Director of Information Technology Strategy and Planning

Position:
Director of Information Technology Strategy and Planning

Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is seeking a Director of Information Technology Strategy and Planning. This position reports directly to the Executive Director of University Technology Services.
The Director for IT Strategy and Planning is responsible for developing, updating and communicating long-term and yearly plans and high-level project definitions for all departments of University Technology Services (UTS). NEIU is a fully accredited public university serving the Chicago metropolitan area.

Responsibilities:
Primarily responsible for gathering requirements from university staff and faculty and identifying strategic technologies and projects that will have maximum impact to the university. The Director of IT Strategy and Planning develops technology plans that relate directly to the academic mission and identifies and implements promising technologies in support of that mission.

Specific Duties Include:

Develop and document long-term (approximately 10 years) plan that incorporates and ties directly to University mission and strategy. Update this plan on at least a quarterly basis to reflect changing needs, priorities, and available technologies.
Prioritize yearly project plan and relate to long-term plan.
Gather high-level requirements from other areas of the University and coordinate with UTS departments to have a cohesive plan of ongoing projects and future projects.
Identify technologies worthy of investigation that may have a high value to the University. Monitor these technologies and propose projects to evaluate and utilize promising ones.
Assess the current state of the application of technology using various methods including assessing satisfaction and comparing to other universities.
Work with the executive director of University Technology to share and get agreement to strategy and plans. Participate on University-level teams and facilitate the development of the strategy and plan.
Identify and develop a target technology architecture that covers the current departmental functions of university computing as well as potential future areas. Document current architecture and how planned projects will evolve the architecture.
Work with vendors to extract future directions and to identify strategic partners.
Work directly with academic and administrative units of University to understand missions and functions.
Translate technical missions and projects into financial terms and importance to the University mission.
Develop high-level business cases including TCO and NPV analysis of potential projects. Work to incorporate future projects into future budget cycles.

Required Qualifications:
Masters degree in technology, business or a closely-related field; possess 10 or more years of experience in information technology and/or long-term strategic planning; ability to communicate effectively and interact professionally with all levels of administration, faculty, and staff; possess a deep understanding of many computing technologies as well as the ability to understand future technologies. Must have project planning experience, broad IT architecture experience, business case analysis experience, and the ability to work in a university environment.

Preferred Qualifications:
Ph.D. in technology, business, or a closely-related field; ability to leverage a small, directly reporting staff and influence others in the organization; excellent presentation, oral, and writing skills; broad computing knowledge, IT architecture knowledge, emerging technology knowledge, Net Present Value (NPV) & Total Cost of Ownership analysis (TCO); management experience, and project planning; and experience evaluating technologies and designing large complex systems.

To Apply:
Applicants are expected to respond based on the entire job description. A complete application will include cover letter, resume and the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of at least three current professional references.
Application materials should be submitted electronically, to ITStrategicPlanSearch@neiu.edu.

Application Deadline:
Review of applications will continue until the position is filled.

Northeastern Illinois University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer.