Cloud Manager (Manager, IS II)

We are the Metropolitan Council, the regional government for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. We plan 30 years ahead for the future of the metropolitan area and provide regional transportation, wastewater, and housing services. More information about us on our website.

We are committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

Information Services is the central IT department supporting all divisions of the Metropolitan Council. Our 140 team members provide technology, practices and innovative solutions that enable the core services of the Council.

How your work would contribute to our organization and the Twin Cities region:
The Cloud Manager (CM) is critical to the development and execution of key strategic Infrastructure and Cloud Operations (ICO) projects across the Metropolitan Council's (MC) various divisions.

A successful Cloud Manager is a flexible and resilient results-oriented leader, advisor, and facilitator. They leverage their strong technical expertise and knowledge of ICO to meet the needs of the MC by overcoming obstacles to drive projects forward and deliver results. The CM brings diverse business units and teams together to align on funding strategies and collaborate across those teams to identify and implement common goals. The CM deftly facilitates communication throughout the organization and raises key issues, collaborating with ICO, executive, and other teams to achieve resolutions.

Full Salary Range: $49.94 - $81.06 hourly/$103,875 - $168,604 yearly

This position is eligible for a hybrid (both remote and onsite) telework arrangement. Candidate's permanent residence must be in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

• Lead an ICO team that is responsible for designing, implementing, securing, and managing the Council's on-premises infrastructure and Microsoft Azure Cloud Portals and related daily operations.
• Lead and mentor the ICO team, fostering and supporting a culture of innovation, continual improvement and collaboration within and across teams, providing guidance and opportunities for team members to learn and cross-train on new skills, meeting regularly with team members to review performance and development plans.
• Demonstrate excellent soft skills by effectively communicating with people at all levels of the organization and bringing out the best in others by delegating, empowering, trusting and following up with people to get work done on time.
• Effectively convey complex technical concepts in an understandable way that is appropriate across diverse audiences.
• Lead execution of strategic priorities and manage relationships with stakeholders to consistently deliver projects on-time using strong project management skills.
• Manage and participate in on-call rotations to ensure ICO Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with other teams and business units are met, serving as the escalation point for ICO-related issues and incidents, and ensuring timely resolution.
• Ensure operational excellence and transparency by establishing understandable and actionable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and SLAs, and regularly review reporting metrics and ICO telemetry with the team, business partners and leadership to identify opportunities to drive down costs, resolve ICO issues, and improve and automate work methods.
• Identify, develop, improve and mature ICO standards, processes, policies and ways of work.
• Use proficiency with infrastructure automation tools and scripting languages (Terraform, Python, Ruby, PowerShell, Bicep, etc.) to drive and oversee automation initiatives to improve efficiency, reduce manual tasks, and streamline operations.
• Implement and manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Continual Improvement/Continual Development (CI/CD) pipeline solutions (e.g. Terraform) for managing and deploying infrastructure, as well as partnering with other MC business units on CI/CD pipeline development efforts.
• Develop and implement operational runbooks to manage certificates, vulnerabilities, and new environment deployments.
• Collaborate cross-functionally across teams and business units to ensure high availability, scalability and security across all on-premises and in-cloud platforms, helping safeguard the MC by implementing reliable, efficient, and optimized technology systems that meet MC objectives around infrastructure, application and data layers.
• Collaborate with vendors and contracted service providers to implement and review agreements, and engage them for help to maintain ICO systems for the MC.
• Create and deliver presentations, interface with senior management, corporate-level managers, and high-ranking customers on all matters affecting the status of ICO.
• Leverage knowledge and experience with MS and Azure products, Red Hat, VMware vSphere and NetApp products, and ITIL framework practices.

Any of the following combinations of education (in Computer Science/Engineering, Information Technology, or related) and relevant experience:

• Master's degree and 5 years of experience, including 3 years of management experience.
• Bachelor's degree and 7 years of experience, including 3 years of management experience.
• Associate's degree and 9 years of experience, including 3 years of management experience.
• High school diploma/GED and 11 years of experience, including 3 years of management experience.

• MS and Azure: Azure Functions, Azure Databricks, Azure OpenAI Services, Azure Monitoring, Azure Cost Optimization, Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Azure Computing Fleet, Azure DevOps, Azure SQL, Visual Studio, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft M365, Microsoft Windows Server, GitHub
• Ability to incorporate the principles of inclusion, equity and diversity into your daily work and look for positive ways to apply the Golden and Platinum rules when interacting with others.
• Familiarity with the varied communities of the MC

• Understanding of the various business units and what each unit does, their way of working, and their needs and requirements.
• Ability to juggle diverse projects and their regulatory aspects and budget constraints and how they affect the team's workload and backlog.
• Strong interpersonal relationships within and across teams and business units, to remove barriers, reduce risk, build trust and improve insights across the MC.
• Ability to set others up to be successful in their work, providing a helping hand through servant leadership.
• Comfort delivering strategic guidance to all levels of leadership, across multiple divisions and business units of the MC.

• We offer the opportunity to make a difference and positively influence the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
• We encourage our employees to develop their skills through on-site training and tuition reimbursement.
• We provide a competitive salary, excellent benefits and a good work/life balance.

Union/Grade: Non-represented/Grade K
FLSA Status: Exempt
Safety Sensitive: No

What your work environment would be:
You would perform your work in a standard office setting. Work may sometimes require travel between your primary work site and other sites.

If you are new to the Metropolitan Council, you must pass a drug test (safety sensitive positions only), and a background check which verifies education, employment, and criminal history. A driving record check and/or physical may be conducted if applicable to the job. If you have a criminal conviction, you do not automatically fail. The Metropolitan Council considers felony, gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor convictions on a case-by-case basis, based on whether they are related to the job and whether the candidate has demonstrated adequate rehabilitation.

If you are already an employee of the Metropolitan Council, you must pass a drug test (if moving from a non-safety sensitive position to a safety sensitive position) and criminal background check if the job you're applying for is safety sensitive, is a supervisory or management job, is in the Finance, Information Services, Audit, or Human Resources departments, or has access to financial records, files/databases, cash, vouchers or transit fare cards. A driving record check and/or physical may be conducted if applicable to the position.

Security Policy:
This position involves direct access to Criminal Justice Information (CJI) as defined by the FBI CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) Security Policy. In accordance with section 5.12.1.1 of the FBI CJIS Security Policy, final candidates must agree to submit to a state of residence and national fingerprint-based record check. If the result of the record check reveals criminal convictions, the nature and circumstances of those convictions will be reviewed by the Metropolitan Transit Police Department and/or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to determine if access to Criminal Justice Information would be permissible. If it is determined that access to Criminal Justice Information would not be permissible, the candidate will no longer be eligible for this position.

IMPORTANT: If you make a false statement or withhold information, you may be barred from job consideration.

The Metropolitan Council is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and veteran-friendly employer. The Council is committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity of the region and strongly encourages persons of color, members of the LGBTQ community, individuals with disabilities, women, and veterans to apply.

If you have a disability that requires accommodation during the selection process, please email HR-OCCHealth@metc.state.mn.us