THECB – IT Director Operations

CAPPS; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is seeking an experienced and collaborative technology leader to serve as the Director of IT Operations. Reporting to the Senior Director of Technology, this role provides strategic leadership for IT operations, including infrastructure, networks, platforms, and enterprise support systems.

The Director will assure stability, security, and scalability of the agency’s technology environment, develop operational policies and performance measures, and

Qualifications

• Senior-level managerial experience in enterprise IT operations.
• Ability to define goals, policies, and service standards.
• Experience with infrastructure, networks, platforms, and security.
• Strong vendor management and budgeting capabilities.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance in public sector IT.

Responsibilities

• Direct enterprise IT operations and service delivery.
• Oversee security, disaster recovery, and continuity planning.
• Manage budgets, cost optimization, and vendor contracts.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration across ITS, Product Management, Data Engineering, and PMO.
• Establish operational standards and performance metrics.

Skills

Leadership at scale

Cloud strategy

IT governance

Security engineering

Vendor management

Budgeting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IS

Master’s preferred

Tools

AWS

Azure

Private cloud

Job description

Job Description

About the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) works to ensure that all Texans have access to highquality, affordable higher education opportunities that prepare students for successful careers and strengthen the state’s workforce and economy. Through collaboration with colleges, universities, policymakers, and education partners across Texas, THECB advances initiatives that expand educational opportunity, promote student success, and support the future of higher education.

About Information Technology Services

The Information Technology Services (ITS) Division advances THECB’s mission by delivering secure, reliable, and customerfocused technology services that enable agency staff to effectively serve Texas students, institutions, and communities.

Our organization is committed to operational excellence through modern technology, strong governance, strategic partnerships, and continuous improvement. We are modernizing how technology services are delivered by strengthening infrastructure and operational resilience, advancing cloudfirst and hybrid infrastructure, improving platform reliability and security, and building a culture centered on accountability, collaboration, innovation, and service excellence.

At THECB, we believe technology is more than infrastructure and support. It is a strategic business partner that enables our agency to better serve students, institutions, and the State of Texas.

About the Role

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is seeking an experienced and collaborative technology leader to serve as the Director of IT Operations. Reporting to the Senior Director of Technology, this position is a key member of the Information Technology Services leadership team and provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency’s IT operations function, including infrastructure, networks, platforms, and enterprise support systems.

The Director is responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, security, and scalability of the technology environment that enables agency business operations and advances THECB’s mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives. This position establishes the strategic direction for IT operations by developing goals, objectives, operational policies, procedures, standards, service delivery practices, and performance measures that promote reliable, secure, and efficient technology operations across the agency.
Responsibilities include directing enterprise IT operations and service delivery; overseeing operational risk management, security practices, disaster recovery, and continuity planning; directing financial planning, budgeting, and cost optimization for IT operations; managing vendor relationships, service agreements, and statements of work with external service providers for infrastructure and operational support services; and providing leadership for operational governance, regulatory compliance, and organizational change.

Working collaboratively with ITS leadership, IT Service Delivery, Product Management, Product Engineering, Data Engineering, the Project Management Office (PMO), and agency stakeholders, the Director helps align operational services with business needs and longterm technology strategy while ensuring the consistent delivery of the key platforms and services that agency teams rely on.
This position supervises management and professional staff and exercises significant initiative and independent judgment while serving as a trusted advisor on IT operations, infrastructure, cloud modernization, and operational resilience.

Why Join Our Team

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape how the technology environment that supports the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is operated, secured, and modernized.

As a member of the ITS leadership team, you’ll play a critical role in advancing cloud modernization, strengthening infrastructure and security operations, improving operational resilience, and building a highperforming team focused on delivering reliable, secure, and scalable technology platforms and services.
In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Lead the agency’s infrastructure and cloud strategy, including the move from onpremises to private and public cloud environments.


• Build, mentor, and develop highperforming engineers, administrators, and managers across networking, systems, platforms, and security engineering while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.


• Strengthen operational resilience through disaster recovery, continuity planning, and security practices that protect agency systems and data.


