Job Details: Job Location: Pan Oston - Bowling Green, KY 42101, Position Type: Full Time, Travel Percentage: Negligible, Job Shift: Day, Job Category: Information Technology, Own Your Future at Pan-Oston
100% Employee-Owned • Bowling Green, KY
At Pan-Oston, you’re more than an employee — you’re an owner. For over 50 years, we’ve built retail solutions for some of North America’s biggest brands while building careers people are proud of.
Why Join Us?
Employee Ownership (ESOP) – Share in the company’s success
Work-Life Balance – Flex time for life’s important moments
Family-Focused Benefits – Childcare assistance & family coverage
Career Growth – Tuition reimbursement & advancement opportunities
Supportive Culture – A team built on respect, community, and integrity
Growing Company – Backed by a $10M facility expansion in Bowling Green
Benefits Include
Competitive Pay
Health Insurance
FREE Dental & Vision for Employee & Family
PTO, Sick Days & Paid Holidays
Paid Volunteer Time
Employee Assistance Program
Gym Membership Discounts
Build More Than Products — Build a Career You Can Own.
Now Hiring:
MANAGER, IT & BUSINESS SYSTEMS
Position Summary
The Senior Manager, IT & Business Systems is responsible for the day-to-day leadership, execution, and continuous improvement of the organization's technology environment. This position serves as a hands-on leader who combines IT management with direct ownership of business applications and systems.
The Senior Manager translates organizational priorities into practical technology solutions, ensuring systems are reliable, secure, scalable, and aligned with business needs. This position leads internal IT resources, manages relationships with managed service and application partners, and serves as the primary internal owner of ERP, WMS, and other core business applications.
Key Responsibilities
IT Leadership & Execution
Lead the day-to-day activities and priorities of the IT and Business Systems function.
Translate organizational priorities established with executive leadership into technology projects, deliverables, and measurable results.
Establish clear ownership, timelines, and accountability for IT initiatives.
Manage and develop internal IT team members.
Maintain and prioritize the IT project roadmap and technology backlog.
Develop and maintain appropriate IT policies, standards, documentation, and procedures.
Recommend technology investments based on business value, risk, scalability, and total cost of ownership.
Assist leadership with annual technology planning and budgeting.
Business Systems Ownership
Serve as the primary internal owner and administrator of ERP, WMS, and other core operational business applications.
Understand business processes across manufacturing, supply chain, sales, finance, shipping, and related functions and identify opportunities to improve them through technology.
Gather business requirements and translate them into system configurations, workflows, integrations, reports, or development requirements.
Configure and maintain business applications where appropriate.
Coordinate application upgrades, testing, implementation, and user acceptance.
Troubleshoot system and data issues and coordinate resolution with internal resources and outside application providers.
Establish standards for application administration, change management, documentation, and testing.
Develop internal system knowledge to reduce unnecessary dependence on outside vendors.
Coordinate user training and adoption for new systems and major process changes.
Managed Services & Vendor Management
Serve as the primary owner of relationships with managed IT, cybersecurity, infrastructure, backup, server, and application service providers.
Establish clear service expectations and hold external partners accountable for performance.
Review vendor recommendations and ensure proposed solutions align with organizational priorities.
Coordinate escalations and ensure technical issues are driven through resolution.
Review service levels, recurring issues, costs, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
Ensure outsourced responsibilities have clear internal ownership and appropriate verification.
Cybersecurity & Technology Risk
Maintain internal accountability for cybersecurity while leveraging specialized external providers for monitoring and technical services.
Coordinate implementation and remediation of cybersecurity recommendations.
Ensure appropriate identity, access, endpoint, backup, recovery, and security practices are maintained.
Ensure critical technology risks are appropriately communicated to executive leadership.
Projects & Continuous Improvement
Lead technology implementations from requirements through deployment.
Establish project scope, responsibilities, timelines, testing requirements, and success criteria.
Partner with business leaders to simplify processes before automating them.
Identify opportunities to eliminate manual work, improve information flow, reduce errors, and improve decision-making.
Ensure completed solutions are documented, supportable, and sustainable.
Leadership Expectations
Take ownership rather than simply coordinate vendors.
Bring solutions and recommendations forward rather than relying on executive leadership to define technical execution.
Balance immediate operational needs with long-term technology architecture.
Communicate technical issues clearly to non-technical leaders.
Understand the business well enough to challenge inefficient processes rather than simply automate them.
Develop a service-oriented, responsive, and business-focused IT culture.
Qualifications: Qualifications
Required
Strong working knowledge of SQL and relational databases, with hands-on experience querying, connecting, or integrating business data across systems.
Demonstrated ability to work directly with a business stakeholder to translate defined priorities into technical execution — building the pipeline from “what we need” to “how it gets done.”
Experience administering or supporting ERP or other enterprise business applications.
2–5 years of progressive experience in information technology, business systems, ERP/application administration, or related functions.
Demonstrated experience leading technology projects and coordinating internal and external resources.
Comfort managing third-party technology providers (managed services, cybersecurity, or application vendors).
Ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, frontline employees, managers, and executive leadership.
Willingness and readiness to manage and develop technical staff (direct supervisory experience is a plus but not required — this is coachable).
Preferred
Experience in a manufacturing or distribution environment.
Experience with ERP and warehouse management systems.
Experience with Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Power BI, APIs, SQL databases, and workflow/automation platforms.
Experience in managing cybersecurity or managed services relationships.
Experience leading ERP implementations, upgrades, integrations, or significant process redesign.
Exposure to AI/automation tools or a demonstrated ability to evaluate and prioritize automation opportunities (this is a growth area for the role, not a day-one requirement).
