Cloud Platform Manager

About Our Company

At Lids Sports Group we dont just sell hats we fuel fandom. As the largest licensed sports retailer in North America we bring sports fashion and culture together in more than 1300 stores nationwide. Headquartered in Indianapolis Indiana Lids delivers premium fan-driven products and unforgettable retail experiences.

Our stores feature officially licensed headwear and apparel from collegiate and professional teams alongside top brands like Champion Nike New Era Lululemon Athletica and Mitchell & Ness. Were also the industry leader in on-demand customization offering in-store embroidery that turns everyday gear into one-of-a-kind statements.

From specialty concept stores for the NBA and NHL to iconic clubhouse destinations for the Yankees and Dodgers we create immersive retail experiences that celebrate the teams fans love. Through collaborations with brands like Marvel Peanuts and The Walt Disney Company Lids continues to redefine how fans represent their teams in style.

General Position Summary

The Cloud Platform Manager is responsible for leading Lids enterprise cloud platform operations governance security reliability and optimization across Microsoft Azure and related cloud technologies. Reporting to the Director of CloudOps and Support this leader directly manages a team that includes the CloudOps team and ensures cloud services remain stable secure scalable cost-effective and aligned with business priorities.

The Cloud Platform Manager establishes platform standards operational practices service objectives and accountability across the cloud environment. This leader partners closely with Architecture Security Infrastructure Data & Analytics Application Development DevOps Service Desk Support and business stakeholders to enable modernization while protecting operational stability and business continuity.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on people leader with strong Microsoft Azure experience sound operational judgment and demonstrated success developing technical teams and improving enterprise cloud platforms.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

Cloud Platform Strategy & Leadership

• Define and execute cloud platform and operational plans aligned with Lids technology roadmap and business objectives.
• Establish cloud standards operating practices service objectives performance measures and governance expectations.
• Serve as a cloud platform advisor to technology leadership and cross-functional partners.

Organizational Leadership

• Lead and manage cloud platform resources including the CloudOps team with responsibility for hiring coaching performance development workload management and career progression.
• Develop team capabilities role clarity succession plans and accountability for operational ownership.
• Build a culture of service collaboration documentation discipline continuous learning and measurable follow-through.

Cloud Operations & Reliability

• Own the health availability performance reliability scalability and supportability of Microsoft Azure environments and supporting cloud services.
• Lead incident response problem management root cause analysis escalation management corrective actions and service restoration for cloud services.
• Ensure appropriate monitoring alerting observability runbooks operational readiness and on-call coverage are in place.
• Establish track and report on performance and reliability KPIs.

Governance Security & Compliance

• Drive Azure governance including Azure Policy Azure RBAC management groups subscriptions resource organization tagging naming standards and operational controls.
• Partner with Information Security to strengthen identity controls cloud security posture vulnerability management compliance and audit readiness.
• Support PCI SOX privacy records-management resilience disaster recovery and business continuity requirements as applicable.

Cloud Architecture & Modernization

• Partner with Cloud Architecture and Enterprise Architecture to support Azure Landing Zones cloud adoption platform modernization architecture guardrails and production supportability.
• Ensure new cloud solutions meet operational-readiness requirements before production deployment.
• Support enterprise initiatives involving Microsoft Fabric Power Platform Microsoft Copilot Dynamics 365 Microsoft 365 and future cloud services.

Financial Vendor & Lifecycle Management

• Manage cloud financial operations including budgeting forecasting capacity planning cost optimization and consumption reporting.
• Oversee Azure Advisor remediation service retirement planning lifecycle management technical debt reduction and evidence reporting.
• Support vendor and managed-service relationships service reviews contractual performance and platform investment decisions.

Delivery & Executive Reporting

• Prioritize cloud platform work operational risks remediation activities and cross-functional dependencies.
• Provide concise leadership reporting on service health delivery risks costs escalations and improvement plans.
• Drive continuous improvement through automation standardization proactive remediation and measurable operational outcomes.