• Establish operational standards, service levels, and performance measures that improve reliability and support executive decisionmaking.


• Strengthen the partnership between IT Service Delivery, Product Engineering, Data Engineering, Product Management, and the PMO to deliver the key platforms and services agency teams depend on.


• Make a lasting impact by helping technology enable the agency’s mission of expanding educational opportunity and supporting higher education across Texas.

If you are passionate about developing people, modernizing infrastructure, strengthening operational resilience, and building technology operations that create measurable business value, we encourage you to apply.

General Description:

Performs highly advanced (seniorlevel) managerial work for the Information Technology Services (ITS) Division of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Serving as the Director of IT Operations, this position provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency’s IT operations function, including infrastructure, networks, platforms, and enterprise support systems. The position is responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, security, and scalability of the technology environment that enables agency business operations and advances the agency’s mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives.

Work involves establishing strategic plans, goals, and objectives for IT operations; developing operational policies, procedures, standards, and service delivery practices; and establishing priorities, performance measures, and evaluation tools to assess operational effectiveness, system availability, and service quality.

Responsibilities include directing enterprise IT operations and service delivery; overseeing operational risk management, security practices, disaster recovery, and continuity planning; directing financial planning, budgeting, and cost optimization for IT operations; managing vendor relationships, service agreements, and statements of work with external service providers for infrastructure and operational support services; and providing leadership for operational governance, regulatory compliance, and organizational change. Collaborates with ITS leadership and agency stakeholders to align operational services with business needs and longterm technology strategy, and provides operational input into agencywide planning efforts.
Supervises the work of others, including management and professional staff. Works under minimal supervision, with extensive latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. This position reports to the Senior Director of Technology. Performs other duties as assigned.

General Duties and Responsibilities:

• Strategic People Leadership & Talent Strategy Leads managers, senior individual contributors, or a combination of both by setting leadership expectations, supporting performance management, and guiding workforce and succession planning. Develops leadership capability and subjectmatter expertise; aligns talent to strategic needs; and fosters a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.


• Strategic Execution, Governance & Resource Alignment Defines and oversees execution of strategies within assigned domains by establishing goals, priorities, standards, and performance measures. Aligns budgets, staffing, and resources to objectives; ensures compliance and governance; and monitors organizational performance to achieve agency outcomes.


• IT Operations & Service Delivery Leadership Directs enterprise IT operations and service delivery functions that support agency infrastructure, platforms, and enduser technology services. Establishes operational standards and performance expectations to ensure reliable, secure, and efficient technology services that support agency programs and missioncritical activities.


• Operational Risk, Security & Continuity Management Oversees operational practices that protect the integrity, availability, and security of enterprise technology services. Establishes standards and procedures that support operational resilience, risk mitigation, and continuity of services while ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and enterprise governance expectations.


• Financial, Vendor & Resource Management Directs financial planning, budgeting, and resource allocation for IT operations. Oversees vendor relationships, contractual service agreements, and external service providers to ensure operational services are delivered efficiently and in alignment with organizational objectives and fiscal accountability standards.


• Enterprise Collaboration & Operational Alignment Collaborates with IT leadership, agency executives, and business stakeholders to align operational technology services with organizational priorities. Provides operational insight into agency planning efforts and ensures IT services remain responsive to evolving business and mission requirements.


• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge Skills or Abilities:

• Knowledge of enterprise infrastructure architecture and operations, including onpremises, private cloud, and public cloud environments.


• Knowledge of cloud migration and infrastructure modernization strategies, including rehosting, replatforming, and hybrid cloud approaches.


• Knowledge of cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, or comparable solutions, and enterprise networking technologies, including connectivity, segmentation, and network security.


• Knowledge of systems and platform administration, including servers, virtualization, identity, storage, backup, monitoring, and infrastructure automation.


• Knowledge of security engineering, operational risk management, disaster recovery, and business continuity practices within enterprise environments.


• Knowledge of IT governance, security, and compliance practices related to infrastructure operations and service delivery.


• Skill in leading infrastructure, network, systems, and security engineering teams operating across onpremises, private cloud, and public cloud environments.


