Director of Software Applications and Support

Northern Virginia Community College; Annandale (VA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) seeks a Director of Software Applications and Support to lead the enterprise software portfolio, ensuring reliability, security, and governance across administrative, student, and academic systems. You will oversee staff, vendor contracts, and service delivery while aligning with institutional priorities.

Requirements include senior leadership experience, strong communication, change and release management, and a track record of delivering complex

Qualifications

• Experience leading enterprise application teams and managing multiple priorities.
• Strong communication with senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Ability to analyze and resolve complex application issues and drive improvements.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic planning and governance for enterprise software applications.
• Supervise staff responsible for application administration, support, and analytics.
• Manage vendor relationships, licensing, and service levels.
• Oversee testing, deployment, and release management of software services.
• Develop budget for application platforms and forecast costs.
• Collaborate with CIO/CTO and college leadership on technology strategy.

Skills

Staff leadership

Vendor management

Application security

Project management

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT

Tools

Microsoft ecosystem

Job description

Director of Software Applications and Support

In support of the Commonwealth’s commitment to inclusion, we are encouraging individuals with disabilities to apply through the Commonwealth's Alternative Hiring Process. To be considered for this opportunity, applicants will need to provide their AHP Letter (formerly called a Certificate of Disability) provided by the Department for Aging & Rehabilitative Services (DARS), or the Department for the Blind & Vision Impaired (DBVI). Service-Connected Veterans may also apply via the AHP if they also provide an AHP Letter. To request an AHP Letter, use this link: https://www.dars.virginia.gov/drs/cpid/PWContact.aspx or call DARS at 800-552-5019, or DBVI at 800-622-2155

Posting Details

• Working Title Director of Software Applications and Support
• Role Title Info Technology Manager I
• Role Code 39115-FP
• FLSA Exempt
• Pay Band 06
• Position Number 28000585
• Agency Northern VA Community College
• Division NV280-VP of College Computing
• Work Location Fairfax County - 059
• Hiring Range $155,000 - $175,000
• Emergency/Essential Personnel No
• EEO Category 3-Technicians
• Full Time or Part Time Full Time
• Does this position have telework options? -Telework options are subject to change based on business needs- No
• Does this position have a bilingual or multilingual skill requirement or preference?
• Work Schedule Core business hours - M-F, 8am to 5pm. After-hours and emergency response required as needed.
• Sensitive Position Yes

Job Description General Description

This position serves as the Director of Software Applications and Support and holds primary responsibility for the strategic leadership, operational management, implementation, integration, support, security, and continuous improvement of the enterprise software applications that sustain college business operations, academic services, student services, administrative functions, and institutional reporting. Duties and Tasks: Assists the Chief Information Officer / Chief Technology Officer and works collaboratively with senior leaders, functional business owners, and the information security, infrastructure, data, endpoint, service desk, and campus technology teams to ensure enterprise applications are reliable, secure, well governed, user centered, accessible, and aligned with institutional priorities. Provides day-to-day leadership and supervision for the staff responsible for enterprise application administration, application support, business analysis, integration coordination, quality assurance, reporting support, and vendor coordination, and is accountable for the service performance of the college’s software application portfolio. Lead the planning, administration, and continuous improvement of enterprise software applications and related support services, including enterprise administrative systems, student and academic applications, reporting and analytics tools, integrations, workflow platforms, web-based applications, third-party SaaS solutions, and internally supported business systems. Provide day-to-day leadership for the teams responsible for enterprise application administration, application support, business analysis, integration coordination, quality assurance, report support, vendor coordination, and customer-facing software service delivery. Establish and maintain application governance, service ownership, role-based access, data stewardship coordination, change management, release schedules, environment management, operational standards, application documentation, and service performance measures. Manage vendor relationships, contracts, licensing, support escalations, product roadmaps, service-level expectations, third-party risk and accessibility review, and procurement coordination for enterprise application platforms and related software services. Ensure responsive application support, incident and problem resolution, root cause analysis, user communication, training coordination, knowledge base development, and continuous improvement of software services used by faculty, staff, students, and administrative units. Coordinate application-related project intake, prioritization, resourcing, scheduling, and status reporting in partnership with functional business owners, project management staff, and senior leadership. Oversee application testing and quality assurance practices, including test planning, regression and user acceptance testing coordination, defect tracking, release readiness re...

