Hachette Book Group

VP, Managed Service Operations (Boston-Based)

Hachette Book Group is seeking a hands-on IT leader to establish and lead an in-house Managed Service Organization. This is a critical role on CIO’s staff overseeing a diverse portfolio of on-prem and multi-cloud enterprise systems that have gone through transformation and are in steady state. Significant components of our overall architecture are built and owned by HBG via in-house development teams along with our development partners. Multiple commercial SaaS packages have been integrated into the architecture as well with additional self-service platforms for our clients and customers. You will work alongside highly experienced leaders continuing to support the growth in our product portfolio both in-house and additional SaaS packages.

You will build holistic understanding and expertise across various systems, business processes, databases, integrations, IT workloads, and infrastructure, amongst other areas in order to deliver exceptional service performance. You will possess broad skills to engage with business leadership and key players, system integration vendors, commercial SaaS providers, IT development and QA teams, as well as business analysts, DBAs, and operations teams. Ability to work in a cross-functional and collaborative environment, while fully being accountable for your organization and their deliverables while leveraging peer groups as necessary, is critical to being successful.

A successful candidate must have experience building and running a managed service department for internal or external clients with a creative and continuous improvement mindset.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assemble and establish a strong Managed Service Organization, setting strategic direction and priorities to enhance operational efficiencies and service excellence - ensuring the reliability, availability, and performance of applications and infrastructure.
• Build and manage a cohesive operation including onshore teams as well offshore partner resources across a diverse set of skills.
• Develop and establish service management processes and tools to ensure comprehensive monitoring, issue identification, prompt resolution, and deployment of fixes.
• Build trust with key business leaders and stakeholders through consistent and high-quality delivery of issue resolution.
• Drive continuous improvement through deploying preventive solutions, automated resolution, and self-healing capabilities.
• Establish a tiered service desk model to resolve business user reported issues at the right level with the right expertise – engaging level-3 or level-4 teams when necessary.
• Effectively communicate progress to internal IT stakeholders as well as business users
• Grow the organization’s knowledge and expertise across various systems, infrastructure, and business processes. These will include, but not be limited to, ERPs, web portals, corporate/business applications, MDM solutions, data integration hubs, data warehouses, BI reports and dashboards, and complex job/workload schedules.
• Effectively debug and resolve issues of moderate to high complexity without interrupting core development teams.
• Establish performance standards through SLAs and track KPIs to ensure continuous improvement and meeting/exceeding set standards.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• A BA/BS degree in MIS, CS or related discipline with 15 years of experience or an MS degree with 12 years of experience, with majority in service operations. At least 5 years in a senior leadership role managing multiple service functions.
• Prior experience supporting a large and complex portfolio of integrated and interconnected business systems running in a multi-cloud environment. 
• Experience managing diverse functional teams with resources onshore and offshore.
• Data-driven and analytical problem solver with ability to identify, assess and mitigate risks across service domains.
• In-depth knowledge of Azure and Oracle cloud services, including provisioning, cost management, and administration.
• Experience with Oracle ERP and Fusion (Supply Chain) and enterprise systems build around Oracle.
• Experience with full product lifecycle including deploying and managing enterprise systems including applications, middleware, and databases on-prem and in the cloud.
• Experience with building and driving initiatives and projects using agile methodologies.
• Process orientated with disciplined and rigorous approach to maintaining system uptime.
• Experience defining KPIs, building/deploying monitoring systems, and managing SLAs to deliver high levels of service quality.
• Understanding of security best practices and compliance requirements in multi-cloud environments.
• Knowledge of networking principles, including VPNs, and firewalls.
• Experience with frameworks like ITIL and tools for incident, problem, and change management.
• Ability to develop and communicate a clear vision for managed services aligned with IT and business goals.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with clients, vendors, and internal stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills to build and grow key relationships with business leads.

As a leading book publisher, we believe that including and representing diverse voices in all aspects of our business is fundamental to what we do. Our publishing programs must reflect the broad range of backgrounds, experiences, political views and ideas that shape our society and publish books for all readers. 

Hachette Book Group provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. 

The compensation for this position is $170,000. There may be times that you will be required (or requested) to work overtime due to the nature of your role or exceptional workload issues or special projects. 

The following benefits are offered by the company: medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life, short-term and long-term disability, accidental death and dismemberment, critical illness, hospital indemnity, long-term care, health and dependent care FSA, commuter benefit plan, employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement, travel assistance, 401(k), discretionary bonus program, PTO (15 vacation days, 3 personal days, 10 holidays and generous sick leave) and group discounts on auto and home insurance and legal services. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification, hours worked and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms.