VP, IT Operations

Job Description

Advance Auto Parts is seeking a strategic and execution-oriented Vice President of IT Operations to lead the reliable, secure, and efficient delivery of enterprise IT infrastructure and services. This executive will oversee day-to-day IT operations, ensuring high availability of critical systems supporting 4,000+ stores, distribution centers, e-commerce platforms, supply chain, and corporate functions in a high-volume retail environment.

Reporting to the CTO, the VP will drive operational excellence, modernize infrastructure (e.g., cloud migration), optimize IT service management, and partner with business units to minimize downtime, reduce costs, and enable scalable growth. This role is pivotal to executing AAP's transformation initiatives, focusing on speed, reliability, and cost efficiency in the automotive aftermarket.

This position is part of a Hybrid work arrangement based at Advance Auto Parts headquarters in Raleigh, NC requiring four days/week in office.

Key Responsibilities

• IT Operations Leadership Direct end-to-end IT operations, including data centers, cloud infrastructure (GCP/AWS/Azure), networks, servers, storage, endpoints, and service desks to achieve 99.9%+ uptime for mission-critical retail and supply chain systems.
• Infrastructure Modernization & Reliability Lead cloud/hybrid transformation, automation of ops (DevOps/SRE practices), disaster recovery/business continuity, and performance optimization to support omnichannel retail, inventory systems, and point-of-sale reliability.
• Service Delivery & IT Service Management Oversee ITIL-aligned processes (incident, problem, change, service request management), SLA/KPI adherence, and continuous improvement to deliver exceptional support to stores, distribution centers, and corporate teams.
• Vendor & Budget Management Negotiate and oversee key vendor contracts (hardware, cloud, MSPs), manage multi-million-dollar IT ops budgets, and drive cost optimization through consolidation, automation, and right-sizing.
• Business Partnership & Impact Collaborate with CTO, EVP-level leaders (Supply Chain, Stores, Digital, Finance), and field operations to align IT ops with business needs, reduce outages impacting sales/inventory, and support rapid scaling or store transformations.
• Team Building & Culture Build and lead a high-performing, inclusive IT operations team; foster a culture of accountability, proactive problem-solving, and operational excellence while promoting talent development and succession planning.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement Implement monitoring tools, AI-driven ops (AIOps), automation, and metrics-driven decision-making to predict/prevent issues and enhance efficiency.

Qualifications & Experience

• Education Bachelor's degree required (Master's preferred) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or related field. Relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL Expert, CISSP, GCP/AWS/Azure Professional, PMP) highly valued.
• Professional Experience
  
  • 12-15+ years in IT operations/infrastructure leadership, with 7-10+ years in senior/executive roles (e.g., VP/SVP/Sr. Director of IT Ops/Infrastructure).
  • Proven experience in large-scale retail, distribution, or consumer-facing industries with distributed environments (stores, DCs, e-commerce). Automotive/aftermarket experience a strong plus.
  • Track record leading cloud migrations, infrastructure modernization, and operational transformations at enterprise scale.
• Technical & Domain Expertise
  
  • Deep knowledge of enterprise infrastructure (hybrid cloud, networks, virtualization, storage, endpoints), IT service management tools (ServiceNow preferred), and security operations.
  • Strong understanding of retail IT challenges (POS systems, inventory management, high-availability requirements, field support).
  • Experience with cost management, vendor negotiations, and regulatory compliance in retail.
• Leadership Skills
  
  • Exceptional executive communication, influence, and stakeholder management to engage C-suite and cross-functional teams.
  • Demonstrated ability to drive cultural shift toward proactive, metrics-driven operations.
  • Proven people leadership in building resilient, high-performing teams in dynamic environments.

Preferred Skills & Attributes

• Experience in retail turnaround/transformation programs (e.g., store tech reliability, supply chain digitization).
• Measurable impact examples (e.g., reduced downtime by X%, cost savings via cloud ops).
• Familiarity with tools like ServiceNow, Splunk, Azure Monitor, or similar ops platforms.

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