Overview

Job DescriptionJob DescriptionDescription: Hotstart has experienced significant growth over the last five years and is poised to continue on a strong upward trajectory. As a world leader in thermal management solutions, we are building on this momentum and seeking a motivated, team-oriented Manager to join our IT team in Spokane, Washington. The IT Manager leads the day-to-day operations of the IT department, ensuring the team delivers reliable infrastructure, responsive support, and well governed business systems to the organization. This role is primarily a people, process, and business-alignment leadership position rather than a hands-on technical role. The Manager ensures the right technical decisions are made through the right processes, partners closely with the Principal Infrastructure Engineer who serves as the team's technical authority, and translates business needs into a prioritized, resourced, and executed IT roadmap. The ideal candidate is a positive, team-oriented professional who is eager to learn, adapt, and help improve processes and workflows in a collaborative environment. Requirements: Team Leadership & Development Supervise the IT team, including the Principal Infrastructure Engineer, Business Systems Developer, Junior Administrator, and Helpdesk Technician. Conduct performance reviews, provide ongoing coaching and feedback, and support professional development plans for each team member. Approve timecards, manage PTO, and ensure adequate coverage across support and project work. Foster a healthy team culture that balances responsiveness, technical excellence, and sustainable workload. Leverage team resources to balance high-value projects with day-to-day service delivery in support of overall company strategy and goals. Operational Management Prioritize and schedule IT work across competing demands, including helpdesk, infrastructure, automation, and ERP customization projects. Define, track, and report on operational KPIs (ticket response/resolution, system availability, project delivery) to drive continuous improvement. Lead complex or high-risk projects directly when needed, serving as project manager or escalation point rather than primary technical executor. Establish and enforce code review standards covering quality, testing, documentation, and deployment readiness. Collaborate closely with the Principal Infrastructure Engineer to align technical architecture decisions with business priorities and organizational objectives. Drive standardization and documentation of IT processes to improve consistency, scalability, and knowledge transfer. Maintain and enforce the IT department's decision-rights framework, including thresholds for when changes require formal architecture review and when business or leadership approval is required. Own and oversee the disaster recovery and business continuity program (planning, business alignment, testing cadence), partnering with the IT team on technical design and validation. Cybersecurity Oversight Ensure the organization's cybersecurity posture is actively managed, including patching, access controls, endpoint protection, backup and recovery, and user awareness training. Coordinate with the IT team on security architecture and with external partners (MSP, auditors, insurance) on assessments and remediation. Own the IT side of incident response, including breach notification protocols and post-incident review. Data Governance & Compliance Oversee data governance practices, including access controls, retention, classification, and integrity across ERP and supporting systems. Partner with external vendors as needed. GDPR and Data Protection Officer (DPO) responsibilities Budget Ownership In partnership with Finance, develop, propose, and manage the annual IT operating and capital budget, ensuring spending is tracked with variance explanations. Build business cases for significant technology investments, including ROI/payback analysis where appropriate. Identify cos