Director of Technology - Excellence Community Schools

Who We Are

Excellence Community Schools (ECS) is a Charter Management Organization (CMO) supporting schools in the Bronx, NY and Stamford, CT. Our programs are based on a proven, nationally recognized model, which originated in our flagship school, the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, a National Blue Ribbon School.

Our Mission and Vision

Our schools prepare young scholars to compete for admission to and succeed in top public, private, and parochial high schools by cultivating their intellectual, artistic, social, emotional, and ethical development. We accomplish this by offering a challenging and rigorous academic curriculum, which at the earliest of grades has an eye towards college preparation. To achieve this, our schools create a supportive and caring environment that at all times has high expectations of all students. We offer a differentiated, project-based learning environment that seeks to develop high-level analytic and critical thinking skills in all of our students. Our engaging and rigorous approach to educating our scholars is implemented by a collaborative team of teachers.

Who We Need

We are seeking individuals who are dedicated, ambitious, and committed to student success and education reform. Qualified candidates must demonstrate records of achievement, high degrees of personal responsibility, and the drive to do whatever it takes to ensure that every child achieves academic success. This individual must be committed to excellence, lead by example, and see collaboration as a key component of success.

Job overview

The Director of Technology's role is to provide vision and leadership for developing and implementing information technology initiatives. The Director of Technology directs the planning and implementation of enterprise IT systems in support of educational and business operations in order toto improve cost effectiveness, service level quality, and development. This individual is responsible for all aspects of the organization's information technology and systems.

Responsibilities

Strategy & Planning

• Participate in strategic and operational governance processes of the organization as a member of the senior staff.
• Lead IT strategic and operational planning to achieve educational and business goals by fostering innovation, prioritizing IT initiatives, and coordinating the evaluation, deployment, and management of current and future IT systems across the organization.
• Develop and maintain an appropriate IT organizational structure that supports the needs of the network.
• Establish IT departmental goals, objectives, and operating procedures as they relate to the network’s short long term technology plans.
• Identify opportunities for the appropriate and cost-effective investment of financial resources in IT systems and resources, including staffing, sourcing, purchasing, and in-house development.
• Assess and communicate risks associated with IT investments and projects.
• Develop, track, and control the information technology annual operating and capital budgets.
• Develop business case justifications and cost/benefit analyses for IT spending and initiatives.
• Direct development and execution of an enterprise-wide disaster recovery and business continuity plan.
• Assess and make recommendations on the improvement or re-engineering of the IT organization.

Acquisition & Deployment

• Coordinate and facilitate consultation with stakeholders to define educational, business and systems requirements for new technology implementations.
• Approve, prioritize, and control projects and the project portfolio as they relate to the selection, acquisition, development, and installation of major infrastructure and information systems.
• Review hardware and software acquisition and maintenance contracts and pursue master agreements to capitalize on economies of scale.
• Define and communicate plans, policies and standards for the organization for acquiring, implementing and operating all technology systems.

Operational Management

• Ensure continuous delivery of technology services through oversight of service level agreements with end users and monitoring of IT systems performance.
• Ensure IT system operation and users adhere to applicable laws and regulations.
• Establish lines of control for current and proposed information systems.
• Keep current with trends and issues in the IT industry, including current technologies and prices. Advise, counsel, and educate staff, and management on their competitive or financial impact.

School-Level Support

• Provide leadership and vision around educational technology and the integration of technology for/with instruction.
• Visit classrooms and communicate with instructional staff to identify technology needs to support instruction as well as leveraging technology in the delivery of instruction.
• Provide support to school leaders in decision-making around technology integration

• Collaborate with Senior Staff Members to support the network needs.

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree (or higher) with a concentration in the fields of IT/IS, Computer Science, or other relevant fields of study.

• Commitment to education and dedication to Excellence Community Schools’ Mission and Vision
• Demonstrated passion and belief that all students can achieve success through education.
• Capability to work independently, develop strategies, and build alliances to reach stated professional development goals.
• Strong written, oral communication, and public speaking skills
• Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to work cooperatively with different types of personalities.
• Ten years' experience with a minimum of 5 years of director-level experience managing and/or directing an IT operation.
• Knowledge of K12 EdTech systems and interoperability including SmartBoards, PowerSchool SIS, Clever, Schoology, LTI, Tableau, SchoolMint, SchoolMessenger, GAFE, O365, and their underlying framework

• Experience in strategic planning and execution.
• Considerable knowledge of business theory, business processes, management, budgeting, and IT office operations.
• Experience in an educational environment required.
• Substantial exposure to data processing, hardware platforms, enterprise software applications, enterprise infrastructure, and networking
• Proven leadership ability and proven ability to manage a team

• This is a 12-month position and therefore does not follow the same time off schedule as the instructional staff at our schools

Benefits

• Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. Salary range- ($125,000-$150,000)
• Health Insurance, dental, vision & 403b Retirement Plan
• Paid Time Off/Paid Sick Leave/Parental Leave/FMLA
• Short-term, Long-term Disability benefits and Life Insurance