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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Onsite
Our mission is to provide real-time on-orbit connectivity for critical missions, enabling a new era of data-driven intelligence and innovation. With 33 satellites launched to date, Kepler operates the first commercial optical data relay constellation, enabling real-time, continuous space communications while supporting advanced on-orbit compute and hosted payload capabilities.
Kepler is seeking an experienced, hands-on IT Manager to lead its IT Operations team, spanning network administration, systems administration, DevOps, and IT support. You'll be accountable for the reliable, secure, and scalable operation of the technology environment that Kepler's engineers, operators, and mission systems depend on every day.
This is a player-coach role. You'll set priorities and develop the team, and you'll also be in the work with them, troubleshooting escalations, designing infrastructure, running incident response, and executing projects. You'll also need to learn quickly: Kepler's environment spans on-premises infrastructure and public cloud, changes often, and no candidate arrives knowing every tool in it. What matters is that you can pick up an unfamiliar system fast enough to make sound decisions, evaluate trade-offs, and credibly support the specialists who own it.
Expected Time Breakdown:
35% - Team leadership and operational management
30% - Hands-on technical work and escalations
20% - Technical strategy and roadmap development
15% - Recruiting, onboarding, and administration
Lead, mentor, and grow a cross-functional IT team that may include Network Administrators, Systems Administrators, DevOps Specialists, and IT Specialists, fostering a culture of accountability, documentation, and continuous learning that exemplifies Kepler's Values
Provide ongoing coaching, technical guidance, and career development through regular 1:1s and structured performance reviews
Work alongside the team as a technical contributor, leading through hands-on involvement rather than delegation alone, while growing the team's independence rather than becoming a bottleneck
Serve as senior technical escalation point for complex incidents across networks, servers, cloud platforms, identity systems, DevOps tooling, and business-critical applications
Own IT operations end to end: service delivery, prioritization, support quality, incident response, root-cause analysis, and after-hours escalation coverage
Own the reliability, scalability, and lifecycle management of Kepler's infrastructure, including network operations, Linux and Windows systems, identity and access management, virtualization, AWS, monitoring, backups, and disaster recovery
Drive DevOps practices and automation, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, configuration management, containerization, and controls around production access, deployments, and secrets
Lead IT security practices and technical controls, including privileged access, endpoint protection, network security, vulnerability remediation, patching, and system hardening; partner with Security and Legal on customer, contractual, and compliance requirements
Develop and maintain the IT operations roadmap, balancing immediate operational needs against longer-term investment in reliability, security, and operational maturity
Contribute to annual planning, budgeting, vendor management, and technology lifecycle planning, and guide make/buy decisions
Ensure accurate technical documentation and provide regular reporting to senior leadership on service performance, infrastructure health, security posture, operational risks, and resource needs
Support hiring plans, lead interviews, onboard new team members, and act as primary liaison between IT Operations and Engineering, Security, People and Culture, Finance, and Facilities
Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
7+ years of progressive IT experience, with 3+ years of which were leading or managing multidisciplinary technical teams
Demonstrated success in a player-coach role combining people management with meaningful hands-on technical responsibility
Track record of picking up unfamiliar technologies quickly and self-directing your own learning, with specific examples of systems you learned on the job well enough to lead work on
Strong practical experience with network administration, Linux and Windows systems, identity and access management, virtualization, and infrastructure operations
Ability to independently troubleshoot complex issues across infrastructure, networking, cloud services, identity platforms, and operational tooling
Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS
Working knowledge of modern DevOps practices, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, configuration management, containers, and scripting
Familiarity with network security technologies, endpoint management, monitoring platforms, backup systems, and disaster recovery practices
Proven ability to manage incidents, projects, operational risk, and shifting priorities, and to drive execution through ambiguity
Track record of building healthy team culture and driving performance through clear expectations and feedback
Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical concepts, risks, and trade-offs to senior leaders and non-technical stakeholders
Relevant certifications such as CCNA, CISSP, AWS, Linux Professional Institute, or ITIL
Experience supporting hybrid environments spanning on-premises infrastructure and public cloud
Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, or Ansible
Scripting and automation experience with Bash, Python, or PowerShell
Familiarity with security and compliance frameworks such as NIST, ISO 27001, or SOC 2
Experience leading disaster recovery, infrastructure modernization, cloud migration, or security-improvement programs
Experience developing IT roadmaps, operational metrics, budgets, and technical business cases
Experience working in fast-paced startup or aerospace environments