Manager of IT Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture

If you’re looking for a purpose and not just a job, join the Smoothie King team and turn your purpose into a fulfilling passion! We're not just the pioneers of the nutritional smoothie; we're the champions of inspiring people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. With over 1300 stores and counting, we’ve grown to become the largest nutritional smoothie bar in the nation, with a simple recipe for success: Hire the best people, use the best ingredients, and blend with a purpose. At Smoothie King, we're serious about our clean ingredients and passionate about our guests' health and wellness journeys—but that doesn't mean we don't know how to have a good time. Here, you'll find work that's equal parts challenging and rewarding, all within a culture that's as amazing as our smoothies. We're committed to continuous improvement, achieving our goals, and fostering a supportive and collaborative environment where every team member can thrive. Overview The IT Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture Manager is responsible for designing, building, and managing secure, scalable infrastructure solutions that support the brand’s rapidly growing enterprise needs. This role leads to the implementation and ongoing maintenance of both on-premises and Azure cloud environments, ensuring operational efficiency, resilience, and agility across the technology stack. This position requires deep expertise in networking, cloud architecture, Agile delivery, disaster recovery planning, and IT budget management. The Manager will lead a team of technical professionals and collaborate closely with cross-functional partners to ensure infrastructure capabilities align with current business requirements and are designed to support future scalability. Architect, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale infrastructure solutions across both on-premises and Azure cloud platforms. Manage and optimize hybrid networking environments, ensuring seamless connectivity, high availability, and robust security. Lead infrastructure strategy discussions, providing architectural insights and recommendations to support business initiatives. Utilize Agile methodologies to manage infrastructure projects, coordinate sprints, and deliver iterative enhancements. Build and maintain infrastructure automation and orchestration using tools like Terraform, Azure DevOps, Git, and YAML-based CI/CD pipelines. Establish and enforce infrastructure security standards, ensuring compliance with best practices and industry regulations. Develop and manage infrastructure budgets, optimizing costs while ensuring high-quality service delivery. Design, implement, and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity plans to enhance organizational resilience. Mentor, manage, and guide team members, fostering technical growth, collaboration, and operational excellence. Stay updated on emerging infrastructure technologies, trends, and best practices to continually enhance our operational capabilities. Responsibilities Proven experience managing technical teams and providing effective leadership, coaching, and mentorship. Demonstrated experience managing infrastructure budgets, forecasting costs, and optimizing resource allocation. Extensive experience in developing and maintaining disaster recovery and business continuity strategies. Deep understanding of network design, including LAN/WAN, VPNs, SD-WAN, firewalls, and load balancing. Proven experience designing, deploying, and managing Azure environments (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and hybrid cloud solutions. Proficiency in infrastructure automation tools (Terraform, Azure DevOps), CI/CD, Git version control, and YAML-based deployments. Familiarity with Agile project management methodologies, sprint planning, and iterative development practices. Strong knowledge of infrastructure security principles, including identity and access management, network segmentation, and cloud security controls. Exceptional problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with the ability to resolve complex technical challenges efficiently. Excellent communication and collaboration skills to effectively interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Passionate about delivering robust infrastructure solutions, continuous improvement, and innovation. Promote the culture, values, and mission of Smoothie King. Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field required; master’s degree in a technical or business discipline, preferred. Minimum of seven (7) years of progressive experience in infrastructure architecture, systems administration, or IT operations, including at least three (3) years in a leadership or management capacity. Extensive hands-on experience with hybrid IT environments, including both on-premises data centers and public cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS or GCP experience a plus). Strong track record of successfully leading complex infrastructure projects from design through implementation using Agile or DevOps practices. Certifications such as: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (highly preferred) AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate or Professional (a plus) Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or CompTIA Security+ (a plus for infrastructure security oversight) ITIL certification for service management (preferred for leadership roles) Experience with budget management, vendor negotiation, and strategic planning in an enterprise IT environment. Experience supporting multi-location environments or distributed teams, preferred. Personal passion for health, fitness, or wellness is a plus and aligns with the Smoothie King mission. What We Offer Join our team and enjoy an unusually fun work environment with an upbeat atmosphere and great team members. It is our purpose to maintain an environment our team members can brag about, where our focus and belief are built on our core values: We Are Better Together, We Keep Evolving, We Live Our Mission, We Do the Right Thing, and We Focus and Finish. With our core values at the forefront of every decision we make, it allows for collaboration, passion, and a no-limits mindset when it comes to your future! We keep our team happy with our great benefits package, free smoothies, flexible work schedules, office lunches and parties, monthly fitness challenges, free gym access, and more fun activities to make Smoothie King a happy and healthy place to work. Our Mission Inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Our Vision To be an integral part of every health and fitness journey. Our Values We: Do the Right Thing We: Are Better Together We: Live the Mission We: Keep Evolving We: Focus and Finish At Smoothie King, when we say inspire people, we mean everyone. We champion a diverse and inclusive workforce that is representative of the guests we serve. We blend the unique members of our organization, celebrating what is both common and different to grow better together and Rule the Day. The foundation of our diversity efforts is closely tied to our core values, which includes “We Are Better Together” and “We Do the Right Thing”. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, or medical condition or disability. If you are a person with a disability and you need assistance in applying for a position with Smoothie King, please call our Human Resources Department at 214-935-8900 and direct assistance will be provided.

Qualifications

Proven experience managing technical teams and providing effective leadership, coaching, and mentorship. Demonstrated experience managing infrastructure budgets, forecasting costs, and optimizing resource allocation. Extensive experience in developing and maintaining disaster recovery and business continuity strategies. Deep understanding of network design, including LAN/WAN, VPNs, SD-WAN, firewalls, and load balancing. Proven experience designing, deploying, and managing Azure environments (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and hybrid cloud solutions. Proficiency in infrastructure automation tools (Terraform, Azure DevOps), CI/CD, Git version control, and YAML-based deployments. Familiarity with Agile project management methodologies, sprint planning, and iterative development practices. Strong knowledge of infrastructure security principles, including identity and access management, network segmentation, and cloud security controls. Exceptional problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with the ability to resolve complex technical challenges efficiently. Excellent communication and collaboration skills to effectively interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Passionate about delivering robust infrastructure solutions, continuous improvement, and innovation. Promote the culture, values, and mission of Smoothie King.

Responsibilities

Architect, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale infrastructure solutions across both on-premises and Azure cloud platforms. Manage and optimize hybrid networking environments, ensuring seamless connectivity, high availability, and robust security. Lead infrastructure strategy discussions, providing architectural insights and recommendations to support business initiatives. Utilize Agile methodologies to manage infrastructure projects, coordinate sprints, and deliver iterative enhancements. Build and maintain infrastructure automation and orchestration using tools like Terraform, Azure DevOps, Git, and YAML-based CI/CD pipelines. Establish and enforce infrastructure security standards, ensuring compliance with best practices and industry regulations. Develop and manage infrastructure budgets, optimizing costs while ensuring high-quality service delivery. Design, implement, and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity plans to enhance organizational resilience. Mentor, manage, and guide team members, fostering technical growth, collaboration, and operational excellence. Stay updated on emerging infrastructure technologies, trends, and best practices to continually enhance our operational capabilities.