ICT Manager (m/f/d) – hands-on

About the job

To strengthen our IT team, we are looking for a committed individual as ICT Manager 80-100%.

About the role

You will be responsible for the entire ICT landscape of the domestic and foreign companies of allvaco group AG (josefmeyer.ch, plan4m.ch, spannverbund.com, lignumetal.ch) – both strategically and operationally. You will develop the IT strategy and be responsible for the ICT budget, negotiate with providers and suppliers, and get hands-on the same day when a server needs to be set up or a network issue resolved. You will report directly to management and be the first point of contact for all ICT matters within the company.

Your tasks

Strategy, conception and leadership

• Further development of the ICT strategy in coordination with management
• Development of concepts for infrastructure, cloud, workplace IT and cybersecurity
• Planning and responsibility for the annual ICT budget (investment and operating costs)
• Roadmap planning including prioritisation of technical debt and modernisation projects

Contracts and supplier management

• Negotiation and management of contracts with providers, system houses, software manufacturers and cloud providers
• Establishment and maintenance of a contract and renewal calendar
• License management and compliance monitoring
• Management of external service providers and commissioning in project business

Operations and hands-on technology

• Responsibility for availability, performance and security of the entire infrastructure (servers, network, storage, backup, M365 / cloud)
• Independent installation, configuration and maintenance of servers (physical and virtual), network components and storage systems
• Operation and further development of the virtualisation and backup environment
• Incident management and 2nd-/3rd-level support for critical issues

Security and governance

• Implementation and further development of the ICT security concept (patch management, access controls, backup strategy, emergency planning)
• Compliance with relevant requirements (DSG, possibly industry-specific regulations)
• Responsibility for IT emergency concept and regular restoration tests

Projects

• Management of ICT projects from conception to commissioning (e.g. infrastructure renewals, cloud migrations, ERP integrations, digitalisation initiatives)
• Internal consulting of departments on digitalisation and automation topics

What you bring

Experience

• Several years of experience in a comparable hybrid role (ICT manager, IT manager, senior system engineer with leadership responsibility) – ideally in an SME environment where both strategic and operational work are natural
• Proven experience in negotiating IT contracts and managing budgets in the order of 0.5 million and above.
• Experience in client engineering and software distribution
• Experience in setting up and operating server and network infrastructures
• Experience in implementing and operating cybersecurity products
• Leadership of IT staff both personnel and technical
• Experience with AI advantageous

Technical profile

• Solid knowledge of Windows and/or Linux server operation
• Experience with virtualisation (VMware, Hyper-V or Proxmox), storage systems and backup concepts
• Sound network know-how (VLAN, routing, firewall, VPN)
• Experience with M365, Azure or comparable cloud environments
• Basic understanding of IT security at concept and operational level
• Advantageous: knowledge in automation (PowerShell, Power Automate, Ansible or similar)

Commercial and methodological

• Confident appearance in contract negotiations with providers and suppliers
• Experience in budget planning and cost control
• Ability to prepare technical matters for management decision-making
• Project management experience, ideally according to recognised methodology

Personality

• You feel comfortable both in the server room and in the management meeting room
• Structured, decisive, pragmatic
• Communicates clearly in German; business fluent in English (French advantageous)
• Educational background: higher technical college / university of applied sciences in computer science or equivalent education, supplemented by relevant further training

What we offer

• A rare combination of design responsibility and operational proximity to technology
• Direct connection to management and short decision-making paths
• An established company with a long-term perspective
• Hybrid working on site (80%) and home office (20%)
• Flexible working hours
• Regular, varied employee events