Remote Director Creative Operations Jobs in Illinois

STC Health, a division of Harris; is seeking a Senior Manager, Operations who will lead our DevOps, Platform, and IT functions in support of public health immunization information systems (IIS) serving state health departments, federal agencies, and pharmacy partners.

This role carries a dual mandate: bring our legacy infrastructure up to current industry standards while it remains in production, and design the Operations support model for the modern platform we are building to eventually replace it. Beyond this technical and architectural scope, the role also carries direct commercial accountability - managing the function's vendor and tooling contracts, partnering with the VP on contract negotiations, and serving as the primary cost authority that Sales relies on to price work accurately.

This remote role welcomes candidates anywhere in the US.

Salary:

140K - 160K

AI & Innovation Mindset

We are committed to leveraging emerging technologies to improve how we work, serve our customers, and drive business outcomes. The successful candidate will demonstrate curiosity and a willingness to actively adopt and leverage AI tools to improve workflows, solve problems, and increase efficiency. Candidates should be comfortable using AI enabled technologies, including copilots, chat based AI assistants, and automation tools, as part of their everyday work while maintaining appropriate judgment, security, and compliance standards.

What your impact will be:

Legacy System Remediation & Platform Transition

• Assess the current legacy environment against industry-standard operational practices (security posture, patching/lifecycle management, monitoring, automation, documentation) and lead the remediation effort to close identified gaps.
• Prioritize and execute legacy upgrades in a way that manages risk to live state, federal, and pharmacy clients - balancing stability with the pace of improvement.
• In parallel, design the Operations support model (DevOps, Platform, and IT support structure, tooling, staffing, and processes) for the new modern platform as it is built and rolled out.
• Plan and manage the transition period in which legacy and modern platforms run side by side, including staffing, cost, and client-impact implications of supporting both.
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to ensure the new platform is being built with operational supportability (observability, automation hooks, deployment practices) in mind from the start.
• Provide the VP with a clear roadmap and cost picture for the legacy-to-modern transition, including where legacy remediation spend can be reduced or redirected as the new platform matures.

Team & Operational Leadership

• Lead and develop the DevOps, Platform, and IT teams, including hiring, performance management, and career development for team leads and engineers.
• Own day-to-day execution across infrastructure, platform reliability, internal IT services, and DevOps practices (CI/CD, automation, monitoring, incident response).
• Establish and report on operational metrics: uptime/availability, MTTR, ticket SLAs, change failure rate, and infrastructure cost per environment.
• Drive process improvement and tooling decisions that increase efficiency and reduce operational risk, consistent with STChealth's compliance obligations (SOC 2, state security requirements, federal client expectations).

Contract & Vendor Management

• Own the full lifecycle of contracts for tooling and vendors used within Operations (cloud infrastructure, monitoring, ITSM, identity/security tooling, etc.), including renewals, usage tracking, and total cost of ownership.
• Partner directly with the VP, Support Services on contract negotiations for Operations-related vendors, bringing usage data, cost modeling, and risk assessment to the table.
• Identify consolidation, renegotiation, or replacement opportunities that reduce cost or improve terms without compromising reliability or compliance.
• Maintain a clear, current view of all active contracts, renewal dates, and cost exposure within the Operations portfolio.
• Work with Security to ensure all environments are within policies and standards.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Act as a trusted advisor to the VP on budget planning, forecasting, and resourcing decisions for the Operations function.
• Build strong working relationships with Sales, Product, and Customer Success to ensure Operations capacity and cost realities are reflected in commitments made to clients.
• Represent Operations in internal planning conversations involving new client onboarding, contract renewals, and service expansions.
• Provide input into sales deal structuring when Sales is pricing custom or complex client requests that involve Operations effort or infrastructure.

What Success Looks Like in the First Year

• Legacy environment has a documented, prioritized remediation plan with measurable progress against industry-standard benchmarks (security, patching, monitoring, automation).
• Operations support model for the new platform is designed and staffed ahead of rollout, with clear handoff criteria for when client traffic moves from legacy to modern.
• Operations teams are running with clear metrics, predictable on-call/incident processes, and a healthy bench of documented procedures.
• All Operations-related vendor contracts are inventoried, with renewal dates, cost trends, and renegotiation opportunities clearly tracked.
• Margin targets for Operations-delivered work are consistently met or exceeded, with variances understood and explained.

What we are looking for:

• 7+ years of progressive experience in DevOps, Platform Engineering, or IT leadership, including 3+ years directly managing technical teams.
• Direct experience modernizing or remediating legacy infrastructure while it remained in live production use, ideally including security/compliance hardening, observability improvements, and automation of previously manual processes.
• Experience designing or standing up a support/operations model for a new platform - including staffing, tooling, and process design - rather than only inheriting an existing one.
• Comfort operating two systems at once during a transition period, with the judgment to balance legacy stability against the pace of modern platform rollout.
• Demonstrated experience owning or heavily contributing to vendor/tooling contract management and negotiations.
• Experience building cost models or providing cost input that directly informed pricing or deal structuring - ideally in a SaaS or services environment with margin accountability.
• Strong working knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred), CI/CD, monitoring/observability, and IT service management tooling.
• Experience in regulated, public-sector-adjacent, or healthcare/health-data environments is a strong plus.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence peers in Sales and Finance who do not share a technical background.

What we can offer:

• 3 weeks' vacation and 5 personal days
• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits starting from your first day of employment
• Employee stock ownership and RRSP/401k matching programs
• Lifestyle rewards
• Remote work and more!

About STC Health:

STChealth, founded in 1988, is dedicated to eradicating vaccine-preventable diseases through innovative technology and service solutions. With over 36 years of experience, the company has developed the first Immunization Information System (IIS) and now supports more than a quarter of all vaccinations reported nationwide. STChealth's platform securely connects consumers, providers, and public health entities, facilitating real-time data exchange to enhance immunization rates and public health responses. Recognized for its commitment to employee well-being, STChealth has received the 2024 Top Workplaces Industry Award and the American Heart Association's Gold Recognition for promoting a healthy work culture. The company values innovation, work-life flexibility, and a collaborative environment, making it an attractive workplace for professionals passionate about public health and technology. Learn more at: stchealth.com

About Harris:

Harris is a leading provider of mission critical software to the public sector in North America. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. ("CSI", symbol CSU on the TSX), Harris has become the cornerstone for CSI's investment in utility, local government, school districts, public safety, and healthcare software verticals. Our success has been realized through investments in our proprietary software and market expertise. This focus, combined with acquiring businesses that build upon or complement our offerings, has helped drive our success. Harris will continue to growth through reinvestment - both in the people and products that we offer and making investments in acquiring new businesses.

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