Chief Information Officer

Stanford University; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability seeks a Chief Information Officer to lead IT strategy for the school and partner with Stanford’s senior leadership to advance research, education, and campus operations.

This full-time role requires strategic, institution-wide IT governance, budget oversight, vendor management, and building a high-performing team across distributed environments.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated strategic IT leadership experience in higher education or research institutions.
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Experience with IT governance, budgeting, and large-scale institutional IT programs.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the information systems function and develop a central IT strategy aligned with university goals.
• Advise senior leadership on technology futures, risks, and opportunities.
• Manage budgeting, staffing, vendor contracts, and IT program portfolios.
• Lead an agile, distributed IT organization and foster a culture of growth and excellence.

Skills

Strategic IT leadership

IT governance

Budget management

Vendor management

Change management

Team leadership

Communication with leadership

HPC & research data awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

This position has been deemed critical by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Dean’s Office and is exempt from the hiring pause.

This position is based on Stanford’s main campus with consideration given to the option for a hybrid work schedule (partially onsite 3 or more days a week), subject to operational need.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.

About Us

The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability strives to create a future when humans and nature thrive in concert and in perpetuity. The school is made up of a three-part structure to drive global impact: Our academic departments and programs educate students and create new knowledge across areas of research that are crucial for advancing the long-term prosperity of the planet and people; Institutes bridge scholarship at Stanford and beyond, bringing multiple viewpoints to bear on urgent challenges; The Sustainability Accelerator drives new policy and technology solutions through a worldwide network of partners who work with our teams to develop solutions at a global scale.The school is dedicated to creating and supporting a community with the richness of experience and background needed to create solutions that benefit all people, particularly those most affected by environmental damage and climate change.

For more information on the school, click here.

Position overview:

The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability is hiring a full-time Chief Information Officer to join our Senior Leadership Team. The focus of this role will be to serve as the technology executive for the school, exercising strategic management of advanced and large-scale technology functions that span the entire school and impact the broader university. This senior leadership role sits within the school's senior administrative team, reports directly to the Senior Associate Dean for Finance and Administration, and carries delegated authority for policy and programmatic decisions within the school's information technology domain.The CIO will work in close partnership with the Dean's Office, faculty, and school leadership to design, communicate, and execute an IT strategy aligned with SDSS's research and educational mission and Stanford's university-wide objectives. This is a high-visibility role requiring a seasoned technology executive with demonstrated experience leading program and policy design, development, and implementation at institutional scale—someone who can advise senior leadership on technology futures while building and sustaining a high-performing IT organization.

Your responsibilities will include:

Strategic Leadership & Planning

• Oversee the overall information systems function for SDSS; collaborate with senior leadership and school faculty to develop, communicate, and manage a central strategic plan for computing and information technology consistent with the School and University's overall mission.
• Provide strategic direction across multiple lines of business, technical research and educational areas; create strategic plans of considerable complexity and scope; set long-range direction and make high-level programmatic decisions.
• Ensure technology infrastructure and support resources serve the needs of the institution and that priorities align with the vision and mission of the university.
• Advise school-wide and university senior management on technology futures, emerging capabilities, and technology-driven risks and opportunities.
• Propose and manage the implementation of complex and significant programmatic change; establish and update school IT policies as needed.
• Serve as a member of Stanford's CIO Council, and other related committees and councils representing the school's technology interests and contributing to university-wide technology governance.

IT Program Management & Operations

• Build and sustain a high-performing, agile IT program responsive to the evolving research and educational needs of the school; coordinate the strategic integration of traditional, new, and emerging information resources and systems.
• Provide an institutional perspective on technology requirements for new and existing initiatives, programs, buildings, and processes to appropriately align required staff, hardware, and software resources.
• Develop and establish operating policies and approaches for research computing and information technology consistent with university policies, objectives, and applicable federal and state regulations; appraise and evaluate the results of overall IT operations.
• Evaluate and assess metrics and program effectiveness; review trends and monitor proactively to ensure service quality and continuous improvement.

