and other network-connected equipment. Support and maintain the Cisco network environment, including switches, routers, wireless infrastructure, VLANs, access ports, network closets, and related platforms. Troubleshoot LAN, WAN, WLAN, VPN, DHCP, DNS, TCP/IP, routing, switching, authentication, and connectivity issues. Monitor network and system performance and proactively address potential service interruptions. Provide technical leadership and event-day support for football games, basketball games, concerts, and other live events. Respond quickly to issues affecting ticketing, point-of-sale, credentialing, Wi‑Fi, broadcast, audiovisual, IPTV, security, digital signage, and back‑of‑house operations. Exercise sound judgment in determining when issues should be resolved internally and when timely escalation to manufacturers, integrators, service providers, or other third‑party support is necessary. Support computers, mobile devices, printers, phones, conference rooms, and enterprise applications. Maintain network diagrams, equipment inventories, IP records, system documentation, and troubleshooting procedures. Coordinate technology projects, infrastructure upgrades, equipment replacements, structured cabling, and vendor work. Support temporary event connectivity and technical requirements for visiting productions, promoters, and event partners. Coordinate with OVG Corporate IT, Northwestern University Information Technology, cybersecurity teams, and service providers to implement organizational standards. Recommend improvements that increase reliability, security, operational efficiency, revenue opportunities, and the guest experience. Provide guidance and mentorship to part‑time staff and event personnel. Perform other duties as assigned. Qualifications 3-5 years of professional experience providing Tier II technical support, preferably in a professional, power collegiate sports or entertainment setting. Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, network engineering, or a related field is preferred. Equivalent professional experience will be considered. Cisco certifications such as CCNA or CCNP are highly desirable. AV networking, Microsoft, CompTIA, or ITIL certifications are a plus. Demonstrated ability to independently troubleshoot Tier III-level network, systems, and infrastructure issues. Strong technical judgment, including the ability to identify when an incident requires escalation to third‑party support and to provide the documentation and troubleshooting details necessary for an efficient resolution. Hands‑on experience supporting Cisco networking environments is required. Strong understanding of routing, switching, VLANs, trunking, Spanning Tree, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, VPNs, wireless networking, and network‑access controls. Sports, live entertainment, stadium, arena, hospitality, or event‑production experience is highly preferred. Working knowledge of modern converged AV and IT environments, including Netgear AV switching, AV over IP, Dante, AES67, and SMPTE ST 2110. Experience supporting ticketing, point‑of‑sale, credentialing, IPTV, digital signage, broadcast, audiovisual, security, or access‑control systems is preferred. Working knowledge of Microsoft 365, Windows, Active Directory, Entra ID, endpoint management, and enterprise software deployment. Strong troubleshooting, documentation, project‑management, and organizational skills. A “fans first” mindset with a commitment to customer service, operational excellence, and identifying creative ways technology can improve the guest experience and support revenue generation. Willingness to spend the majority of each day working throughout the venues rather than primarily from an office. Ability to communicate effectively and work collaboratively with technical teams, venue leadership, university partners, employees, vendors, and event stakeholders. Ability to remain calm and make effective decisions in high‑pressure, time‑sensitive situations. Working Conditions This position is 100% on-site and requires regular fieldwork throughout both venues. Ability to work evenings, weekends, holidays, event days, and extended hours. Ability to respond to urgent technology issues outside normal business hours when required. Ability to work in offices, control rooms, data rooms, network closets, loading docks, seating areas, concourses, concession areas, and exterior venue spaces. Ability to walk and stand for extended periods, climb stairs and ladders, work around equipment racks, and lift or carry heavy equipment. Strengthened by our Differences. United to Make a Difference At OVG, we understand that to continue positively disrupting the sports and live entertainment industry, we need a diverse team to help us do it. We also believe that inclusivity drives innovation, strengthens our people, improves our service, and raises our excellence. Our success is rooted in creating environments that reflect and celebrate the diverse communities in which we operate and serve, and this is the reason we are committed to amplifying voices from all different backgrounds. Equal Opportunity Employer Oak View Group is committed to equal employment opportunity. We will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on any legally recognized basis (“protected class”) including, but not limited to veteran status, uniform service member status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information or any other protected class under federal, state, or local law. #J-18808-Ljbffr Socket