IT Operations Lead Bilingual English/Spanish

Operational Authority: Within priorities and policies established by the IT Director, the IT Operations Lead may assign operational work, set incident and service priorities, coordinate store and field coverage, require appropriate ticket and change documentation, initiate vendor escalation, organize testing and deployment activities, and escalate unresolved resource, performance, security, or business-risk concerns. Budget commitments, policy exceptions, personnel actions, major contractual decisions, cybersecurity risk acceptance, and changes to enterprise architecture remain subject to IT Director approval.

• →Lead daily IT operations across corporate and retail locations by assessing business impact, establishing priorities, assigning ownership, coordinating dependencies, monitoring execution, and escalating risks or resource constraints that could prevent timely resolution.
• →Coordinate incidents and operational initiatives requiring systems, cloud, networking, infrastructure, security, application, reporting, or vendor expertise. Define the operational owner, required contributors, business priority, next action, communication cadence, and escalation path while preserving technical accountability within each specialized function.
• →Serve as the operational owner for retail and business applications, including BRdata, NCR Encore/ABO Central, POS, loyalty, queue management, e-commerce, and related operational platforms. Coordinate application support, vendor escalations, testing, reporting issues, implementation activities, change readiness, user communication, issue validation, documentation, and transition into normal operations.
• →Lead the operational workstream for technology implementations, migrations, and rollouts, including BRdata implementation activities. Coordinate business requirements, readiness criteria, user acceptance testing (UAT), issue tracking, cutover support, stakeholder communication, training dependencies, post-go-live stabilization, and formal transition to operational support.
• →Develop sufficient subject-matter expertise in Talpa's operational systems and retail processes to assess business impact, guide troubleshooting, coordinate vendors and specialists, validate changes, and support informed operational decisions. Coordinate change, release, and deployment activities in accordance with established approval, testing, communication, validation, and rollback requirements.
• →Oversee daily Service Desk operations and the IT support queue. Ensure incidents and requests are prioritized by business impact, assigned to an accountable owner, documented in the approved IT service-management platform, updated at appropriate intervals, escalated when progress is at risk, validated with the affected user or location, and closed with meaningful resolution information.
• →Coordinate IT readiness for new store openings, relocations, remodels, and major deployments by maintaining an integrated readiness plan, confirming accountable owners and due dates, tracking dependencies and risks, validating that required systems and equipment are operational, coordinating opening support, and documenting the transition into normal support.
• →Lead and coordinate IT support personnel by setting daily priorities, assigning work and field coverage, monitoring workload and follow-through, reinforcing service and documentation standards, providing coaching and feedback, promoting cross-training, and identifying capability or resource gaps for escalation to the IT Director.
• →Provide the IT Director with concise, decision-ready reporting on service demand, ticket aging, critical incidents, recurring problems, application and POS reliability, vendor escalations, implementation and store-readiness risks, team capacity, and corrective actions. Reporting must identify trends, business impact, accountable owners, target dates, decisions required, and items requiring leadership attention.

Success in this position is demonstrated by clear ownership of operational work; timely prioritization and escalation; reduced aging and recurrence of incidents; reliable store, application, and vendor follow-through; accurate readiness for deployments and openings; effective communication during major incidents and changes; complete operational documentation; stronger team coverage and cross-training; and concise reporting that enables timely management decisions.

Specific targets will be established using reliable operational baselines and approved departmental priorities.

Talpa operates a multi-location retail environment where technology availability directly affects business operations.

This position requires:

• Regular travel between corporate offices and retail locations.
• Hands-on participation in store technology activities when necessary.
• Participation in new-store openings and major technology deployments.
• Participation in application implementations and go-live activities.
• Participation in the established IT on-call process.
• Availability for planned evening and weekend technology activities when required.
• Flexibility to participate in occasional overnight deployments or maintenance when work cannot safely be completed during store operating hours.
• Participation in critical incident escalation when business operations are significantly affected.

This position is not expected to be personally available 24/7. After-hours responsibilities operate through established on-call, escalation, maintenance, and deployment processes.

• 4+ years of experience in IT Operations, technical support, retail technology, business applications, or a comparable IT environment, preferably supporting multiple locations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead daily IT operations, prioritize business-critical issues, coordinate technical resources, and ensure accountability through resolution.
• Strong experience with Help Desk operations, IT ticketing systems, incident management, troubleshooting, escalation, and resolution documentation.
• Experience supporting POS, ERP, inventory, pricing, merchandising, or other business-critical retail applications.
• Experience coordinating with technology vendors, internal IT specialists, and business stakeholders to troubleshoot issues and deliver effective solutions.
• Experience participating in technology implementations, migrations, upgrades, and production deployments, including testing, change coordination, go-live readiness, and post-implementation support.
• Strong problem-solving, organizational, and decision-making skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, multi-location environment.
• Ability to coordinate, mentor, and guide IT support personnel, reinforce operational standards, promote cross-training, and address performance or resource concerns.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical teams, store personnel, business leadership, and external vendors.
• Willingness to travel regularly between locations, participate in an established on-call rotation, and support occasional evening, weekend, or overnight activities as business needs require.

• Retail or grocery IT experience.
• Experience with BRdata, NCR Encore/ABO Central, or comparable POS, retail, and back-office platforms.
• Application UAT/testing experience.
• Operational reporting experience.
• Microsoft 365 operational support experience.
• SolarWinds Service Desk or comparable ITSM experience.
• ITIL Foundation or practical IT service-management experience.