IT - AI Platform Administrator

Established in 1919 and traded on the NYSE, Standard Motor Products, Inc. (SMP) is a leading independent manufacturer and distributor of premium automotive replacement parts utilized in the maintenance, repair, and service of vehicles in the automotive aftermarket. Additionally, SMP provides customized solutions for vehicle control and thermal management products in diversified end markets represented by its Engineered Solutions segment.

Globally, SMP employs over 6,000 employees across nearly 40 manufacturing, distribution, and engineering facilities and offices located in North America, Europe and Asia. SMP sells its products primarily to automotive aftermarket retailers, program distribution groups, warehouse distributors, original equipment manufacturers, and original equipment service part operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and other Latin American countries.

Position Summary

The AI Platform Administrator owns the technical foundation that Standard Motor Products' AI capability runs on. The role provisions and maintains Azure resources, establishes and manages the billing and licensing behind them, administers the Microsoft 365 tenant and the AI services delivered through it, and manages the agents the business depends on day to day. Where the AI Manager decides what the company builds, this role makes sure the environment it is built in is available, secure, correctly licensed, and financially accountable.

The position is also the company's working expert on emerging AI technology. It tracks what Microsoft and the broader market release, evaluates what is credible and what is not, and brings the manager a clear read on which developments represent real opportunities for the business, what they would cost, and what it would take to adopt them. Alongside that, the role measures how AI is actually being used through Viva Engage and tenant reporting, and turns those findings into the AI update posts and communications that keep the organization informed.

Key Responsibilities

Azure Platform Provisioning and Operations

Provision, configure, and maintain the Azure resources supporting AI workloads, including AI and cognitive services, storage, networking, and the identity and access controls around them. Build environments to a consistent standard across development and production, manage service principals and keys through approved credential tooling, and monitor availability, quota, and performance so that project teams are not blocked. Decommission resources that are no longer in use and keep an accurate inventory of what exists and why.

Cloud Cost, Billing, and Licensing Administration

Establish and administer billing for Azure and Microsoft 365 consumption, including subscription setup, cost centers, budgets, and alerting on unexpected spend. Attribute costs back to the initiatives and business groups that drive them, forecast consumption as workloads scale, and flag optimization opportunities before renewal or true-up conversations. Manage license inventory and assignment for AI and collaboration services so entitlements match actual demand.

Microsoft 365 Tenant and AI Service Administration

Administer the Microsoft 365 tenant with particular ownership of the AI functionality within it, including service configuration, feature enablement and staging, policy settings, and the data access boundaries those services operate under. Coordinate tenant-level changes with security and infrastructure counterparts, test new capabilities before broad release, and maintain the documentation that explains what is turned on, for whom, and under what controls.

Agent Lifecycle Management

Manage the AI agents in use across the company from request through retirement. Handle registration, permissions, and data source connections; test behavior before release; monitor usage and failures; and apply updates as underlying platforms change. Maintain the catalog of active agents with their owners, purpose, and data scope, and retire or consolidate agents that are duplicative or unused.

Adoption Insights and Reporting

Gather and interpret adoption signals from Viva Engage, tenant usage reporting, and direct user feedback to establish where AI capabilities are landing and where they are not. Identify the questions employees are asking, the friction points slowing uptake, and the groups that need targeted support, then present those findings to the AI Manager with a recommended response rather than raw numbers.

AI Communications and Community Engagement

Write and publish the recurring AI update posts that tell the organization what has changed, what is newly available, and how to use it. Maintain an active presence in the internal AI community, answer questions, surface useful examples from real business use, and keep the tone practical and jargon-free so that non-technical employees can act on what they read.

Emerging Technology Research and Advisory

Serve as the subject matter expert on emerging AI technologies, maintaining working knowledge of new models, platform releases, agent frameworks, and tooling as they reach the market. Evaluate them hands-on where practical, assess fit against the company's environment and constraints, and brief the AI Manager on what each development makes newly possible, what it would cost, and what the risks are. Frame findings as concrete opportunities the manager can act on or defer, and keep an evaluated backlog of technologies worth revisiting.

Ownership Areas

The table below summarizes the areas this position owns and what accountability looks like in each.

Required Qualifications

• Hands-on Azure administration experience, including resource provisioning, identity and access management, and operational monitoring of cloud services.
• Working command of cloud cost management and billing, including subscription and budget setup, cost attribution, forecasting, and license administration.
• Microsoft 365 tenant administration experience, including service configuration, policy management, and staged feature enablement across a user population.
• Practical experience configuring, deploying, and supporting AI agents or comparable AI services, including permissions and data source connectivity.
• Ability to read adoption and usage data and translate it into a clear recommendation for action.
• Strong written communication for a general business audience, with the judgment to explain technical change without jargon.
• Genuine and current fluency in the emerging AI landscape, with the ability to brief a manager credibly on what is new, what it costs, and whether it is worth pursuing.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft certifications in Azure administration, security, or Microsoft 365 administration.
• Experience with Viva Engage, Microsoft Copilot administration, or comparable enterprise adoption and community platforms.
• Scripting or automation ability for provisioning, reporting, and routine tenant administration.
• Background in internal communications, technical writing, or user enablement.
• Familiarity with information security controls and data governance in a regulated or audited environment.

Scope and Working Relationships

Reports to the Manager of Artificial Intelligence and works as the platform and enablement counterpart to the engineers building AI solutions. Coordinates closely with information security, infrastructure, and network administration on tenant and Azure changes, with finance on billing and cost attribution, and with business group leads on adoption and communication. Serves as the primary point of contact for employees with questions about AI tools and agents.

Measures of Success

• AI environments are available, correctly configured, and never the reason a project is delayed.
• Cloud spend is predictable, attributable to specific initiatives, and free of surprises at renewal.
• Every active agent has a known owner, purpose, and data scope, and unused agents are retired.
• Adoption reporting reaches the AI Manager with a recommendation attached, not just a dashboard.
• The manager consistently learns about relevant emerging technology from this role first, framed as a decision rather than a headline.