Assistant Vice President, Infrastructure

State University of New York at Buffalo; Buffalo, Northern (NY, KY); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

The University at Buffalo invites nominations and applications for the role of Assistant Vice President of Infrastructure (AVP). This newly created executive position leads Enterprise Infrastructure Services and Network and Communication Services across UB’s multiple campuses to advance cloud, data center, and security capabilities.

Reporting to the VPCIO, the AVP will shape the IT strategy, drive transformational initiatives, manage large-scale infrastructure transformations in higher

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of progressive IT infrastructure leadership experience.
• Experience leading large-scale infrastructure transformations in higher education or similarly complex environments.
• Strong understanding of compliance frameworks and public sector procurement practices.
• Experience supervising and mentoring IT professionals.
• Demonstrated ability to work with senior leadership, colleagues, and customers.
• Experience developing, managing, and monitoring budgets, including forecasting and fiscal responsibility.
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Strategic and analytical thinking with ability to build consensus across diverse stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel locally between campuses.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and oversight to the EIS and NCS units, aligning infrastructure strategy with UB priorities.
• Lead long-range planning, budgeting, and investment prioritization for sustainable operations.
• Assess organizational structure and staffing, addressing gaps in evolving service demands.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement in IT services.
• Ensure IT initiatives align with the university’s mission and academic goals.
• Champion cloud adoption and data center strategy to support AI and research computing needs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional units to improve customer service and partnerships.
• Build a cohesive UBIT leadership team and strengthen organizational capabilities.

Skills

IT leadership

Infrastructure strategy

Budget management

Stakeholder communication

Cloud strategy

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT or related field

Job description

Please see Special Instructions for more details.

Assistant Vice President, Infrastructure
The University at Buffalo (UB) invites nominations and applications for the position of Assistant Vice President of Infrastructure ( AVP ). Reporting to the Vice President and Chief Information Officer, the AVP will be responsible for leading the Enterprise Infrastructure Services and Network and Communication Services units across UB’s three campuses.

University at Buffalo
Impactful research, scholarly distinction, transformative student experiences, and far-reaching service to local, state, national, and international communities define UB’s mission as one of the nation’s leading public research universities. UB was founded in 1846 as a private medical college located in downtown Buffalo and joined the SUNY network in 1962. SUNY is the largest state university system in the United States, and UB is a flagship campus and the largest and most comprehensive public research university within the system. In 1989, UB was among the first public universities in the Northeast to be admitted into the AAU. Over the years, UB’s scope and mission have expanded significantly as it has grown into a world-renowned research university that is the thriving heart of the regional community, a national leader in public higher education, and a global hub for excellence in research and education.

UB enrolls more than 32,000 students (approximately two-thirds undergraduate and one-third graduate and professional students) and offers more than 500 degree programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional, and doctoral levels across its 12 decanal units. UB has a distinguished faculty of over 1,500 full-time members. UB is currently undertaking its largest faculty hiring initiative in recent history, Advancing Top 25: UB Faculty Hiring, with plans to recruit upward of 200 full-time faculty over the next two years.

UB is home to more than 120 research centers and institutes; its current annual research expenditures, including those in affiliated institutions, exceed $425 million. UB’s academic programs and facilities are located on three distinct campuses in the Buffalo metropolitan area. UB’s North Campus, located in the suburb of Amherst, is the university’s main undergraduate campus and home to the university’s primary athletics and cultural facilities. Three miles to the south, on the northern edge of the City of Buffalo, is the university’s historic South Campus, home to many of the university’s professional schools. The focal point of UB’s third, downtown campus center is the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, on which UB’s state-of-the-art Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is in proximity to the university’s health and life science partners. UB also competes in the prestigious Mid-American Conference and at the highest level of National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) competition, the FBS Division I level.

With an annual operating revenue of $850 million, UB and its affiliated entities generate an estimated economic impact of $2.1 billion annually in New York State. The university’s total workforce of over 9,000 full-time equivalent employees makes it one of the region’s largest employers. UB is also a leader and an active partner with the more than 20 public and private colleges and universities in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

The Position
The Assistant Vice President for Infrastructure ( AVP ) is a dynamic and visionary leader that is a strategic partner and advisor to the Vice President and Chief Information Officer ( VPCIO ). This is a VPCIO Cabinet Leadership position that plays a pivotal role in shaping and growing the UB Information Technology ( UBIT ) organization to align with and advance the university’s goals. As a member of the VPCIO Cabinet, the AVP will ensure that UBIT’s people, processes, and technology are equipped to support the university’s mission. The AVP directs special projects and strategic priorities as assigned by the VPCIO, spanning institutional planning, cross-divisional partnerships, and IT governance. This position serves as a senior thought leader in the university’s digital transformation efforts, proactively contributing towards the future direction of technology at the university.

