Operations Shift Lead

Job description

Who We Are: TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) is a premium sports and entertainment company. TKO owns iconic properties including UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization; WWE, the global leader in sports entertainment; and PBR, the world’s premier bull riding organization. Together, these properties reach 1 billion households across 210 countries and territories and organize more than 500 live events year-round, attracting more than three million fans. TKO also services and partners with major sports rights holders through IMG, an industry-leading global sports marketing agency; and On Location, a global leader in premium experiential hospitality. JOB TITLE: Operations Shift Lead DEPARTMENT: TKO IT Infrastructure MAIN PURPOSE The Infrastructure Operations Team Lead is responsible for the day-to-day operational execution of TKO’s global infrastructure services. This role ensures stability, performance, and continuous improvement of core enterprise platforms supporting business operations across sports, media production, and corporate environments. The Team Lead will coordinate operational activities across endpoint, identity, network, and core infrastructure services while driving disciplined incident management, operational maturity, and service reliability. Acting as the frontline leader for infrastructure operations, this role bridges engineering, service delivery, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to ensure enterprise technology services remain resilient, secure, and responsive to business needs. WHY JOIN TKO? TKO unites three of the most recognizable brands in global sports , UFC, WWE, and PBR, with the premier hospitality brand, OLE, and the world-class broadcast, sports, and events company, IMG, to form a next-generation technology, sports, and entertainment powerhouse. As TKO prepares to separate from Endeavor and build a fresh infrastructure, this is a rare opportunity to engineer core systems at scale in a greenfield environment. You’ll work with cutting-edge identity, cloud, and infrastructure technologies from Okta and Entra ID and enterprise automation using Workato, Service Now, Workday, and Okta Workflows. The challenges are complex, the expectations are high, and the impact is real. Your work will support everything from corporate operations to global broadcasts and live events. If you want to build something that lasts and do it with autonomy and purpose, then TKO is where you want to be. REPORTING & ROLE DETAILS LINE MANAGER: Director, Workplace Technology DIRECT REPORTS: — WORKING HOURS: Dynamic EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Permanent LOCATION: Stamford, CT or Remote KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Lead global 24 ×7 infrastructure operations encompassing endpoint management (Intune/JAMF/Endpoint Central), and messaging collaboration (M365/Slack/Box/Zoom) service reliability. Drive root cause analysis (RCA) and problem management activities following significant incidents. Implement corrective actions and operational improvements to prevent recurrence. Maintain clear operational documentation and post-incident reporting standards. Partner with Service Delivery leadership and ServiceNow operators to mature Infrastructure ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change Request, CMDB, Knowledgebase) and drive service-level accountability across all teams. Oversee infrastructure changes to ensure they are properly reviewed, documented, and executed according to change management processes. Coordinate maintenance activities across infrastructure teams and external vendors. Ensure production environments remain stable during infrastructure upgrades and deployments. Identify operational inefficiencies and drive process improvements across infrastructure support models. Support automation initiatives to improve service delivery and reduce manual operational overhead. Contribute to operational readiness for new infrastructure deployments, ensuring services are supportable in production. Establish a weekly Operations Review with key performance, change, and risk metrics for executive visibility. Partner closely with enterprise project teams to ensure seamless transitions from build to run. Drive operational readiness for all infrastructure projects and platform changes. SKILLS & ABILITIES Operational Leadership: Proven ability to run mission-critical, global IT Infrastructure operations and serve as executive escalation point during major incidents. Reliability Engineering: Strong grasp of SRE principles, automation, observability, and resilience engineering. Service Management: Deep understanding of ITIL and ITSM tools, with focus on metrics-driven improvement. Technical Breadth: Familiar with enterprise-grade systems including Okta, Entra ID, M365, Box, Zoom, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto SASE/NGFW, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi, and endpoint management. Financial Acumen: Skilled at managing OPEX budgets, vendor contracts, and FinOps initiatives. Crisis Management: Composure under pressure with the ability to lead coordinated incident response efforts. People Leadership: Builds strong teams through clarity, mentorship, and accountability. Strategic Communication: Effectively interfaces with executives, translating technical risk and operational performance into business terms. Execution Focus: Balances long-term vision with tactical delivery, driving measurable uptime and performance outcomes. Continuous Improvement Mindset: Uses data and metrics to improve stability, reduce MTTR, and optimize cost-to-serve. Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to influence stakeholders and explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences. Comfort with Ambiguity: Thrives in environments where direction is still forming and able to bring structure and clarity to grey areas. Resilience: Maintains focus and composure under pressure in fast-moving, high-visibility environments. Customer Orientation: Keeps business impact front of mind; balances technical excellence with pragmatic execution QUALIFICATIONS & TRAINING Required Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or a related technical field (or equivalent professional experience). 5+ years of experience supporting enterprise IT infrastructure environments. 2+ years of experience leading technical operations teams or acting in a senior operational role. Hands-on familiarity with operational platforms such as ServiceNow, Datadog, or Splunk for monitoring and observability. Excellent executive communication and cross-functional collaboration skills. Preferred Exposure to M&A or carve-out transformations. Certifications such as ITIL Expert, PMP, or equivalent leadership credentials. Per local requirements and in the interest of transparency, the hourly rate shown below reflects the prevalent current hiring range for this position. Hiring pay rates are based on a number of factors, including location and may vary depending on job-related qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience. The company strives to provide locally competitive rewards packages, which include base rate along with, as applicable, short- and long-term incentives, growth and developmental opportunities, and robust benefits, such as health care, retirement, vacation and other paid time off, and additional offerings. Hiring Rate Minimum: $93,750 annually(minimum will not fall below the applicable State/local minimum salary thresholds) Hiring Rate Maximum: $125,000 annually TKO is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding non-discrimination in employment. TKO makes employment decisions based on merit and qualifications, without considering an employee’s or applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited under federal, state or local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the Company has facilities. TKO also provides reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state or local laws. 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