IT Platform Manager

Summary: Great Wolf Resorts is looking for a Platform Manager. Join our fast-paced team and leverage your experience while continuing to gain new skills through exposure to new technologies and having a direct impact to organizational performance. 

This role supports and provides guidance, direction, mentoring and oversight to the Platform Engineering team members in support of the following managed applications; Financial Systems (Infor SUN, Coupa), CRM (Salesforce), Inventory systems (Dataworks, Birchstreet), Hospitality systems (Oracle Opera), POS Sales systems (Oracle Simphony), HR/Payroll systems (UltiPro and Unifocus)., 

In addition, this critical management role serves as an IT Project Manager interfacing with Great Wolf operational teams and partners. The successful candidate must effectively manage Platform Team projects providing up-to-date communication and documentation while planning and managing project resources, budgets, and schedules. 

Essential Responsibilities 

• Hands on" dynamic leader who will roll up their sleeves to work in a fast-paced environment as a player/coach when required. 
• Hire, train, coach and mentor Platform Application Engineers (onshore and offshore) to achieve objectives consistent with the company's culture. 
• Monitor, manage/prioritize application support ticket queue using the ZenDesk ticketing system. 
• Plan and schedule rollouts, upgrades, support and troubleshoot current and new platforms and software/systems 
• Serve as the escalation point for internal team members regarding system issues 
• Partner with GWR Operations and Commercial teams, as well as IT technical experts coordinating work efforts, project communication, testing, solution implementation and project roll outs. 
• Must be prepared to jump in for after-hours calls related to critical incidents of managed applications 
• Manage vendor relationships for both ongoing platform support and project related work 
• Responsible for preliminary team annual budget requirements 

Essential Skills & Responsibilities 

• Prior experience in hotel / property management systems a plus 
• Self-starter with a passion for leading a team 
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills including the ability to effectively communicate technical topics to non- technical colleagues across the organization 
• Proven ability to collaborate and build relationships in a cooperative manner. 
• Proven problem solving and troubleshooting skills including defining requirements, information gathering and analytic skills Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from business stakeholders and vendors 
• Project management experience including leading, coordinating and scheduling multiple teams/vendors across time zones resulting in the successful delivery of projects. 
• Flexible and able to pivot when necessary to meet evolving operational goals 
• Able to work in a hybrid work environment - Tues, Wed, Thurs, in Chicago office, Mon and Fridays WFH. 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in IT or similar field; or equivalent professional experience 
• 7 years of progressive experience in an information systems role 
• 4 years of experience leading, mentoring and managing a support team
• 3 years of project management experience preferred 
• Ability to travel occasionally