Director Student IT Services
State of Colorado
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Job summary
The University of Colorado System Administration invites applications for the Director of Student IT Services (CU-SIS). This role provides strategic leadership for enterprise student technology, coordinating across campuses to align technology investments with student success and enrollment goals.
You will build a high-performing team, manage budgets, and drive service improvements. Remote work within Colorado is allowed, with occasional travel to offices and campuses.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience (year-for-year substitution).
- 7+ years supporting enterprise administrative systems, technology services, or business operations in higher education.
- 5+ years of leadership including supervision, budgeting, and resource planning.
Responsibilities
- Lead strategy, roadmaps, and long-range plans for the university’s enterprise student technology portfolio.
- Align investments, services, and priorities with institutional objectives and student success goals.
- Guide evaluation and adoption of new technologies, vendor solutions, and service models.
- Develop and communicate portfolio priorities, risks, dependencies, and resource needs.
- Participate in higher education communities to identify trends and opportunities for innovation.
- Build trusted relationships across campuses and System Administration to understand needs.
- Facilitate governance and investment decisions, communicating value and risks.
- Lead organizational improvements to enhance transparency, accountability and service effectiveness.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
Join Our Team and Make a Difference in Higher Education!
At the System Administration office at the University of Colorado, we are dedicated to building a workplace where everyone feels valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. Our office is committed to fostering a culture where employees find community, a sense of belonging, and the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to our mission and purpose.
By joining our team, you’ll have a direct impact on shaping the future of higher education. In addition to the Office of the Board of Regents, the University of Colorado’s system administration includes 19 units that provide essential services to CU’s campuses in Aurora, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Denver, as well as the Office of the President. While not a part of any one campus, we are proud to serve in the centralized office for the University system. Together, we ensure CU continues to deliver outstanding education, groundbreaking research, and valuable service to our communities.
We believe in creating an environment where the unique experiences and perspectives of everyone are embraced, enriching the work we do and the strategic outcomes we pursue. If you’re passionate about making a difference, contributing to a dynamic team, and supporting a mission that matters, we encourage you to apply and be part of our journey. Learn more about CU System Administration.
University Information Services (UIS) provides enterprise technology services, applications, and platforms that support the University of Colorado campuses and System Administration. UIS partners with university leadership and business organizations to deliver secure, reliable, and innovative technology solutions that advance the university's mission.
CU Student IT Services (CU-SIS) delivers and supports a portfolio of enterprise student technology products and services serving prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrative offices across all four campuses and System Administration. The portfolio includes student information systems, enrollment and admissions technologies, financial aid systems, student financial services, degree planning and audit solutions, international student services systems, student communications platforms, reporting and analytics capabilities, and a growing ecosystem of integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.
The Director of Student IT Services provides strategic leadership, operational oversight, portfolio stewardship, and organizational direction for CU-SIS. This position is responsible for aligning technology services and investments with university priorities, fostering strong relationships with campus and system stakeholders, ensuring reliable service delivery, and developing a high-performing team capable of supporting an increasingly interconnected student technology ecosystem.
This position reports to the Assistant Vice President of IT Service Strategy and is exempt from the State of Colorado Classified Staff system.
This role is eligible to work remotely within Colorado. Occasional travel to the System office and campuses will be expected.
- Lead the development and execution of strategy, roadmaps, and long-range plans for the university's enterprise student technology portfolio.
- Align technology investments, services, and priorities with institutional objectives, student success initiatives, enrollment goals, regulatory requirements, and operational needs.
- Guide evaluation and adoption of new technologies, vendor solutions, and service models.
- Develop and communicate portfolio priorities, opportunities, risks, dependencies, and resource needs.
- Participate in higher education communities, professional organizations, and peer networks to identify emerging trends, best practices, and opportunities for innovation.
- Serve as a strategic partner to student affairs, enrollment management, registrars, bursars, financial aid offices, advising organizations, institutional leadership, and campus IT leaders.
- Build trusted relationships across campuses and System Administration to understand current needs, future priorities, and emerging challenges.
- Facilitate discussions regarding business strategy, technology roadmaps, service improvements, governance, and investment decisions.
- Communicate business value, tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities associated with enterprise student technology investments.
- Represent campus and System Administration interests within UIS and advocate for UIS capabilities and service offerings across the university.
- Ensure reliable delivery, support, and continuous improvement of enterprise student technology services.
- Establish and maintain effective operational practices, service management processes, portfolio governance, demand management, and work intake procedures.
- Lead organizational improvement initiatives that enhance transparency, accountability, collaboration, and service effectiveness.
- Oversee planning and coordination for major upgrades, implementations, integrations, maintenance activities, and service transitions.
- Monitor service performance, operational metrics, customer feedback, and organizational outcomes to support informed decision making.
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team through recruitment, coaching, mentoring, performance management, and succession planning.
- Establish clear expectations and accountability while fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and customer-focused culture.
- Support employee growth through professional development, career planning, leadership opportunities, and knowledge sharing.
- Develop future leaders and strengthen organizational resilience through delegated leadership and capacity building.
- Foster an environment that supports employee engagement, well-being, innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Lead resource planning, capacity management, budget development, staffing strategy, and vendor management activities.
- Evaluate current and future demand to ensure appropriate alignment between organizational capacity and customer needs.
- Support governance and technology acquisition processes by helping stakeholders assess business value, implementation impacts, operational support requirements, and long-term sustainability.
- Manage vendor relationships and technology investments to maximize value, reduce risk, and improve institutional outcomes.
- Provide leadership regarding capacity constraints, investment priorities, staffing needs, and portfolio tradeoffs.
The Director provides oversight and stewardship for enterprise and enterprise-dependent student technology services, including but not limited to: PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, uAchieve Degree Audit and related tools, Nelnet, Sunapsis, NameCoach, Parchment, student CRM/admissions platforms, degree planning and advising solutions, scheduling and workflow platforms, reporting and analytics tools, integrations, and other student-facing or student-supporting systems used across CU campuses and System Administration.
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, or equivalent professional experience (professional experience may be substituted for the educational requirement on a year-for-year basis)
- Seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience supporting enterprise administrative systems, technology services, or business operations, including:
- Experience supporting student services, enrollment management, academic administration, or related higher education functions
- Experience leading operational support, service delivery, or technology organizations
- Experience managing complex portfolios, programs, projects, or services
- Experience facilitating organizational planning, prioritization, and stakeholder engagement
- Experience managing vendor relationships and technology investments
- Five (5) years of leadership experience including:
- Personnel supervision and performance management
- Budget, resources, or capacity planning
- Leading cross-functional teams and complex initiatives
- Experience supporting enterprise student information systems and related student technologies
- Experience with higher education ERP systems, SaaS solutions, and integration ecosystems
- Experience with strategic planning, portfolio governance, demand management, and service management practices
- Experience leading technology-enabled organizational change initiatives
- Experience working in higher education, particularly within a multi-campus environment
- Familiarity with frameworks such as SFIA, ITIL, project management methodologies, and organizational capability maturity models
- Knowledge of enterprise applications,
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