Director of Information Technology and Enterprise Architecture

Job Level
Senior position
Job Category
Director
Sector
  • Technology
Job Status
Full-Time
Areas of Responsibility
  • All Areas of Technology
  • Information Technology

About the Employer

Imagine a school district that wins the San Diego County Academic Decathlon eight years in a row, that guarantees a college education to entire grade levels of children and where students excel in the arts as well as the classroom. At the Sweetwater Union High School District, our students and staff members have accomplished those feats and many more. Founded in 1920, the district has grown to more than 40,000 students in grades 7 through 12 and more than 22,000 adult learners. The district’s 30 campuses are located in the cities of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego. Mission: Located in the heart of an international border community, Sweetwater District ensures a safe, inclusive, collaborative culture that empowers each student to actively engage in a meaningful educational experience to pursue personal and academic success. Belief Statements: We believe each student can succeed. We believe in a welcoming community that is inclusive, equitable, and promotes positive academic, social, and emotional well-being. We believe relationships and collaboration matter. We believe resources shall be equitably distributed to ensure the success of each student. We believe in the value of community voice in decision-making. We believe in a culture of trust based on integrity and transparency. SUHSD BP 0410: The Sweetwater Union High School District shall be free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying against an individual or group based on actual or perceived age; gender, gender identity or expression, or genetic information; sex, actual or potential parental, family, or marital status that treats students differently on the basis of sex; race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation; the perception of one or more of such characteristics; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. The Board of Trustees is determined to provide employees and job applicants a safe, positive environment where they are assured full and equal employment access and opportunities, protection from harassment, intimidation, bullying, and freedom from fear of retaliation for asserting their rights in accordance with that law. Compliance-Title IX Coordinator: Chief Compliance Officer, 670 L Suite G Chula Vista, CA 91911, (619) 796-7720, compliance@sweetwaterschools.org

 

Requirements / Qualifications

Education/Experience: As stated in the job description for this position. Master’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in computer science, information systems, business administration/accounting, or other related fields preferred. Ten (plus) years of information technology experience in at least two IT disciplines (technical architecture, solution architecture, network management, application development). Prior Project Manager experience leading large-scale initiatives. Three years of demonstrated expertise in using state-of-the-art technology, and demonstrated success in preparing and delivering workshops or formal presentations.

Purpose Statement

The job of Director of Information Technology and Enterprise Architecture is done for the purpose/s of being the responsible authority with the requisite knowledge to work across programs and provide strategic direction for the information technology department. This includes recommendation for development and delivery technology stacks, inter-program system collaboration and hosting strategies. The Director works with the Director of Educational Technology and Support Services, business services division, organization stakeholders, and district department leadership, to build a holistic view of the organization's strategy, processes, information, and information and educational technology assets. The role of the Director of Information Technology and Enterprise Architecture is to take this knowledge and ensure that the organization’s business and education functions and technology are in alignment. The Director links the district’s mission, strategy, and processes of an organization to its technology/IT strategy, and documents this using multiple architectural models or views that show how the current and future needs of an organization will be met in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner

Essential Functions

  • Relies on continuous feedback, fosters adaptive design and engineering practices, and drives collaboration of programs and teams around a common technical vision.

  • Operates across organizational and computing "silos" to drive common approaches and expose information assets and processes across the organization.

  • Responsible for delivering a holistic enterprise architecture that allows both the organization and IT strategies to cohesively enable and drive each other.

  • Establishes and maintains an open architectural framework across the organization; has a span of influence relative to a domain (network, infrastructure, solutions/applications, data, security, etc.) considering the near term and long term technology horizons.

  • Assesses global domain needs on projects and systems and recommends architectural solutions matching district goals and architectural principles which leads to a unified architectural solution which is efficient in cost, low in complexity, and provides a stable platform from which IT can support the district’s goals both in the near term and future state.

  • Assesses and plans for the organization’s future needs. Prepares governing principles and standards to guide future decision making pertinent to a domain.

  • Develops an implementation plan for architecture on the basis of IT strategies and business requirements.

  • Recommends and implements process changes to improve architecture practices and domain-related management issues.

