IT Support Team Lead / Infrastructure Support Lead

ABOUT ALBERT USTER IMPORTS Albert Uster Imports, Inc. (“AUI”) is a privately held gourmet food company headquartered in the Washington, DC area (Gaithersburg, MD) with warehouse locations in Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Gurnee and Gaithersburg. AUI falls under the Vestar Capital Partners portfolio with affiliate organization, Roland Foods, LLC. Founded in 1968, the company offers over 1,400 products from around the world. We serve leading hotels, restaurants, casinos, cruise lines, airlines, and manufacturers with innovative, high quality products and solutions to their most demanding culinary challenges. We operate a network of distribution centers across the U.S. and serve select international markets as well. AUI has a national direct selling organization of over 60 sales professionals and a staff of culinary experts (chefs and food scientists) adept at custom product solutions. ABOUT THE ROLE The IT Support Team Lead / Infrastructure Support Lead is a hands-on technical leader responsible for coordinating day-to-day IT support, serving as the primary escalation point for complex issues, and helping maintain the organization’s core systems, devices, network, and cloud services. The role balances direct technical support with team guidance, ticket oversight, infrastructure administration, security, and continuous improvement. The ideal candidate combines broad technical expertise with strong customer service, sound judgment, and the ability to organize work, coach others, and drive issues through resolution. This person establishes consistent support practices, identifies recurring problems and service trends, strengthens documentation, and partners with internal stakeholders and vendors to deliver reliable IT operations. This is not a fully remote role. This role is located in Gaithersburg and is on a hybrid schedule. As a response to the pandemic, Albert Uster Imports Inc. office employees have transitioned to a hybrid working schedule, requiring employees to report in-person Monday through Wednesday, with the option to telework on Thursday and Friday each week. Due to the collaborative, cross-functional nature of the organization, employees at the Gaithersburg office are required to work in-person for the abovementioned days, outside of any People & Culture-approved disability accommodation request. RESPONSIBILITIES Team Leadership and Service Delivery Coordinate the daily workflow of the IT support function, including ticket assignment, prioritization, escalation, and follow-through Serve as the primary escalation point for complex or high-impact hardware, software, access, network, and device issues Provide day-to-day technical guidance, coaching, and knowledge sharing to IT support team members Establish and reinforce service standards, support procedures, documentation expectations, and consistent customer communication Monitor ticket volume, aging, recurring issues, and service trends; recommend actions to improve responsiveness, resolution quality, and the end-user experience Partner with business stakeholders to communicate priorities, outages, risks, and resolution status clearly and appropriately End User Support Resolve advanced hardware, software, network, account, and device issues while remaining hands-on with day-to-day support needs Oversee support requests through the IT ticketing system and ensure incidents, resolutions, and follow-up activities are documented accurately Lead the deployment, configuration, and support of Microsoft 365 applications, Windows, macOS, mobile devices, and peripherals Identify root causes for recurring end-user issues and implement sustainable corrective actions Identity and Access Administration Oversee user account administration, access provisioning, and onboarding and offboarding activities Maintain accurate user and employee records within Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID Ensure access changes are completed accurately, promptly, and in accordance with established security and approval requirements Periodically review access, group membership, and administrative permissions and escalate identified risks Infrastructure and Systems Support Administer and support Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure, DNS, DHCP, and related infrastructure services Monitor, troubleshoot, and maintain server, cloud, endpoint, and network infrastructure; coordinate escalations with vendors and service providers as needed Lead endpoint administration and configuration through Microsoft Intune, including deployment, policy management, patching, and compliance Support system security, patch compliance, backup integrity, business continuity, and disaster recovery readiness Participate in incident response and coordinate technical remediation, documentation, and follow-up actions Telecommunications and Asset Management Oversee corporate phone, voicemail, and mobile device services Maintain accurate technology asset inventory and ensure consistent processes for procurement, deployment, maintenance, replacement, and recovery Coordinate equipment preparation and recovery for employee onboarding, transitions, and offboarding <li style="font-family