Nicholas V.

OPTUM Senior Manager, Infrastructure & Operations Engineering | March 2024 – Present Lead enterprise software and endpoint delivery operations, overseeing intake, prioritization, and execution of large‑scale deployments across distributed environments. Act as senior escalation authority for delivery blockers, risk exceptions, and non‑standard deployment scenarios requiring executive judgment. Establish and enforce governance frameworks for change management, risk assessment, and release approvals, ensuring operational stability and regulatory compliance. Direct and mentor project managers and engineers, providing strategic work alignment, coaching, performance oversight, and delivery accountability. Partner closely with Security, Infrastructure, Compliance, and Business leadership to resolve constraints and align on risk‑based decisions. Lead operational delivery for mergers, acquisitions, and organizational transitions, integrating new application portfolios into standardized enterprise models. Develop and refine end‑to‑end intake, triage, and delivery workflows, increasing transparency, predictability, and audit readiness. Produce executive‑level dashboards, summaries, and recommendations supporting leadership decisions on risk, prioritization, and delivery tradeoffs. Champion continuous improvement initiatives including process simplification, tooling optimization, and adoption of modern delivery practices.

OPTUM (Contract‑to‑Hire via Equity Staffing) Senior Deployment Project Manager | April 2018 – July 2024 (Converted to FTE: October 2020) Managed enterprise software delivery scrum teams and intake/triage operations aligned to organizational standards. Provided upfront vetting and analysis of standard and complex software provisioning requests. Collaborated with multiple business segments to define scope, expectations, and deployment objectives. Coordinated deployment timelines with engineering teams for automated and large‑scale rollouts. Served as primary customer and stakeholder point of contact throughout the delivery lifecycle. Mentored team members and supported continuous improvement initiatives across infrastructure, and delivery practices. Led special projects and internal initiatives including Employee Experience, Customer Satisfaction, and NPS reporting.

BEST BUY (Contract via Experis) Incident Management & Service Operations September 2010 – April 2018 Facilitated incident, problem, and change management processes aligned to ITIL v3. Served as primary retail escalation point for high‑impact incidents affecting field operations. Orchestrated executive‑level communications for outages, recovery efforts, and service degradation events. Monitored critical incidents and support queues, proactively escalating risks prior to SLA breaches. Delivered reporting, analysis, and real‑time coordination between stores, field leadership, vendors, support teams, and executives. Trained and mentored staff; performed shift lead responsibilities and knowledge management contributions. Owned Level 3 hardware fulfillment operations, ensuring timely delivery of critical customer facing and infrastructure assets replacements across both FIFO and escalation paths.

Northwest Airlines (Contract via TEKsystems) IT Helpdesk / Business Analyst April 2008 – May 2009 Provided Tier 1 and Tier 2 technical support across domestic and international airports, data centers, and corporate offices. Supported Microsoft Office 2003/2007 applications within Windows 2000, XP, and Vista environments. Resolved VPN remote access issues and supported LAN and Mainframe printer configurations. Troubleshot proprietary systems, managed password resets, and ensured software distribution tools functioned properly. Supported BlackBerry devices, WiFi equipment, laptops, and POS server applications. Trained and mentored new team members; updated troubleshooting procedures and onboarding documentation.

PLATO Learning Level II Helpdesk Analyst May 2006 – November 2007 Provided Tier 2 technical support in a three‑tier environment via phone, email, voicemail, and live chat. Diagnosed and resolved database and LAN issues supporting Windows 2000, Windows 2003, and Novell servers. Supported proprietary web‑based applications hosted internally and externally. Resolved support tickets using VPN‑based remote access tools. Created and managed tickets within the PeopleSoft system. Contributed to PLATO’s knowledge base by authoring and maintaining knowledge articles in KNOVA.

Apex Management Services Helpdesk Support Specialist March 2003 – March 2006 Delivered software and hardware support to national and international clients. Resolved billing and helpdesk inquiries in a high‑volume call center environment. Generated operational reports while managing multiple client accounts. Entered and maintained large volumes of contractual data. Updated and managed critical FTP files daily. Coordinated directly with collection agencies regarding delinquent accounts.