The AVP for Infrastructure provides strategic leadership for the Enterprise Infrastructure Services ( EIS ) and Network and Communication Services ( NCS ) units, ensuring UB’s network, cloud, data center, and core computer environments remain secure, reliable, and scalable, while advancing technologies, systems, and processes to meet UB’s goals. Working closely with campus partners and IT leadership, the AVP drives coordinated service delivery, continuous improvement, and infrastructure innovation that supports the university’s academic, research, and administrative needs.

This is a newly created role, and the AVP will have the opportunity to shape how these two units – each with its own history, culture, and operating rhythm – come together as a single, unified infrastructure organization. The successful candidate will build trust across both teams while also thinking beyond day-to-day operations: reassessing UB’s data center footprint, advancing a deliberate cloud and colocation strategy, and positioning the university’s infrastructure to support an ambitious research and AI agenda. The AVP will need to balance the discipline required to keep mission-critical systems running with the vision to challenge long-standing practices and move UBIT’s infrastructure into closer alignment with where the university is headed.

Key Responsibilities:

Departmental Leadership

• Provide strategic direction and oversight to the EIS and NCS units, which includes establishing and advancing a cohesive portfolio strategy aligned with the university’s mission and goals and VPCIO priorities, ensuring coordination across infrastructure and communication systems, emerging technologies, and customer-facing services
• This role carries a substantive policymaking function. By directing the planning, design, and operation of the university’s data networks, telecommunications, and enterprise infrastructure systems, the AVP leads the establishment and enforcement of the technical and operational policies that guide campus wide technology use, reliability, security, and compliance. The position’s regular engagement with senior academic and administrative leadership ensures that infrastructure standards and related policies align with institutional priorities.
• Lead long-range and annual planning, including workforce and succession planning, budget oversight, and investment prioritization to ensure sustainable operations and future-ready capabilities
• Assess the current structure, staffing levels, and operations of EIS and NCS, and lead the organizational changes needed to address staffing gaps, evolving service demands, and succession needs, given the significant portion of both units’ workforce eligible for retirement in the coming years
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement by promoting professional development, mentoring leaders, and enabling teams to deliver high-quality, secure, and customer-centered IT solutions

Drive Strategic Alignment

• Ensure that IT initiatives are closely aligned with the university’s strategic goals and mission
• Work with university leadership to shape, prioritize, and execute projects that support academic, administrative, and research objectives, while balancing divisional advocacy with institutional priorities and shared enterprise outcomes
• Leverage strengths and expertise to create a cohesive, efficient IT environment that enhances performance and innovation

Innovate and Transform

• Champion innovation and transformation and identify opportunities for technological advancements, process improvements, and new initiatives that move the university forward
• Lead the evaluation and evolution of UB’s data center strategy, including assessment of colocation options and consolidation of aging, decentralized data center and server infrastructure across campus
• Advance UB’s cloud adoption strategy, building on early planning efforts to shift appropriate administrative and enterprise systems to cloud and hybrid-cloud environments
• Partner with UBIT’s Innovation and Research IT units, and academic and research partners to ensure infrastructure supports the university’s growing AI and research computing needs
• Champion improvements in customer service and responsiveness across EIS and NCS, working to change perceptions of infrastructure as a barrier to progress and building stronger partnerships with academic and administrative units

Build and Strengthen UBIT

• In partnership with other AVPs and senior leaders within UBIT, build and strengthen the VPCIO organization in operating as an integrated leadership team
• Develop and implement strategies to enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of UBIT while fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and ensuring that the VPCIO is well-positioned to support the university’s evolving needs

Buffalo Niagara
As a world-renowned research university, UB’s intellectual capital and innovation are playing a vital role in Buffalo’s resurgence as a thriving city that is a magnet for talented professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators who recognize the tremendous energy and momentum gathering here. Home to one of the nation’s fastest growing populations of college graduates, the Buffalo-Niagara region, with 1.2 million residents, is the state’s second largest major metropolitan area, exceeded only by New York City. The region includes a diverse blend of communities, each with its own distinct personality, yet commonly characterized by a distinctly neighborly way of life, an unpretentious nature and spirited loyalty among residents. Buffalo’s own strong sense of community, easy lifestyle, and affordability regularly place it in top ten lists from a variety of national publications for its overall quality of life.

