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Salary: USD 150,000 - 190,000 / annual
Formlabs is seeking a Head of Technical Operations to lead the global infrastructure, security, and IT operations that enable the company to deliver professional 3D printing solutions worldwide.
You will own the complete technical foundation: global network infrastructure spanning four countries (US, Germany, Hungary, China), on-premise servers and virtualization, IT service desk, identity and access management, and the company's cybersecurity program. This is a player-coach leadership role where you combine strategic direction with hands-on technical depth.
You will lead a team of 7 professionals across network administration, systems administration, help desk support, and cybersecurity, supporting approximately 800 employees across offices in Somerville, Germany, Budapest, and Shenzhen.
Key responsibilities include:
**Team Leadership:** Build and develop a high-performing team, set clear priorities, establish strong technical leadership, and grow automation and scripting capabilities across the organization.
**Network & Connectivity:** Own the Cisco Meraki infrastructure across four countries, including SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, firewalls, network segmentation, Wi-Fi, ISP circuits, cloud VPN tunnels, and remote access. Navigate the specific connectivity and compliance requirements of operating in China.
**Infrastructure & Resilience:** Manage on-premise compute (Proxmox) and services, including lifecycle management, patching, monitoring, backup and disaster recovery. Make deliberate decisions about on-prem versus cloud/SaaS workloads.
**Security Program:** Own the end-to-end cybersecurity program including policy development, risk management, vulnerability and patch management, endpoint protection, email and SaaS security, logging, data loss prevention, and incident detection and response.
**Identity & Access:** Manage joiner/mover/leaver processes, SSO and MFA implementation, privileged access management, and admin hygiene across Google Workspace and core SaaS applications with audit-ready documentation.
**IT Service Desk & Endpoints:** Ensure fast, friendly help desk support with measurable SLAs for ~800 employees. Oversee onboarding/offboarding, laptop lifecycle management, MDM, conference room support, and personally handle escalations.
**Strategy & Roadmap:** Define and drive an infrastructure and security roadmap balancing reliability, risk, cost, and user experience. Communicate technical decisions in business terms to the CIO, CFO, and leadership.
**Automation & AI:** Replace manual work with automation and AI-assisted workflows across provisioning, monitoring, ticket triage, and reporting to enable team scaling.
**Vendor Management:** Own the infrastructure and security vendor portfolio, manage contracts, renewals, licensing, hardware refresh plans, and hold managed service providers accountable to clear SLAs.
**Documentation & Continuity:** Maintain current diagrams, inventories, runbooks, and on-call coverage to eliminate single points of knowledge.
**Requirements:**
- 8+ years in IT infrastructure and/or security, including 2+ years leading teams
- Experience in mid-sized (500–2,000 person) companies with multiple international sites
- Hands-on expertise in enterprise networking (routing, VPN, firewalls, segmentation, Wi-Fi) and server virtualization; ability to review firewall rules and backup designs
- Practical experience building or running a security program at a company without a large dedicated security team, including EDR, identity, vulnerability management, and incident response
- Service mindset with focus on employee experience and measurable service quality
- Proven ability to design team staffing and sourcing models, select and negotiate with managed service providers
- Strong communication skills to translate technical risk into business decisions and write clear policies and runbooks
- Experience with compliance frameworks such as NIST CSF, ISO 27001, or SOC 2, and IT general controls in audit-ready environments
- Bachelor's degree in a technical field or equivalent experience
**Bonus qualifications:**
- Experience with Cisco Meraki, Proxmox, CrowdStrike, Google Workspace, and Cloudflare
- Experience operating IT in China (cross-border connectivity, local regulations, remote-site support)
- Familiarity with GCP and AWS security fundamentals (IAM, logging, network controls)
- Scripting/automation skills (Python, PowerShell, Terraform, or similar) and hands-on use of AI tools in IT or security operations
- Security certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or CCNP Security
- Experience in hardware or manufacturing companies with R&D labs and lab networks
