Director of Technology

Company: Summit Public Schools
Location: Redwood City
Posted on: January 22, 2023

Job Description:

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Technology is a seasoned systems leader, capacity builder, and communicator who is outcomes-oriented, deeply understands what we do and our values, and deftly engages a vast array of internal and external stakeholders to collaborate, influence, generate buy-in and support for, and move organization-wide technology priorities forward. The DOT is adaptable, thrives in contexts with evolving information and guidelines, and demonstrates agility in navigating ambiguity.
The DOT leads Summit's Technology team, which is responsible for ensuring uptime and the smooth operation of Summit's information technology infrastructure. Our team enables a media-rich learning environment on Summit's personalized learning software (Summit Learning Platform) with a dedicated 1:1 student:laptop ratio. Summit's technology team comprises three subteams: Home Office and school site technology, network and system administration, and website operations.
The DOT will collaborate with other systems leaders to equip, enable, and empower school sites to operate at the highest levels, and will work with other senior leaders to design, develop, and optimize the systems, policies, professional development, and ongoing support that prioritize the safe, compliant, and efficient operations of our school sites and Home Office. The DOT will build capacity through planning, managing, and executing cross-functional special projects, facilitating effective meetings and professional development, and ensuring effective and efficient communication across the organization.
As a member of the Strategic Services team, the DOT serves as a strategy partner to school site leadership teams and indirectly manages and supports the continuous improvement of technology related (and at times intersecting with operations, facilities, and compliance) initiatives as we strive towards running the best schools in the country.
This position is based in the Bay Area, primarily out of our Home Office in Redwood City. Regular travel to school sites in the Bay Area and Seattle-Tacoma is expected.
In addition to domain expertise, the ideal candidate has excellent communication skills (both written and verbal), has extensive team management experience, and is comfortable managing a complex budget and technology vendors.
Who We Are:
What if all students graduated high school with the knowledge, skills and habits they need to lead a fulfilled life? This is the question that guides our mission at .
Summit is a leading network of public schools that prepare a diverse student population for success in a four-year college and to be thoughtful, contributing members of society. We operate 14 schools serving over 4,500 students in the Bay Area and Washington state. 100% of Summit graduates are college ready and Summit graduates complete college at double the national average.
We need exceptional, diverse, and mission-aligned teachers and leaders to join our team to help prepare our students for a fulfilled life. Join us.
What You'll Do:
Team Management

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• Build, manage, develop, and retain a high-performing technology team.
  
• Ensure effective balance of team operations and special projects.
  
• Build team culture across a team whose members work remotely and at different sites.
  
• Lead weekly check-ins with direct reports, facilitate recurring team meetings, lead on annual strategic planning.
  
  Infrastructure
  
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  • Ensure team has resources to support a technology infrastructure (network and devices) that is reliable and available during school hours.
    
  • Make technology decisions for schools that are cost-effective and align with Summit's academic model and school needs.
    
  • Manage Summit's websites, social media accounts access, and DevOps.
    
  • Partner with the facilities and operations teams to project manage capital improvement and building envelope upgrades as needed.
    
  • Lead adoption and evolution of enterprise software across the organization (including Google Education Suite, Single-Sign on, and Helpdesk ticketing system) as tools to improve organizational productivity and decrease friction.
    
    Information Security
    
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    • Provide organizational leadership on information security: define information security priorities and strategy for the organization, and lead execution of information security priorities.
      
    • Identify and define tools and processes to address cyber security incidents particular to the K-12 environment such as content filtering and cyberbullying.
      
    • Monitor changes to county, state, and federal technology guidelines (i.e. FERPA, CIPA); manage and maintain compliance, communications, and policies for both the Home Office and School Sites.
      
      Budget and Vendor Management
      
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      • Manage home office team budget and 11 schools site technology budgets.
        
      • Negotiate with vendors and facilitate RFP processes to provide cost-effective technology to schools.
        
