At Academy Sports + Outdoors our vision is to be the best sports + outdoors retailer in the country — but what truly sets us apart is our people. We’re a passionate, purpose-driven team that’s as committed to each other as we are to our customers.
We’ve spent over 80 years building a culture that puts people first. We believe in creating opportunities for growth, fostering meaningful connections, and supporting every Team Member’s journey. What fuels us? Our belief in the power of fun.
Here, you won’t just help customers gear up for their next adventure — you’ll launch one of your own. Whether you're starting out or leveling up, Academy is a place where fun can’t lose!
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or relevant field of study preferred
Work Experiences:
- 5 + years in IT or related field with managerial or supervisory experience
Skills:
- Demonstrated experience managing IT/e-commerce platforms, projects and team
- Strong technical knowledge of eCommerce, omni-channel, enterprise applications, and operating systems, network and mobile POS.
- Subject matter expert in planning, developing and implementing IT infrastructure, technology/network scalability management, security procedures and disaster recovery protocols.
- Detailed knowledge of various server operating systems, domain architecture, desktop & mobile engineering and store systems back-office.
- In-depth hands on experience with enterprise firewalls, online & store systems, inventory & merchandise monitoring, audit and logging applications, state-of-the-art monitoring tools
- Strong technical knowledge in providing 24/7 support, including a global remote user base
- Working knowledge of IT, Security, end to end ecommerce technologies and operations.
- Strong analysis capabilities and skills in structured problem solving.
- Strong program and service delivery skills.
- Deep sense of urgency and ability to identify and achieve quick wins.
- Ability to quickly learn new subject matter areas, assess operational maturity, establish KPI s and metrics and drive towards operational maturity.
- Great communications and collaboration skills.
Required Experience
- 8-12 years prior experience in IT Operations
- 8-12 years of leadership and management experience
- Required knowledge of Cloud Technologies, Web Sphere commerce or ATG
- Customer advocate and relentless passion to solve issues quickly.
- Experience in introducing metrics and data as a basis for operational analysis and decision-making
- Experience in introducing operational discipline into ad hoc process areas. Experience with data centers, process and organizational change management.
- Experience in significantly and provable increasing maturity levels for IT and engineering operations processes.
- Experience in working with distributed teams and processes and driving them towards high levels of operational excellence.
Responsibilities:
- Manage system enhancements to the WebSphere platform and supporting e-commerce systems
- Build, maintain state-of-the-art IT operations for digital/ecommerce business
- Inculcate every day is holiday culture across board
- Build operations team as highly data-driven giving apt quantification for each ticket and business case handling
- Build and lead global 24/7/365 operation engineer team with focus on customer service with right competency, tool-set, culture, automation driven with agile manner.
- Develop, manage, measure, monitor and report on key operation service-level metrics, KPIs
- Develop and maintain a scalable organization with a well-documented roadmap, goals and objectives
- Responsible for IT operation processes to facilitate, enable IT & business team to deliver a high quality of service
- Representing IT operations, work collaboratively with the other departments providing IT operations services as well as enabling them with technology thought leadership.
- Manage the planning, documentation architecture, design, implementation and support of IT operations
- Build relationships with business partners to ensure IT ops and productivity goals are understood and exceeded
- Provide executive reporting, real-time updates to leadership, resonate & showcase holiday readiness at all times
- Maintain customer satisfaction (internal and external) while engaging day to day operations
- Strive for customer centricity excellence
- Prepare budgets and team objectives
- Use service desk best practices, ITIL, and problem management to drive continual process improvement culture
- Promote self-service tools, the request catalog and the knowledge repository as mechanisms to improve end-user satisfaction and reduce costs
- Perform trend analysis including competitors, and develop action plans for improving service timeliness, maintaining compliance & audit friendly and reducing costs.
- Stay abreast of trends in IT operations support, management, technologies, sourcing, policies, procedures and other external changes that could have an impact on IT services.
Physical Requirements & Attendance
- Acceptable level of hearing and vision to perform job duties
- Adhere to company work hours, policies, procedures and rules governing professional staff behavior
Academy is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate with regard to employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by law.
Skills Required
- 8-12 years prior experience in IT Operations
- 8-12 years of leadership and management experience
- Experience managing WebSphere Commerce or ATG platforms
- Knowledge of Cloud Technologies
- Hands-on experience with enterprise firewalls, online & store systems, and mobile POS
- Experience with inventory and merchandise monitoring systems, audit and logging applications, and monitoring tools
- Experience providing 24/7 support for a global remote user base
- Experience introducing metrics, operational discipline, and process/organizational change management
- Experience with data center operations and scalability management
- Working knowledge of IT security, end-to-end ecommerce technologies and operations
- Experience using service desk best practices, ITIL, and problem management
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering or relevant field of study
- Strong communications, collaboration, and program/service delivery skills
Academy Sports + Outdoors Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Academy Sports + Outdoors and has not been reviewed or approved by Academy Sports + Outdoors.
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Retirement Support — A dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 6% and an employee stock purchase plan are consistently presented as core strengths. These features stand out within big-box retail and are frequently highlighted as valuable parts of total compensation.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — A 20% merchandise discount, pay-on-demand access to wages, and tuition reimbursement provide tangible everyday value. Onsite gym access in Katy corporate/DC locations and vendor discount networks further enhance lifestyle perks.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, paid holidays, and defined maternity and parental leave are part of the standard package. Materials also indicate PTO availability for some part-time store roles in certain situations.
Academy Sports + Outdoors Insights
What We Do
At Academy Sports + Outdoors, we believe in the power of fun. And we believe in helping our customers have more of it. With a wide assortment of sporting and outdoors gear, Academy offers the best brands under one roof — curated to make the most of every budget. Day in and day out, our 20,000+ Team Members bring a sense of adventure, energy, and passion to work. Understanding our people and the things that matter to them has been at the core of Academy culture for over 80 years. We take pride in creating a workplace that values hard work, commitment, growth, and of course, FUN. Academy — headquartered in Katy, TX, a suburb of Houston — is one of the nation’s largest sporting goods and outdoor stores. We offer a broad assortment of quality hunting, fishing, and camping equipment and gear, as well as sports and leisure products, footwear, apparel, and much more. Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, Academy has grown to a wide network of stores across many states, with $6.8 billion in annual revenue.