Job Required Knowledge and Skills

• 3-5 years of experience leading cloud infrastructure cloud operations or enterprise platform teams including direct people-management or formal team-lead responsibility.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure networking identity or systems engineering.
• Strong understanding of Azure governance Azure Landing Zones Azure Policy management groups subscriptions Azure RBAC and cloud operating models.
• Demonstrated ability to coach employees set goals manage performance delegate work and support career development.
• Strong knowledge of cloud networking including hub-and-spoke architecture Azure Firewall Private Endpoints DNS routing and enterprise connectivity.
• Experience supporting enterprise-scale cloud operations and business-critical applications.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft Entra ID compliance requirements and risk-management processes.
• Experience with cloud cost optimization budgets forecasts vendors and platform capacity.
• Strong incident problem change and service-management discipline.
• Strong communication prioritization decision-making and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Information Technology Computer Science Engineering or a related discipline or equivalent practical experience.
• Microsoft certifications such as AZ-104 AZ-305 AZ-500 AZ-700 or SC-300.
• Experience with Azure Advisor Azure Monitor Log Analytics Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft Purview Microsoft Fabric Power Platform Microsoft Copilot Dynamics 365 or Microsoft 365 administration.
• Experience managing cloud teams in a retail ecommerce or multi-location enterprise environment.
• Familiarity with ITIL practices Jira ServiceNow operational reporting and governance programs.

Key Leadership Competencies

Strategic Thinking Talent Development Cloud Governance Cross-Functional Collaboration People Leadership Business Acumen Service Ownership Data-Driven Decision Making Operational Excellence Customer Focus Change Leadership Financial Stewardship

Success Measures

• The Cloud Platform Manager will be measured on the following outcomes:
• Cloud Service Reliability & Availability
• Incident Reduction & Restoration Performance
• Security Compliance & Audit Readiness
• Cloud Cost Optimization & Budget Management
• Governance & Standards Adoption
• Operational Readiness & Lifecycle Management
• Team Development & Retention
• Stakeholder Satisfaction
• Automation & Continuous Improvement
• Cloud Modernization Progress

What We Offer

• Comprehensive medical dental and vision coverage
• Retirement plan
• 100% employer-paid benefits including short-term and long-term disability life and AD&D insurance and an Employee Assistance Program
• Paid Time Off
• Generous employee discount and exclusive perks
• Ongoing career development including discounted secondary education courses
• A collaborative innovative and team-oriented work environment
• Early Wage Access options
• Bonus eligibility depending on position level

Physical Demands & Requirements

• Ability to operate a computer and work with digital systems for extended periods.
• Ability to communicate verbally and visually with internal teams and stakeholders.
• Ability to work in an office or remote environment with frequent task deadlines.
• Ability to occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision distance vision and depth perception
• This position requires less than 10% travel

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. For inquiries related to reasonable accommodations please contact

Work Environment

• Onsite office work environment.
• Standard business hours from 8 a.m. 5 p.m. flexibility may be provided upon request.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Employment Requirements

Candidates must possess the experience skills physical abilities and qualifications with or without reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the role and must be able to meet all applicable employment standards. Being legally authorized to work in the United States is a pre-condition of employment for this position. Current or future employment-based visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression pregnancy age national origin disability status genetic information protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Notice to Applicants

In connection with your application we collect information that identifies reasonably relates to or describes you (Personal Information). The categories of Personal Information we collect include your name email address mailing address other contact information employment history and educational history. We collect and use this information for human resources and business management purposes including identifying and evaluating candidates for employment or future contract opportunities and maintaining recruiting and hiring records.

Need Accessibility Assistance

Applicants who require accessibility assistance to submit an employment application may email A member of our Talent team will respond as soon as reasonably possible. This email address is only for individuals seeking reasonable accommodation when applying for a career at Lids.

Required Experience:

Manager