Financial Management

• Exercise executive-level responsibility for finance, budget, personnel, and facilities within the IT function; establish budget allocations and project priorities to achieve favorable results from the school's IT investments.
• Manage IT budget allocations and project portfolios to deliver recognized value and measurable impact aligned with school and university priorities.

Stakeholder Engagement & Partnership

• Build productive partnering relationships with school administration, department and program chairs, faculty, and students; direct and manage strategic relationships both inside and outside of Stanford University; negotiate and influence university leaders on issues with school-wide or university-wide impact.
• Strategically engage with school faculty and their research team members to understand their current and future computational research needs and assist in aligning workloads with appropriate HPC and research data resources.
• Maintain a high level of interaction and collaboration with clients and peers across the university; collaborate with University IT (UIT) and external solutions providers to deliver valued technology solutions for the school.
• Provide expert technology counsel to the Dean's Office and school senior leadership on IT strategy, technology futures, emerging capabilities, and institutional risk.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Effectively manage vendor and partner relationships, including negotiation of service agreements, software licensing, and technology contracts.
• Maintain awareness of the external technology landscape and cultivate relationships with key technology vendors relevant to research and higher education.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Build a competent and diverse leadership team and workforce; recruit, lead, and mentor key senior management staff through motivation and education; provide a clear vision and sense of mission for the IT organization.
• Function as a change agent: lead cultural and technical change in a distributed IT environment; drive adoption of new capabilities and operating models across the school.
• Foster a culture of professional growth, mentorship, and coaching at all levels of the IT organization.

In addition to the minimum qualifications listed below, our preferred qualifications include:

• Leadership experience in a higher education, research institution, or related corporate or non-profit environment.
• Demonstrated ability to understand the structure, operations, strategic objectives, regulatory environment, and cultural context of a major research university or academic institution; ability to implement strategic IT objectives within this complex environment.
• Experience leading cultural and technical change in a distributed information technology environment.
• Wide range of technical understanding across IT disciplines.
• Experience in leading IT strategic planning, including the development and execution of multi-year technology roadmaps.
• Ability to establish and maintain partnerships, negotiate with vendors, and manage complex external relationships.
• Familiarity with the technology needs of scientific research, including high-performance computing, research data management, and scientific software ecosystems.
• Understanding of federal and state regulatory environments relevant to research computing and data security (e.g., FISMA, NIST, CMMC, ITAR).
• Graduate degree (Master's or above) in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience with IT governance frameworks and service management methodologies (e.g., ITIL).

The expected pay range for this position is $250,000 to $290,000 per annum.

Responsibilities

Core Duties

• Responsible for overseeing the overall information systemsfunction for a school or VP Area. Collaborate with senior managementand/or faculty and others in order to develop, communicate and manage a central strategic plan for computing and information technology that isconsistent with the university’s overall mission.

• Provide strategic direction for multiple business, technical, andeducational areas; create strategic plans of considerable complexity andscope; set long-range direction and make high-level decisions; proposeand manage the implementation of complex and significant programmaticchange; establish policies as needed.

• Ensure technology infrastructure serves the needs of theinstitution and priorities align with the vision and mission of theuniversity.

• Advise university/school-wide senior management on technicalfutures.

• Manage the adoption and adaptation of emerging technologies tomeet changing requirements, capabilities, and opportunities.

• Exercise executive level responsibility for finance, budget,personnel, and facilities.

• Lead high-level programs and initiatives through technicaldesign, development, and integration for teaching, learning, andresearch.

• Build a competent and diverse leadership team and workforce;recruit, lead, and mentor key senior management staff through motivationand education; provide a clear vision and sense of mission for theorganization; function as a change agent.

• Direct and manage strategic relationships both inside and outsideof Stanford University; maintain a high level of interaction andcollaboration with clients and peers across the university.

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree.

Minimum Experience:

Ten years of increasingly technical work experience, or a combinationof education and relevant experience. Must have substantial managerialexperience in formulating, planning, leading, directing, and controllinga complex, broad, and highly technical function.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and deliverresults.

• In-depth knowledge of emerging technologies, trends,methodologies, and resource management principles.

• Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, and developstaff.

• Exceptional customer relationship skills, consensus buildingskills, and ability to establish effective working relationships in adiverse environment.