Description
Role Mission: The Child Nutrition Program (CNP) Director of Technology Services provides strategic leadership to the Systems subdivision, setting the vision and direction for technology operations, custom solutions, and staff development. This role embodies high-level decision-making, ensuring that systems and technology initiatives align with departmental goals and long-term priorities while fostering a collaborative and solutions-driven culture within the team. Other responsibilities include but are not limited to: overseeing the management of critical departmental software systems, leading the development and implementation of custom solutions, and establishing operational standards for technology, acting as the primary liaison between CNP and IT. Additionally, this role manages direct reports that further support program integrity.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
- This role provides direct supervision to the CNP IT Support Manager and the CNP Applications Analyst. The IT Support Manager oversees technical support services, asset lifecycle management, and the departmental training platform. The Applications Analyst is responsible for developing and maintaining custom solutions, developing technical documentation for them, and providing support to end users on best practices for them. Both roles work to ensure exceptional customer service and operational efficiency.
- This role leads strategic planning for the CNP Systems budget, aligning financial resources with technology acquisitions, software licensing, and technology hardware assets. By analyzing trends and forecasting future needs, this role ensures that budget decisions are data-driven, fiscally responsible, and aligned with the department’s long-term goals.
Location: This is a full-time (remote/on-site) position based in (Texas/Louisiana/Florida/Arkansas/Ohio) with preference given to candidates who live in Austin, El Paso, Houston, Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa), Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and Tarrant County (Fort Worth), or who are willing to relocate.
Travel Expectations:
- Ability to travel up to 25% of the time. Travel may be needed when providing on site campus support, receiving and/or conducting inventory audits at warehouse locations, beginning of year support, or attending local/state/national conferences and/or professional development.
What You’ll Do – Accountabilities
Essential Duties:
- Lead the strategic direction of CNP Systems, ensuring technology initiatives align with departmental goals, enhancing efficiency and service delivery.
- Develop and oversee a long-term strategic plan for the Systems subdivision, aligning it with departmental priorities and mission.
- Analyze departmental needs to identify opportunities for technology enhancements that drive efficiency and operational improvements.
- Lead budget planning for the subdivision, including forecasting staffing, hardware, software, and project costs to ensure fiscal responsibility.
- Establish and track key performance metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of systems and processes, making data-driven decisions towards continuous improvement.
- Provide strategic advice to leadership on optimizing technology resources and investments to support long-term departmental objectives.
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Manage and ensure the success of critical departmental systems, including the Point of Sale platform.
- Oversee the operational integrity and performance of the department's Point of Sale (POS) software, ensuring uninterrupted service and compliance with departmental standards.
- Lead the planning and execution of software implementations, upgrades, and migrations, coordinating with vendors and stakeholders as needed.
- Collaborate with IT teams and vendors to resolve complex technical issues, minimizing disruption to departmental operations.
- Collaborate with IT to develop scalable methods to track application and server resources, as well as develop plans to support systems growth.
- Manage budget items specific to critical systems, including licensing, support, and implementation costs.
- Develop and document standard operating procedures (SOPs) and training materials for end-users to optimize system utilization.
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Identify gaps and opportunities to enhance program integrity through the use of custom solutions to improve data visibility, streamline processes, and reduce manual error-prone tasks or processes.
- Implement a structured project request process, ensuring transparency, data accuracy, and efficient tracking throughout the project lifecycle.
- Develop standards for the design of custom tools using PowerApps, Power Automate, Power BI, SQL databases, and Python scripting to enhance operational efficiency and decision-making.
- Develop standards for documentation and resource creation for custom solutions, ensuring maintainability and knowledge transfer.
- Oversee user acceptance testing (UAT) for custom solutions, ensuring they meet end-user requirements.
- Review project bug reports and determine priority levels, ensuring correct prioritization based on ongoing projects and impact to the department as a whole.
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Foster strategic collaboration between IT and CNP, aligning technology initiatives with departmental priorities and ensuring seamless support for operational goals.
- Collaborate with IT to align departmental systems and custom solutions with enterprise-wide technology standards and initiatives.
- Advocate for departmental needs and ensure that IT projects directly impacting CNP are prioritized and executed effectively.