Rich in natural resources and beauty, the Buffalo-Niagara area is a four-season region that offers the best for seasonal sports enthusiasts. University at Buffalo fans enjoy a full complement of NCAA division I sports with the UB Bulls, as well as the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, the NH L’s Buffalo Sabres, TripleA baseball’s Buffalo Bisons, and the National Lacrosse League’s Buffalo Bandits.

Less than a two-hour drive from Buffalo across the United States-Canada border is Toronto, the cultural, entertainment, and financial capital of Canada. Buffalo is also ideally located for easy access to many of America’s major cities. The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport offers direct flights to more than 20 cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, DC, all only an hour’s flight away.

UB has played a central role in the creation of a strong, sustainable knowledge economy and thriving entrepreneurial culture that are driving Buffalo’s revitalization. Exemplified and driven by the centrally located Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo is experiencing a period of tremendous progress and momentum as well as unprecedented regional investments in the industries of the future and in the assets that ensure a satisfying quality of life for all its citizens.

Land Acknowledgment
UB acknowledges that our campuses operate on land that is the traditional territory of the Seneca Nation, a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the region remains the home of the Haudenosaunee people. Further, we responsibly acknowledge the continuing impact of settler colonialism on the Haudenosaunee and their territories.

Our scholarly community values Indigenous cultures, histories, traditions, knowledge systems and political entities and deeply appreciates the important role of Indigenous people in the history, the present and the future of our region, this country, and the world.

The expected hiring range for this position is $210,000-225,000. This range takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience.

This is a campus-based position.

The University at Buffalo is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic university community committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment. Potential applicants who share this goal, including veterans and individuals with disabilities, are encouraged to apply.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of progressive results-driven leadership experience in IT infrastructure (equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered)
• Proven experience managing large-scale infrastructure transformations in higher education or similarly complex environments
• Strong understanding of compliance frameworks and public sector procurement practices
• Experience supervising and mentoring information technology professionals
• Demonstrated experience working, collaborating, and establishing credibility and relationships with senior leadership, colleagues and customers
• Demonstrated experience developing, managing, and monitoring budgets, including forecasting, resource allocation, and ensuring fiscal responsibility in support of organizational or departmental objectives
• Experience successfully working independently as well as part of a team with a collaborative approach to problem solving
• Strategic and analytical thinking skills with an ability to solve problems and make effective decisions
• Experience successfully building consensus among a large number of diverse colleagues, senior leadership, and outside agencies to address and resolve issues
• Strong written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical and service concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Demonstrated positive, solutions-oriented leadership approach with a strong commitment to continuous learning, professional growth, and improvement of services and practices
• Demonstrated experience successfully integrating, restructuring, or unifying distinct teams or functions, with the leadership and cultural fluency to build trust and cohesion among diverse groups of technical professionals
• This position requires local travel between each university campus and off campus. Must have the ability to demonstrate that the candidate can meet the transportation needs of this position.
• Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States by their start date. The University at Buffalo does not guarantee that it will sponsor, support, or otherwise assist with obtaining work authorization.

Preferred Qualifications

• An advanced degree in a related technology or management field
• Experience with data center design and implementation, as well as data center strategy, cloud computing, networking, and systems administration
• Familiarity with AI platforms and research computing needs
• Demonstrated success in recruiting and retaining top technical talent in competitive markets
• Demonstrated experience with developing enterprise-level network and infrastructure systems policies
• Experience working within a unionized, public-sector, or highly bureaucratic organization (e.g., a public university, government agency, or SUNY institution), with an understanding of the pace and constraints such environments can present
• A direct, transparent communication style and demonstrated commitment to accountability, integrity, and building trust with staff and stakeholders at all levels

Our University Community

Prodig+ No

Executive Position

Executive Position Yes

Physical Demands

Driving Requirements

Driving Requirements This position will never drive a university owned vehicle.

Salary Range

Salary Range $210,000 - $225,000

Additional Salary Information

Job Type

Job Type Full-Time

Campus

Campus All Campuses

Posting Alerts

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

UB is an AA/EOE and welcomes all to apply including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Arrangements will be made if an applicant has a disability in order to provide access to the application, interview and selection process upon request. Reasonable accommodation requests must be made in a timely manner by email at [e-mail] or by phone [phone].