The Infrastructure Operations Specialist is responsible for the day-to-day operational reliability of the firm’s technology infrastructure through continuous monitoring, incident response, and structured escalation. This role serves as a first and second line of defense for infrastructure- and security-related alerts, executes documented response playbooks, and ensures consistent operational and audit evidence. The position is intentionally scoped to focus on monitoring, response, and coordination, while platform ownership, configuration, and engineering responsibilities remain with Systems Administrators and Infrastructure Engineers. Two positions will be established, with one on each coast, to extend business-hours coverage in a cost-effective manner. Essential Job Functions for this role include: Infrastructure Monitoring & Incident Response Continuously monitor infrastructure, cloud platforms, identity systems, networking, and security tooling using centralized monitoring and alerting solutions. Triage alerts, validate impact, and execute documented runbooks and response plans. Act as first and second line of defense for infrastructure and security alerts, escalating issues based on defined thresholds and procedures. Coordinate incident response activities and ensure appropriate handoff to Systems Administrators or Engineering teams. Service Desk Escalation & Operational Support Serve as second-line escalation point for the Service Desk on infrastructure-related issues. Validate issues, gather diagnostics, and ensure accurate prioritization before escalating. Provide operational support during business-impacting events to reduce time to resolution. Reliability & Continuous Improvement Contribute to reducing mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR) through disciplined monitoring and response practices. Identify recurring incidents or alert noise and recommend improvements to thresholds, runbooks, and escalation processes. Participate in post-incident reviews and corrective action tracking. Security, Compliance & Audit Support Monitor infrastructure and security signals and initiate predefined response actions. Ensure incidents, alerts, and escalations are accurately documented. Produce consistent evidence of monitoring, response, and escalation to support SOC, audit, and regulatory requirements. Follow established change and incident management processes. Scope & Boundaries (Intentional) This role does not own infrastructure platforms or perform independent configuration changes. Responsibilities are focused on operations and response, with build, administration, and architecture retained by Systems Administrators and Engineering teams. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 2–4 years of experience in IT operations, infrastructure support, NOC, service desk escalation, or similar roles. Strong understanding of enterprise IT environments, including cloud platforms, identity systems, networking, and endpoint fundamentals. Experience working with monitoring, alerting, and incident management tools. Familiarity with structured escalation processes and operational runbooks. Strong documentation, troubleshooting, and communication skills. Working knowledge of ITIL-based service management concepts. Security-first mindset with an understanding of operational risk and compliance considerations. Preferred Qualifications Experience supporting cloud environments (Azure and/or AWS). Exposure to infrastructure security tooling and incident response workflows. Experience working in regulated or audit-driven environments.