- Facilitate cross-departmental communication to address and resolve issues, ensuring seamless integration of IT services with CNP operations.
- Represent the department in organizational committees or working groups, contributing expertise to strategic technology discussions.
- Liaison with IT leaders to develop data governance policies, ensuring data integrity, security, and compliance within custom solutions.
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Drive innovation and operational excellence in departmental processes and systems.
- Develop and implement training resources to ensure end user proficiency in departmental systems and tools.
- Lead initiatives to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in processes, leveraging technology to streamline operations.
- Promote a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging feedback from stakeholders and incorporating it into system enhancements.
- Ensure compliance with organizational and regulatory requirements in all systems and processes.
- Attend conferences to stay informed on industry latest trends and standards to improve program integrity
- Identify training opportunities for direct reports to enhance skills and knowledge base
Additional Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead annual budget cycle meetings and make data-driven decisions to support departmental growth.
- Attend professional development events such as conferences to further both technical skills and program knowledge
- Lead development and execution of plans to support beginning of year (BOY) operations, required to successfully launch new campuses
- May need to travel to a designated campus to provide hands-on cafeteria support during BOY season for up to 3 days
What You Bring – Competencies
Required Experience:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in IT related areas
- Licenses or Certifications: None
- Experience: A minimum of 5 years of combined experience: Developing data models, reports and visualizations using tools such as SQL and Power BI; Developing business tools and automations using tools such as Power Apps and Power Automate; Working with general-purpose languages such as Python: Working with applications management and IT service management.
Preferred education and experience:
- Education: Master’s degree in IT related areas
- Licenses or Certifications: ITIL 4 Managing Professional, MS Power Platform Solution Architect Expert certification, MS Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate, MS Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate.
- Experience: A minimum of 8 years of combined experience: Developing data models, reports and visualizations using tools such as SQL and Power BI; Developing business tools and automations using tools such as Power Apps and Power Automate; Working with general-purpose languages such as Python; Working with applications management and IT service management;
- Experience: A minimum of 3 years working in K-12 Education Systems
Knowledge and Skills:
- Make Strategic Decisions: This leader is responsible for guiding the decision-making process within the team. They foster a collaborative environment where team members contribute to decision-making, ensuring that diverse perspectives are considered and team consensus is built when appropriate.
- Manage Work and Teams: This leader is responsible for the overall performance and cohesion of their team. They build operating mechanisms, establish strategic plans, and implement project management systems that ensure that their team operates smoothly and achieves its targets.
- Grow Self and Others: This leader is responsible for fostering a culture of growth within the team. They create opportunities for team learning, facilitate team development sessions, and ensure that team members have the resources and support they need to grow professionally.
- Build a Culture of Trust: This leader is responsible for ensuring team members feel safe to express their ideas and concerns. They proactively address conflicts and facilitate open communication, setting the standard for trust and safety within the team.
- Communicate Deliberately: This leader prioritizes open channels of communication on their team. They facilitate team meetings, ensure clear dissemination of information, and encourage feedback loops within their teams to promote understanding and cohesion.
Physical Requirements:
- This is a hybrid position. Must be able to sit at a computer for most of the workday. When visiting warehouse locations and working with technology assets, must be able to pickup and walk while carrying up to 30 pounds
- When visiting schools/cafeterias/warehouses you will need to be active; Bending, crawling, stooping, standing, vision, lifting and walking; The ability to walk while carrying up to 20 pounds
What We Offer:
Compensation & Benefits:
Salaries for people entering this role typically fall between $89,694 and $105,391, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for performance pay based on organizational performance and goal attainment.
Additionally, we offer medical, dental, and vision plans, disability, life insurance, parenting benefits, flexible spending account options, generous vacation time, referral bonuses, professional development, and a 403(b) plan. You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/.
IDEA may offer a relocation stipend to defray the cost of moving for this role, if applicable.
Application process:
Submit your application online through Jobvite. Please note that applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.
Learn more about IDEA
At IDEA the Staff Culture and Belonging Team uses our Core Values to promote human connection and a culture of integrity, respect, and belonging for all Team and Family members. Learn more about our Commitment to Core Values here: https://ideapublicschools.org/our-story/#core-values
