Director of IT Strategy and Planning

Milwaukee Area Technical College; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Milwaukee Area Technical College seeks a Director of Strategy to guide IT strategy, lead cross-functional projects, and partner with senior leaders to drive innovation and operational excellence across the college.

The role requires five years in leadership, strong relationship-building, and experience in strategy and consulting. A Bachelor's degree is required, and a Master's degree is preferred, with extensive knowledge of enterprise-level systems and project management tools.

Qualifications

• Must have a minimum of five (5) years in a leadership position with extensive experience in building relationships and strategy.
• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite; MS Visio and project management tools; experience with integrated enterprise-level systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of strategic IT initiatives and projects across divisions.
• Monitor higher education trends, threats, and opportunities for MATC.
• Identify client priorities and translate them into actionable requirements.
• Drive consistency and improvement across projects and time.
• Advise senior management on best practices and process automation opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Relationship building

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

MS Visio

Project management tools

Enterprise-level systems

Job description

Under the general direction of the Chief Information Officer, works with senior leaders in the college to determine where the college is going and how it will get there. Information Technology strategy discussions involve the mission, vision, values and goals of the college while guiding medium- and long-term activities. The director must work as a liaison between multiple divisions, departments, and clients; manage projects, as well as monitor the higher education sector and collect feedback from clients. The position is a key driver for continual improvement, operational excellence, process optimization, and innovation.

Characteristics and Duties

1. Lead development, strategic thinking, and projects for best-in-class college solutions across all divisions and departments.
2. The director of strategy is responsible for monitoring and evaluating information about higher education trends, competitive threats and possible opportunities.
3. Identify and understand clients' priorities, concerns, challenges and processes.
4. Continue to develop and foster consistency over time and across projects.
5. Be a trusted partner with the education senior management team advising on practices and providing recommendations on process improvements and/or automation of processes.
6. Manage client expectations and integrate activities in accordance with the departmental and college strategies.
7. Ensure client engagements translate into effective requirements and facilitate organizational strategy, college capability road mapping, and portfolio management.
8. Leads cross-functional task force team to generate proposals for operating strategic initiatives as well as to implement, manage and monitor initiatives that have college-wide visibility and impact.
9. Actively collaborate with and engage leaders across the college for seamless, timely communications, awareness and involvement of ongoing IT initiatives within the college.
10. Practices honesty by demonstrating a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles, values, truthfulness and accuracy in all actions
11. Acts and speaks consistent with, and in support of, MATC's Mission, Vision, and Values
12. Addresses all student and employee behavior in a confidential and respectful manner
13. Performs duties as required for the effective information security activities and processes of the college.

Qualifications

Required Education

• Bachelor's degree.

Preferred Education

• Master's degree in related field.

Required Experience

• Must have a minimum of five (5) years in leadership position with extensive experience in building relationships, strategy and consulting experience a plus.
• An equivalent combination of education and work experience may be considered.

Preferred Experience

• Prefer more than five (5) years of related experience.

Specialty Skills

• Computer Skills: Microsoft Office suite required. MS Visio, project management tools, and experience with integrated enterprise-level systems.

Competencies

• Business insight
• Balances stakeholders
• Resourcefulness
• Drives results
• Attracts top talent
• Drives engagement
• Builds effective teams
• Drives vision and purpose
• Manages ambiguity
• Courage
• Demonstrates self-awareness
• Instills trust
• Customer focus
• Action oriented
• Values differences
• Self-development
• Compassion

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Values - Demonstrate behaviors and action that support the College's mission, vision, and values - Customer Focus, Everyone Has Worth, Passion and Inspiration, Collaboration, Emotional Intelligence, Results and Accountability, Valuing Talent, Well Being, and Ethics.
• Student Success - Demonstrate behaviors and actions that support student recruitment, retention, and student success initiatives.
• Diversity Oriented - Ability to work effectively with people regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or job type.
• Business Acumen - Ability to grasp and understand business concepts and issues.
• Change Management - encourage others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to addressing problems and opportunities
• Communication, Oral - Ability to communicate effectively with others using the spoken word.
• Communication, Written - Ability to communicate in writing clearly and concisely.
• Consensus Building - Bring about group solidarity to achieve a goal
• Conflict Resolution - Ability to deal with others in an antagonistic situation.
• Customer Oriented - Ability to take care of the customers' needs while following organizational procedures.
• Delegating Responsibility - Ability to allocate authority and/or task responsibility to appropriate people.
• Leadership - Ability to influence others to perform their jobs effectively and to be responsible for making decisions.
• Project Management - Ability to organize and direct a project to completion.

Other Requirements

• Must hold a valid driver's license and be insurable under the District's standard insurance policy terms.

Physical Demands

• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs., carry, and push up to 30 lbs. and ability pull up to 60 lbs.
• Ability to climb stairs and a ladder and maintain balance.
• Ability to stoop, kneel, crouch, reach, hear and speak.
• Sitting/Standing/Walking: 50% of time spent sitting, 25% of time standing, and 25% of time walking.