Associate IT Manager (Telephony Expert)

Department: Information Technology Reports To: IT Manager Location : Alabang (On-site), Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines Position Summary: The Associate IT Manager supports the reliability, security, performance, and scalability of Pinnacle Intelligence's local IT infrastructure and serves as a primary point of contact for client communication during new account onboarding. Working closely with the IT Manager, this role helps oversee a small IT team covering deskside support, desktop and network administration, telephony, and systems integrations, while coordinating with stakeholders across Pinnacle's US, India, and Philippines operations. A defining part of the role is stepping directly into client-facing conversations — primarily with US-based dealership clients — where excellent spoken and written English communication is essential to representing Pinnacle with clarity and confidence. The role also serves as a telephony subject-matter resource, helping ensure Pinnacle's telephony architecture and solutions remain modern, reliable, scalable, and cost-effective, while engaging directly with clients and technology partners when required. The role calls for sound day-to-day judgment on infrastructure and telephony issues, the ability to prioritize by business impact, and the ability to translate technical detail into language non-technical stakeholders and clients can act on. Key Responsibilities: 1. IT Infrastructure & Operations Leadership Help maintain the availability, performance, and security posture of local network, desktop, and endpoint infrastructure across the Alabang site, escalating major risk decisions to the IT Manager. Support prioritization and escalation of deskside and desktop support issues, ensuring they are triaged by business impact rather than order of arrival. Assess infrastructure risk (capacity, security exposure, single points of failure) and recommend when to remediate versus monitor, in coordination with the IT Manager. 2. Systems Integration & Solutioning Support the design of integration approaches for new client onboarding, helping evaluate technical trade-offs (build vs. buy, custom vs. standard connectors, cost vs. speed) before implementation. Oversee integrations between internal systems (CRM, telephony, scheduling, and other operational tools) and troubleshoot cross-system issues that affect service delivery. Help manage vendor and tool relationships relevant to the local IT stack, assessing trade-offs before recommending changes or replacements. Anticipate how infrastructure and integration decisions affect uptime for client-facing operations and plan changes accordingly. 3. Cross-Regional Stakeholder & Client-Facing Engagement Build and maintain day-to-day working relationships with IT, operations, and business stakeholders across Pinnacle's US, India, and Philippines offices, coordinating priorities and dependencies across time zones. Represent Pinnacle's IT capability directly to US-based dealership clients during onboarding, speaking to security, systems architecture, and integration approach with confidence and precision. Co-manage cross-border project workstreams with US and India counterparts, ensuring infrastructure and integration commitments made to clients are delivered on schedule. Act as the technical point of escalation when client-impacting IT issues require direct client communication, adapting communication style and pacing to a primarily American client base. 4. Team Leadership & Development Support and mentor team members covering deskside, desktop, and network functions, helping build their capability to handle escalations independently over time. Help identify individual skill gaps and support development plans — pairing team members on integration work, cross-training across deskside/network/systems disciplines, and creating opportunities to stretch into higher-complexity issues. Help uphold clear standards for response times, documentation, and issue resolution quality across the team. Provide day-to-day guidance to team members and flag recurring issues, resourcing gaps, and growth opportunities to the IT Manager. 5. Governance, Documentation & Reporting Maintain accurate documentation of network topology, systems architecture, and integration points to support audits, onboarding, and incident response. Report on infrastructure health, incident trends, and improvement initiatives to the IT Manager. Ensure IT practices align with company policy and any client-specific security or compliance requirements. Skills & Qualifications: Required: Experience: 3–5 years in IT infrastructure, systems administration, or IT operations roles. US Client Experience: Demonstrated experience working directly with US-based clients — comfortable leading conversations and representing IT to clients, not just executing tickets. Cross-Regional Coordination: Proven ability to coordinate relationships and dependencies across geographically distributed teams (US, India, Philippines or similar multi-site environments). Technical Breadth: Strong working knowledge of desktop/deskside support, network administration (LAN/WAN, firewalls, VPN), and systems integration principles, including solution design and technical trade-off evaluation. Client-Facing Communication: Excellent spoken and written English communication skills, with the confidence and polish to lead onboarding calls, explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, and represent Pinnacle professionally to a primarily American client base. This is a core requirement of the role. Judgment Under Pressure: Sound judgment in prioritizing and resolving day-to-day infrastructure issues by business impact, particularly in environments supporting live client operations. Leadership & Coaching: Experience mentoring or supporting junior colleagues is a plus; formal people-management experience is not required for this role. Preferred: Prior experience managing or mentoring a small technical team. Experience supporting BPO, shared services, or multi-client operational environments. Familiarity with CRM, telephony, or contact center systems integrations. Relevant certifications (e.g., CompTIA Network+/Security+, ITIL, Microsoft/Cisco certifications). Familiarity with ISO27001 and SOC2 Type 2 controls Implemented automation projects related to IT tools and services Why Join Pinnacle Intelligence? Pinnacle Intelligence offers a unique opportunity to be part of a growing and innovative company that is redefining intelligent business solutions for the automotive retail industry. We provide a collaborative work environment, opportunities for professional growth, and the chance to make a significant impact on our clients' success. If you are a skilled and passionate individual eager to contribute to a dynamic team, we encourage you to apply!