
Principal Director – Service Operations
The Aerospace Corporation
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: Chantilly • California • Virginia • United States
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Salary
💰 $180,800 - $271,200 per year
Job Level
About the role
- Develop and execute the IT operations and user experience strategies to ensure service availability, reliability, and scalability across classified and unclassified environments
- Define and monitor operational KPIs, SLAs, and Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) to track and enhance service performance and user satisfaction
- Establish and maintain runbooks, operational playbooks, and standardized operating procedures to ensure consistent and efficient operations.
- Drive a customer-centric IT culture focused on service excellence and operational efficiency
- Oversee enterprise-wide incident management, including escalation, communication, root cause analysis, and recovery efforts
- Oversee problem management processes to identify systemic issues and eliminate recurring failures
- Manage the change management process in partnership with Application Development, Infrastructure, and Security teams to balance speed and risk mitigation
- Ensure consistent adherence to ITIL-based service management practices, driving continuous improvement initiatives.
- Collaborate with infrastructure and cloud teams to maintain high availability, reliability, and scalability of IT systems
- Leverage operational data, automation, and analytics to eliminate root causes and improve service resilience
- Manage the enterprise service desk function, ensuring fast resolution times, high-quality support, and positive user experiences
- Drive initiatives to enhance quality of service, self-service capabilities, automation, and ticket reduction
- Align service desk operations with end-user platforms (e.g., endpoint engineering, identity, and collaboration tools) for seamless user support
- Improve service turnaround times, quality, and customer satisfaction metrics across all support channels
- Partner with Stakeholder Partners to align IT operations with mission and business priorities
- Collaborate with Application Development, Infrastructure, and Security teams to support deployments, upgrades, and platform changes
- Coordinate with data management teams to ensure operational readiness and support for analytics platforms, data pipelines, and mission-critical services
- Ensure operational compliance with NIST, CMMC, and corporate governance frameworks
- Participate in OCIO governance forums, contributing to strategy, alignment, and operational planning
- Identify and mitigate operational risks, ensuring regulatory and corporate compliance for classified and unclassified environments.
- Maintain documentation, controls, and evidence to support audits and meet internal and external regulatory requirements.
- Lead and mentor a team of IT operations, service desk, vendor management professionals across multiple locations
- Foster a culture of accountability, reliability, and continuous improvement within the team
- Develop training, certification, and career development plans to build a high-performing workforce
- Oversee vendor and managed service provider relationships, ensuring cost-effectiveness, performance, and value delivery
- Manage budgets, resource allocation, and co-sourcing arrangements to optimize operational efficiency
- Support organizational growth and productivity improvements by continuously evaluating and enhancing IT infrastructure and operations
- Drive innovation through data-driven insights, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives
- Deliver measurable value through operational excellence, cost optimization, and exceptional user experiences.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or a related field is required
- A minimum of (10) years of progressive IT leadership experience, with at least 5 years in senior IT operations, service delivery, or enterprise IT roles is required
- Must be extremely customer-focused, solution-oriented and results-driven
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and align cross-functional teams and executive leadership
- Demonstrated success in leading large, geographically dispersed teams, managing budgets, and delivering enterprise-scale IT services
- Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with the ability to manage complex projects and deliver results on time and within budget
- Expertise in ITIL frameworks, and IT service management processes, including incident, problem, and change management
- Proven ability to lead and motivate diverse teams, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Benefits
- Comprehensive health care and wellness plans
- Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation
- Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options
- 401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire
- Flexible spending accounts
- Variable pay program for exceptional contributions
- Relocation assistance
- Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career
- Education assistance programs
- An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
IT operationsservice deliveryincident managementproblem managementchange managementITILdata managementanalyticsautomationservice desk management
Soft Skills
customer-focusedsolution-orientedresults-drivencommunicationstakeholder managementstrategic thinkingproblem-solvingdecision-makingteam leadershipcollaboration
Certifications
Bachelor’s degree in computer scienceBachelor’s degree in Information SystemsITIL certification