      • Manage eRate cycles and related funding requirements (i.e. asset tagging).
        
        School Partnership
        
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        • Plan, manage, and execute cross-functional, special projects related to technology.
          
        • Collect feedback and seek opportunities for continuous improvement.
          
        • Partner with School Leaders to train, coach and support school-based operations staff.
          
        • Plan and facilitate effective meetings and trainings for DOOs, ops team members, and other stakeholders.
          
          What You Need:
          Key Qualities and Skills
          
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          • Commitment to uphold Summit's values, belief that all children deserve a rigorous and equitable education that prepares them for college and for life
            
          • Bachelor's Degree (an MBA is preferred but not required)
            
          • 5-10 Years in managing K-12 technology teams
            
          • Proficiency in Google Platforms, including Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides.
            
          • Clear TB test and background check
            
            Who You Are:
            About You
            
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            • You maintain highexpectations for all students and believe all students can find success in school, college, and life.
              
            • You thrivewhilecollaborating and are excited to work with your colleagues. You find positivity in shared successes.
              
            • You're deeply dedicatedtosocialjustice and feel motivated by the challenge and impact of working in a heterogeneous community and closing the achievement gap.
              
            • You share our vision to reimagine what schools should be and are excited to make an impact on the public education landscape.
              
            • You are positive and resilient in the face of big challenges.
              
            • You possess strong people management skills, with the ability to motivate, inspire, develop, and collaborate with a diverse group of teachers, leaders, staff members, and community members.
              
            • You have an ability to apply honest, actionable, and timely feedback that results in improved performance.
              
            • You are empatheticandculturallycompetent. You're open to having hard conversations.
              
            • You thrive in innovative environments and are comfortable with the ambiguity that can come with a dynamic and progressive workplace.
              
            • You're committedtocontinuousimprovement, see feedback as a positive, and have a growth mindset.
              
            • Ability to plan and facilitate very effective meetings, and bring projects to successful completion, on time.
              
            • Strong attention to detail, and precision and accuracy.
              
            • Strong bias toward systems and processes. Abhors inefficiency; always seeking to streamline, automate and/or eliminate; has eye for scalability and sustainability.
              
            • Strong time and project management skills. Can lead projects start to end; is self-directed; demonstrates flexibility and adaptability; can prioritize based on importance/urgency; can convene and lead cross functional. teams to complete specific projects on defined timelines.
              
            • Strong relationship building skills. Can effectively communicate verbally and in writing with diverse stakeholders including school leaders, operations staff and home office team colleagues; shows empathy; demonstrates influence; is veritable team player; can give and receive honest, actionable and timely feedback.
              
            • Strong analytical skills and ability to analyze risk. Enjoys problem-solving; uses data to drive decision-making; is obsessed with details; sweats the small stuff.
              
              What you get:
              In addition to joining a highly motivated team and engaging in meaningful work, you'll have access to a comprehensive suite of benefits including a retirement plan, unlimited "take what you need" PTO policy, 12 paid holidays, and 3 weeks of organization-wide closures during the year. You and your dependents will have access to multiple health, dental, and vision plans at 25% cost (we cover the other 75%) and employee life and disability insurance at no cost. Our compensation policy strives to be equitable and transparent. The salary for this position starts at $115,322 and goes up to $151,756 commensurate with experience and qualifications.
              Summit is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly intertwined with education. We are ALL better when we are able to bring our whole selves to work and honor each other's voices across identities, cultural backgrounds, and life experiences. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals who are members of historically marginalized communities. Spanish language proficiency is a plus.
              To see Summit Public Schools' full non-discrimination statement as it relates to students and parents along with designated compliance coordinators for each school, seeand. To see Summit Public Schools' full non-discrimination statement as it relates to employees, see hand.

Keywords: Summit Public Schools, Redwood City , Director of Technology, IT / Software / Systems , Redwood City, California