Duties and Tasks

• Assists the Chief Information Officer / Chief Technology Officer and works collaboratively with senior leaders, functional business owners, and the information security, infrastructure, data, endpoint, service desk, and campus technology teams to ensure enterprise applications are reliable, secure, well governed, user centered, accessible, and aligned with institutional priorities.
• Provides day-to-day leadership and supervision for the staff responsible for enterprise application administration, application support, business analysis, integration coordination, quality assurance, reporting support, and vendor coordination, and is accountable for the service performance of the college’s software application portfolio.
• Lead the planning, administration, and continuous improvement of enterprise software applications and related support services, including enterprise administrative systems, student and academic applications, reporting and analytics tools, integrations, workflow platforms, web-based applications, third-party SaaS solutions, and internally supported business systems.
• Provide day-to-day leadership for the teams responsible for enterprise application administration, application support, business analysis, integration coordination, quality assurance, report support, vendor coordination, and customer-facing software service delivery.
• Establish and maintain application governance, service ownership, role-based access, data stewardship coordination, change management, release schedules, environment management, operational standards, application documentation, and service performance measures.
• Manage vendor relationships, contracts, licensing, support escalations, product roadmaps, service-level expectations, third-party risk and accessibility review, and procurement coordination for enterprise application platforms and related software services.
• Ensure responsive application support, incident and problem resolution, root cause analysis, user communication, training coordination, knowledge base development, and continuous improvement of software services used by faculty, staff, students, and administrative units.
• Coordinate application-related project intake, prioritization, resourcing, scheduling, and status reporting in partnership with functional business owners, project management staff, and senior leadership.
• Oversee application testing and quality assurance practices, including test planning, regression and user acceptance testing coordination, defect tracking, release readiness review, and post-implementation validation.
• Develop and administer the operating budget for application platforms, licensing, and professional services; forecast renewal and growth costs; and recommend investments that improve reliability, security, functionality, and total cost of ownership.
• Serve on the College Computing senior leadership team, contribute to strategic and annual technology planning, and represent the college in system-level and state-level application, integration, and software governance discussions.
• Make regular requests from employees for updates and input on college decisions and share feedback with supervisors for inclusion in the NOVA Brief.

Must be able to Pass CJIS Level 4 and FBI and Virginia State Police background check.

Special Assignments May be required to perform other duties as assigned. May be required to assist the agency or state government generally in the event of an emergency declaration by the Governor.

Required KSAs

KSA's/Required Qualifications Required KSAs: . Ability to lead, supervise, and develop technical staff, and to organize and manage multiple concurrent priorities, projects, upgrade cycles, and vendor release schedules with competing deadlines and shared resources. Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership, functional business owners, technical peers, vendors, and end users; proven client-facing skills, including demonstrable experience managing high-impact customer relationships. Ability to work effectively in a team environment and independently with a self-sufficient, highly motivated approach; demonstrated willingness to cross-train and to be cross-trained in other roles and duties in support of a culture and reputation for excellence. Demonstrated ability to analyze and resolve problems at both functional and strategic levels, including the ability to interpret application logs, error reports, performance metrics, availability data, integration failure alerts, defect trends, and usage analytics to resolve incidents, identify risk, and recommend service improvements; ability to introduce innovative solutions and to learn evolving technologies as they emerge. Working knowledge of enterprise application administration across administrative, student, academic, workflow, and reporting systems, and of the full application lifecycle - requirements gathering, functional and technical design review, configuration management, environment management, testing (unit, system, regression, and user acceptance), deployment, patching, upgrade planning, documentation, and decommissioning. Knowledge of application security practices, including role-based access design, least-privilege permissions, separation of duties, environment segregation, privileged account handling, and periodic access review and recertification; ability to balance functional enablement and business agility with strong governance, data protection, and compliance requirements. Working knowledge of change and release management, incident and problem management, and service management practices, including ticket workflow, prioritization, escalation, root cause analysis, release coordination, and knowledge base development. Ability to establish, measure, and report service performance measures for application availability, incident and request resolution, support backlog, release success, integration reliability, and user satisfaction. records retention, and privacy and compliance requirements applicable to higher education. Knowledge of software procurement and vendor management, including licensing and subscription models, contract and renewal cycles, service-level agreements, support escalation paths, product roadmap evaluation, and third-party security and accessibility review. Proficiency in Microsoft ecosystem

