Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Applied Information Sciences (AIS) is a mission-driven company seeking a Senior Cloud Operations Manager to lead Operations & Maintenance service delivery for a large Defense Industrial Base customer. The role involves developing scalable operating models, managing service performance across cloud services, and ensuring compliance while driving operational excellence and customer satisfaction.
Responsibilities
- Own overall O&M service performance across Azure, Microsoft 365, endpoint management, identity, collaboration, messaging, security, and related operational workstreams
- Drive teams to meet defined SLAs, KPIs, service levels, and customer commitments
- Establish and enforce a consistent operating model for incident, request, problem, change, release, knowledge, and service level management
- Hold technical and support teams accountable for responsiveness, quality, documentation, escalation discipline, and customer communication
- Lead and mature help desk/service desk operations, including intake, triage, queue management, ticket routing, escalation, and backlog hygiene
- Define and manage tiered support models across Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, engineering escalation, and vendor escalation
- Monitor and improve key service desk metrics such as first-contact resolution, mean time to acknowledge, mean time to resolve, reopen rate, aged backlog, SLA compliance, customer satisfaction, and ticket deflection
- Drive consistent use of ServiceNow or comparable ITSM tooling for tickets, workflows, dashboards, reporting, approvals, and audit trails
- Provide operational leadership across Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services, including monitoring, identity, endpoint management, collaboration, messaging, security, compliance, and platform reliability
- Understand the operational implications of Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Intune, Defender, Purview, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Azure networking, backup/recovery, and landing zone operations
- Serve as a primary service delivery interface for customer stakeholders and program leadership
- Build trust with customer leaders, technical teams, service desk stakeholders, and executive sponsors
- Translate technical and operational data into clear business-relevant communication, including risk, impact, trends, mitigation plans, and decisions needed
- Ensure O&M execution aligns with customer security, compliance, audit, and operational control requirements
- Support operations in regulated DIB, federal, GCC High, Azure Government, CUI, or ITAR-sensitive environments as applicable
Skills
- 8+ years in IT service delivery, cloud operations, or managed services
- 3+ years leading managed services or support teams through growth, change, or operational maturation
- ITIL 4 Foundation or equivalent IT service management certification
- Experience in customer-facing managed services with ownership of service performance, service outcomes, customer experience, and operating model effectiveness
- Experience improving operations through automation, self-service, monitoring improvements, ticket deflection, or process redesign
- Experience driving SLA/KPI performance, backlog health, escalations, and/or service reviews, using data to improve the system, not just report on it
- Experience leading service desk / support operations (tiered support, incidents, requests, escalation, knowledge management)
- Ability to design and implement scalable operating models across service functions
- Working knowledge of Azure and M365; able to engage technical teams and translate operational risk
- Experience with ServiceNow or similar to drive process discipline and service improvement
- Strong executive communication; able to align stakeholders and build trust
- Experience supporting GCC High, Azure Government, or other restricted cloud environments
- Experience supporting DIB, DoD, federal, aerospace, shipbuilding, manufacturing, or critical infrastructure customers
- Experience leading major incident management, root cause analysis, post-incident reviews, and corrective action tracking
- Experience building or improving runbook libraries, SOPs, knowledge articles, and operational readiness processes
- Experience preparing monthly service reviews, executive dashboards, QBR inputs, SLA reports, and continuous improvement plans
- HDI Support Center Manager, HDI Support Center Director, or HDI Desktop Support Manager, or comparable help desk/support center leadership certification
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification
- Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert certification
- Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate certification
- Microsoft Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate certification
- CompTIA Security+, CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or comparable security/compliance certification
Benefits
- Flexible - We offer flexibility in how you work. This role is remote eligible with the flexibility to work hybrid or in-office from our Reston, VA headquarters if you're local and prefer an office environment.
- Employee Ownership: Your contributions directly impact the company’s success, and you share in its achievements.
- Continuous Learning: Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth.
- Inclusive Culture: A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone’s voice is valued.
- Mission-Driven Work: Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities.
Company Overview
AIS helps large commercial and federal clients accelerate innovation with security and compliance in mind. It was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, USA, with a workforce of 501-1000 employees. Its website is https://www.ais.com.Company H1B Sponsorship
AIS (Applied Information Sciences) has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 7 in 2025, 3 in 2024, 4 in 2023, 2 in 2022, 5 in 2021, 1 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.