• Skill in evaluating and guiding hosting, platform, and cloud versus onpremises decisions within enterprise environments.


• Skill in managing IT budgets, vendor relationships, service agreements, and statements of work.


• Skill in providing handson technical leadership, including guiding design, reviewing solutions, and supporting teams through complex challenges.


• Skill in coaching and developing engineers and managers to improve technical capability and operational practices.


• Skill in managing and prioritizing work across a unified portfolio and roadmap.


• Skill in collaborating effectively across IT Service Delivery, Product Management, Product Engineering, Data Engineering, PMO, business, and executive stakeholders.


• Ability to provide strategic direction for enterprise infrastructure and operations while remaining actively engaged in technical decisionmaking and delivery.


• Ability to drive modernization through cloud migration and adoption of cloudnative, automated, and hybrid infrastructure solutions where appropriate.


• Ability to align infrastructure, platform, and security operations with product strategy, business needs, and engineering execution into a single, integrated delivery model.


• Ability to guide teams through transformation by reinforcing standards, demonstrating best practices, and improving operational maturity.


• Ability to balance priorities, capacity, and technical sequencing across a portfolio of work.


• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and nontechnical stakeholders, including executive leadership.


• Ability to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Required InOffice Days:

This position is authorized for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees are required to work in the office three (3) days per week, with the remaining two days eligible for telework. Specific inoffice days may be determined by the department to meet business needs.

Preferred:

• Extensive experience leading enterprise IT infrastructure and operations functions, including networking, systems administration, platform administration, and security engineering, in complex organizational environments.


• Experience operating within a productoriented delivery model, including collaboration with Product Management, Product Engineering, Data Engineering, and portfolio or program management functions.


• Demonstrated experience leading infrastructure modernization efforts, including migrating onpremises systems and workloads to public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid environments.


• Experience establishing technology strategies that emphasize cloudfirst and automated infrastructure, including hosting, platform evaluation, and vendor selection.


• Experience with operational risk management, disaster recovery, business continuity planning, and security incident response.


• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop highperforming technical teams while managing crossfunctional initiatives across business, product, engineering, and data stakeholders.


• Experience with organizational planning, including capacity management, budgeting, vendor management, and resource alignment across a portfolio of work.


• Experience in public sector or government technology environments.

Physical Requirements and/or Working Conditions:

• Regular, reliable, and punctual attendance at work.


• Frequent use of personal computers, copiers, printers, telephones, and other standard office equipment.


• Frequent sitting, with occasional standing, walking, and movement throughout the office.


• Frequent interaction with agency leadership, staff, vendors, and external stakeholders.


• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet established deadlines in a fastpaced environment.

Workforce:

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to customer service and the agency’s mission.


• Provide strategic leadership that promotes collaboration, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.


• Build and maintain effective working relationships with agency leadership, staff, vendors, and external stakeholders.


• Show flexibility and adaptability to changing priorities, assignments, and organizational needs, including working extended hours when necessary.


• Adhere to the agency’s internal management policies, procedures, and applicable federal and state requirements.


• Contribute to the agency’s strategic goals, organizational performance measures, and mission.

Application Requirements:

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is an Equal Opportunity Employer. A State of Texas application is required to apply. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board participates in EVerify for each new employees Form I9 to confirm work authorization. For questions, please call the HR Department at . For vocal and/or hearing assistance call 711.

Security and Background

This position has been designated as a security sensitive position. A criminal background investigation will be conducted on the final candidate for this position.

AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:

THECB does not discriminate on the basis, of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability in employment or the provision of services.

Job offer and continuation of employment with THECB is contingent upon:

• Proof of education and experience listed on the application.


• Eligibility/authorization to work in the U.S.


• Satisfactory results from a preemployment criminal history background check.


• Compliance with the Selective Service Law for males ages 18-25. Please be advised that under Texas law, names and other information concerning applicants or nominees may be subject to disclosure upon request.

Employment Restrictions:

THECB does not allow dual employment with other state of Texas agencies or institutions.

Interview Process:

Skills assessment may be conducted at time of interview.

Salary:

Salary for this position will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.