• Ability to lead, supervise, and develop technical staff, and to organize and manage multiple concurrent priorities, projects, upgrade cycles, and vendor release schedules with competing deadlines and shared resources.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership, functional business owners, technical peers, vendors, and end users; proven client-facing skills, including demonstrable experience managing high-impact customer relationships.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and independently with a self-sufficient, highly motivated approach; demonstrated willingness to cross-train and to be cross-trained in other roles and duties in support of a culture and reputation for excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and resolve problems at both functional and strategic levels, including the ability to interpret application logs, error reports, performance metrics, availability data, integration failure alerts, defect trends, and usage analytics to resolve incidents, identify risk, and recommend service improvements; ability to introduce innovative solutions and to learn evolving technologies as they emerge.
• Working knowledge of enterprise application administration across administrative, student, academic, workflow, and reporting systems, and of the full application lifecycle - requirements gathering, functional and technical design review, configuration management, environment management, testing (unit, system, regression, and user acceptance), deployment, patching, upgrade planning, documentation, and decommissioning.
• Knowledge of application security practices, including role-based access design, least-privilege permissions, separation of duties, environment segregation, privileged account handling, and periodic access review and recertification; ability to balance functional enablement and business agility with strong governance, data protection, and compliance requirements.
• Working knowledge of change and release management, incident and problem management, and service management practices, including ticket workflow, prioritization, escalation, root cause analysis, release coordination, and knowledge base development.
• Ability to establish, measure, and report service performance measures for application availability, incident and request resolution, support backlog, release success, integration reliability, and user satisfaction. records retention, and privacy and compliance requirements applicable to higher education.
• Knowledge of software procurement and vendor management, including licensing and subscription models, contract and renewal cycles, service-level agreements, support escalation paths, product roadmap evaluation, and third-party security and accessibility review.
• Proficiency in Microsoft ecosystem

Minimum Qualifications

• Progressively responsible experience at an enterprise level, including responsibility for enterprise software applications and application support services.
• Experience supervising or leading technical staff, including hiring, performance management, and team development.
• Experience with enterprise application implementation, configuration, upgrade, and integration in a complex, multi-stakeholder organization, including application integrations and promoting adoption of new technologies.
• Experience with application support operations, including incident and request management, escalation, service-level expectations, and customer communication.
• Experience partnering with functional business owners to gather requirements, document processes, and deliver application solutions that meet business needs.
• Experience in software licensing, and vendor and contract administration.
• Experience applying security, access control, audit, and compliance requirements to enterprise applications and their data.

Additional Considerations

• Experience supervising multiple enterprise IT or enterprise application units using current enterprise-class systems and software.
• Technology management experience and demonstrated technology proficiency in enterprise-level software and platforms.
• Experience in higher education, public sector, or another regulated environment, including familiarity with student information systems, learning management systems, enterprise resource planning and administrative systems, constituent relationship management systems, and institutional reporting.
• Experience leading a major enterprise application implementation, migration, consolidation, or modernization effort.
• Experience with integration and automation technologies, including API management, middleware or integration platform as a service, workflow automation, and scripting.
• Experience governing vendor-hosted and SaaS applications, including tenant and environment administration, vendor release-cycle management, and third-party security, privacy, and accessibility review.
• Experience with formal project management, business analysis, and service management frameworks.
• Professional certifications such as PMP , ITIL , Agile or Scrum credentials, business analysis credentials, or vendor application administration certifications.

