IT Director

Charter One; Mesa (AZ); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Paid time off

401k employer contributions

Job summary

Charter One is seeking an IT Director to lead a 30+ person IT team, oversee secure, scalable infrastructure, and drive the organization's AI initiatives across multiple states.

You will balance operational excellence with strategic vision, manage vendor relationships, and ensure data privacy and regulatory compliance while delivering high uptime and innovation driving efficiency in our school network.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Engineering or related field.
• Valid AZ IVP Fingerprint Clearance card (can be obtained post-offer).
• 5+ years leading IT infrastructure, with AI tools experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and scale a 30+ person IT team with cross‑functional collaboration.
• Oversee full technology stack, cloud architecture, network, and helpdesk to high uptime.
• Manage external vendors and service providers for distributed school network.
• Maintain robust cybersecurity posture, disaster recovery, and data privacy.
• Set AI governance, guardrails, and monitor ROI of tech across departments.

Skills

Team Leadership

IT Infra & Networking

Cloud & Data Center

Cybersecurity Governance

AI Strategy & Governance

Vendor Management

Budget & Resource Management

Communication with Stakeholders

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

ITIL Foundation

Job description

Charter One operates a growing network of schools dedicated to educating 35,000 students across Arizona, North and South Carolina, and Utah. As we embark on a period of rapid expansion, we are aggressively adopting new AI systems to automate processes and develop purpose-built applications, all designed to drive operational efficiencies. The IT Director will oversee this innovation while simultaneously maintaining the robust, day-to-day operational security and IT platforms essential to our business and educational mission. This leadership role involves managing a dedicated 30-plus person IT team and coordinating a variety of outside vendors and service providers. Maintaining the highest standards of data security and privacy is foundational to our ecosystem; the IT Director will lead these efforts, ensuring our technology remains protected, scalable, and fully aligned with the needs of our students, faculty, and administrators.

As IT Director, you will serve as the bridge between our essential daily operations and our future-facing technology roadmap. This role requires balancing the operational excellence needed to maintain secure, high-performance systems with the strategic vision to scale our AI initiatives, establishing the necessary guardrails to drive transformative technology adoption across our school network.

Operational Leadership & Infrastructure

• Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and scale our 30-plus person IT team, fostering a culture of technical excellence, professional development, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Technology & Infrastructure Leadership: Oversee the organization’s complete technology stack, cloud architecture, network infrastructure, and helpdesk operations to ensure 99.9% uptime and stability.
• Vendor & Service Coordination: Act as the primary point of contact for external vendors and service providers, ensuring seamless service delivery and high-level support for our distributed school network.

Cybersecurity, Governance & Financial Management

• Cybersecurity Posture: Work alongside security leadership to maintain a robust defense, including endpoint protection, identity access management, zero-trust architecture, and disaster recovery.
• Budget & Resource Optimization: Manage the annual IT budget and negotiate enterprise agreements to maximize ROI on all software and hardware investments.
• AI Governance & Risk: Establish Enterprise AI Guardrails, including data privacy and IP protection; evaluate AI platforms for compliance; and proactively mitigate Shadow IT by centralizing rogue AI usage into secure, approved workflows.

Strategic AI Enablement & Innovation

• Enterprise AI Adoption: Partner with executive leadership to identify high-ROI use cases that embed AI into daily cross-functional workflows.
• Culture & AI Literacy: Lead enterprise change management initiatives, including designing training programs and prompting playbooks to transform our staff into AI-fluent power users.
• Value Realization: Establish clear metrics and KPIs to measure the operational velocity, cost-savings, and revenue impact of deployed technology and AI tools across all departments.

Candidates with the following skills will thrive as part of our growing team:

• Team Leadership: Proven ability to lead, mentor, and scale a large (30+ person) IT team, effectively delegating tasks and driving professional development.
• Core IT Infrastructure: Deep technical knowledge of network architecture (TCP/IP, VLAN, routing), cloud infrastructure, and data storage/backup/disaster recovery.
• AI Strategy & Governance: Ability to design AI policies, mitigate "Shadow IT," and lead enterprise-wide initiatives that move AI from experimentation to production.
• Operational Excellence: Strong analytical problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot, maintain, and repair district-wide hardware/software systems while ensuring 99.9% uptime.
• Stakeholder Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to translate complex technical concepts and AI roadmaps for district leadership, faculty, and staff.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field
• Valid AZ IVP Fingerprint Clearance card (can be obtained post-offer)
• At least 5 years of experience in IT infrastructure management, including network administration and operations, with a proven track record of leading large teams. Experience in identifying, selecting, and implementing modern AI tools to drive business efficiency

Preferred Qualifications:

• 7+ years of experience in IT infrastructure and leadership roles, preferably in an educational or similar large-scale environment.
• In-depth knowledge of data security practices, including identity management, access control, and security frameworks
• ITIL Foundation Certification or equivalent experience in IT service management.

Charter One offers a competitive salary that is individually determined based on education and experience. We offer health benefits, paid time off, and 401k investment options including employer contributions.