  • Works closely with other IT personnel in applications, solutions, network, and security to develop architecture suitable for implementing common services and business rules, and information storage, transformation, and movement.

  • Conducts and leads domain design of stable, extensible architectures (e.g. server topology, environmental placement, and client-side systems for infrastructure) working with teams across the business units.

  • Positively influence a project’s decisions and focus to ensure that it aligns with architectural principles and standards.

  • Map architectural solutions to business objectives to ensure alignment.

  • Enforces infrastructure architecture execution (governance) as well as ongoing refinement tasks.

  • Identify the need to modify the domain’s architecture to attain project requirements.

  • Ensures that the future state is attainable without introducing unnecessary cost and complexity.

  • Participates to develop and manage the ongoing enterprise architecture governance structure on the basis of business and IT strategies.

  • Promotes the organization’s architecture process and results to the organization inclusive of all stakeholders and IT.

  • Ensures that the domain’s architecture contributes to the district strategy and financial well-being and provides cost-effective solutions.

  • Performs necessary planning to ensure environments or solutions are adequately scalable for anticipated growth and availability (be able to pull that info and validate from the business in design process).

  • Set standards and performance metrics for the architectural domain and report on them regularly.

  • Ensures documentation of the architecture design and evaluation work.

  • Develop and maintain a tactical implementation plan to address all elements of the domain’s architecture.

  • Develops and executes communication and education plans globally for architecture across the related domain.

  • Develops partnerships/relationships with IT partners, operations, and vendors. Act as a sounding board as well as IT consultant to district leaders to develop IT solutions.

  • Mentors and works with IT programmers and software specialists throughout the organization to ensure designs meet established principles.

  • Other duties as assigned.

 

Other Functions

  • Performs other relative duties, as assigned, for the purpose of ensuring an efficient and effective work environment.

 

Responsibility Responsibilities include: working independently under broad organizational guidelines to achieve unit objectives; managing a department; and supervising the use of funds. Utilization of significant resources from other work units is sometimes required to perform the job's functions. There is a continual opportunity to impact the Organization’s services. Working Environment The usual and customary methods of performing the job's functions require the following physical demands: occasional lifting, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling; some stooping, kneeling, crouching, and/or crawling; and significant fine finger dexterity. Generally the job requires 60% sitting, 20% walking, and 20% standing. The job is performed under minimal temperature variations and a generally hazard free environment. Education/Experience Master’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in computer science, information systems, business administration/accounting, or other related field. Ten (plus) years of information technology experience in at least two IT disciplines (technical architecture, solution architecture, network management, application development) Prior Project Manager experience leading large scale initiatives. Three years of demonstrated expertise in using state of the art technology, and demonstrated success in preparing and delivering workshops or formal presentations.

How to Apply

~Vaccination Requirement For Candidates Seeking Employment~ The Sweetwater Union High School District has adopted a vaccination mandate that requires all candidates for District employment to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, including variants, prior to being employed by SUHSD, subject to limited exceptions.

- Valid California Driver's License

- Letter of Intent/Introduction

- Resume

- Three letters of recommendation (dated on or after July 1, 2021)

- Certificate of Completion or transcript awarding Master's degree preferred.

- Presentation and slide deck

Please create a presentation and accompanying slide deck addressing the following two issues. Each presentation should take approximately 10 minutes.

  • Currently Sweetwater has their primary data storage off site at ScaleMatrix and no viable long term secondary storage system. Outline your suggested approach to data storage and data security for a district of our size. Consider the constraints of budget and calculate the cost of sustaining your approach over time.

  • Sweetwater is in the middle of a conversion to Infor as our primary Global Human Resources, Cloud Suite Financial and Supply Chain Management System. Share your experience managing a project of this size and outline the steps you would take to integrate yourself as the lead figure in this project. Include how you would incorporate the principles of Organizational Change Management into your plan.

Comments and Other Information

Job Description also available on the SUHSD website. For more information about the district, job descriptions, etc., go to www.sweetwaterschools.org. "Sweetwater Union High School District programs and activities shall be free from discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity or expressions, or genetic information, sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation; the perception of one or more such characteristics; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.