Operation of a State Vehicle No

Supervises Employees Yes

Required Travel n/a

Posting Number CLS_4766P

Recruitment Type General Public - G

Number of Vacancies 1

Position End Date (if temporary)

Job Open Date 09/22/2026

Job Close Date 10/13/2026

Open Until Filled

Agency Website www.nvcc.edu

Special Instructions to Applicants

In support of the Commonwealth’s commitment to inclusion, we are encouraging individuals with disabilities to apply through the Commonwealth’s Alternative Hiring Process. To be considered for this opportunity, applicants will need to provide their AHP Letter (formerly called a Certificate of Disability) provided by the Department for Aging & Rehabilitative Services ( DARS ), or the Department for the Blind & Vision Impaired ( DBVI ). Service-Connected Veterans may also apply via the AHP if they also provide an AHP Letter. To request an AHP Letter, use this link: https://www.dars.virginia.gov/drs/cpid/PWContact.aspx or call DARS at 800-552-5019, or DBVI at 800-622-2155

Additional Information

Northern Virginia Community College ( NOVA ) is the largest public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of the largest community colleges in the nation. NOVA enrolls nearly 75,000 students on its six campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Sterling, Manassas, Springfield, and Woodbridge, as well as through NOVA Online and high school dual enrollment programs. The College offers more than 100 affordable associate degree and certificate programs to help our students reach their academic and professional goals in some of the most in-demand careers. At NOVA , we are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive community for all students, faculty, and staff, and our diverse workforce is representative of this commitment. To this end, we encourage all applicants seeking to add value through their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests to consider employment opportunities with NOVA . To learn more about NOVA’s commitment to inclusive excellence, please visit At a Glance | Northern Virginia Community College . NOVA offers eligible employees a benefits package that includes a comprehensive health and dental insurance program, generous paid leave, deferred compensation plans, paid parental leave, state employee discounts, and a solid and secure retirement program. We strive to ensure our employees have tools and development opportunities to support and promote NOVA’s mission. For more information about NOVA and its programs and services, please visit our website at www.nvcc.edu . The security of our students, faculty, and staff is very important at NOVA . Please take a moment to review NOVA’s Annual Security Reports

At NOVA , we are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive community for all students, faculty, and staff, and our diverse workforce is representative of this commitment. To this end, we encourage all applicants seeking to add value through their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and interests to consider employment opportunities with NOVA . To learn more about NOVA’s commitment to inclusive excellence, please visit At a Glance | Northern Virginia Community College .

NOVA offers eligible employees a benefits package that includes a comprehensive health and dental insurance program, generous paid leave, deferred compensation plans, paid parental leave, state employee discounts, and a solid and secure retirement program.

We strive to ensure our employees have tools and development opportunities to support and promote NOVA’s mission. For more information about NOVA and its programs and services, please visit our website at www.nvcc.edu .

The security of our students, faculty, and staff is very important at NOVA . Please take a moment to review NOVA’s Annual Security Reports

Background Check Statement Disclaimer

The selected candidate’s offer is contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background investigation, which may include: fingerprint checks, local agency checks, employment verification, verification of education, credit checks (relevant to employment). Additionally, selected candidates may be required to complete the Commonwealth’s Statement of Economic Interest. For more information, please follow this link: http://ethics.dls.virginia.gov/

EEO Statement

The Virginia Community College System ( VCCS ) provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, political affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or other non-merit factors.

ADA Statement

The Virginia Community College System ( VCCS ) is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Acts ( ADA and ADAAA ), to provide, reasonable accommodation to applicants in need of access to the application, interviewing, and selection processes when requested.

E-Verify Statement

VCCS uses E-Verify to check employee eligibility to work in the United States. You will be required to complete an I-9 form and provide documentation of your identity for employment purposes.

Quicklink for Posting

https://jobs.vccs.edu/postings/101556