Director, Networks and Operations

Responsible for planning and directing a university enterprise infrastructure operation, including an effective monitored campus backbone network, wide area network serving on- and off-campus programs, computing center operations and VoIP based unified communications services.

The role of this position is to understand and act upon network and operation goals, concepts, and projects, serving as a point of contact and increasing the visibility and effectiveness of IS throughout the university community. The duties, specific tasks or combination of tasks, are to be performed in a professional and efficient manner incorporating both personal integrity and mutual respect.

Job Duties 

• Provide direction, vision and guidance for Networks and Operations in support of university strategies; participate in IS governance activities with key clients and technology users to facilitate business requirements and communicate needs.
• Understand and act upon client strategic goals, concepts, and projects; promote Network and Operations as a technology partner to increase the visibility and effectiveness of IS throughout the University community.
• Develop policies and procedures to reduce university risks.
• Serve as a key member of the IS team to translate and advocate for client needs, outreach, and provide excellence in service delivery.
• Oversee information technology initiatives, and interact with staff and coordinate with other IS groups.
• Ensure that university initiatives and strategic goals are represented through the enterprise infrastructure.
• Remain abreast of current and emerging industry trends and best practices; identify opportunities for operational efficiencies and make recommendations for improvements.
• Assist in development and maintenance of annual budgets and management of expenses. Identify upcoming computing requirements and needs and prepare funding requests/proposals.
• Manage operating budgets and expenses.
• Participate in RFP processes related to IS improvements.
• Establish and maintain relationships with vendors to foster outreach and collaboration. Identify opportunities for development of solutions to aid and support client needs by leveraging implemented technologies.
• Oversee and manage hardware and software contract needs in support of the computing enterprise infrastructure. These include contracts with hardware and software vendors.
• Develop policies and procedures surrounding administrative system and the respective data.
• Collaborate and assist Project Management and Security Services with projects; participate in task groups as needed.
• Updates to the Security plan and the Disaster Recovery plan require interaction with state agencies in Olympia like DIS.
• Annually complete a minimum of 40 hours training or education on current or emerging technology with an additional 16 hours in leadership training, through trade magazines, manuals, seminars and courses. Assists in training staff.

Supervisor Duties:

• Direct the work efforts for the network staff responsible for planning, designing, installing, and maintaining all aspects of the university's technical infrastructure that include the backbone architecture, enterprise fiber optic network, wide area networks, local area networks, and the data center.
• Supervise staff within the unit by assigning/scheduling work, approving leave, training staff, review work assignments, develop performance expectations and conduct formal performance evaluations.
• Actively engages in recruitment and hiring new employees;
• Clearly defines performance expectations, ensure accountability, and provides ongoing informal feedback, coaching, and mentoring.
• Ensures employees have necessary resources;
• Oversees and directs the work of staff; serves as mentor, coach and leader, and resolves complaints or issues;
• Promotes professional development opportunities;
• Develops and fosters supportive working relationships, motivation and engagement;
• Communicates information to staff on an ongoing basis to influence staff engagement and to be a part of a larger community;
• Takes corrective action in a timely manner;
• Recognizes and rewards employees for good performance;
• Adjusts leadership style as needed to achieve results;
• Recognizes value of and promotes diverse workforce. Values and encourages diverse perspectives, creativity and teamwork
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or related field.
• Extensive experience with data communications networks at an enterprise level, client server technology, computer center operations, systems programming projects, network engineering projects, network architecture, and relational data bases. 
• A minimum of five years' experience supervising technical staff in an enterprise environment.
• OR applicable combination of education and/or experience which demonstrates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in information systems management or other related field.
• Verifiable and demonstrated project management experience for medium to large size technology-centric implementations.
• Working knowledge and experience in the policy-driven and regulatory environment of information technology in higher education, or similar environment.

Competencies

• Accountability/Dependability: Accepts responsibility for quality of own work; acknowledges and corrects mistakes. Shows up on time, meets standards, deadlines and work schedules.
• Judgement: Makes timely, informed decisions. Analyzes options and determines appropriate course of action.
• Teamwork: Promotes cooperation and mutual support to achieve goals. Encourages participation and mutual support.
• Adaptability/Flexibility: Responds positively to changing business needs and responsibilities. Adapts approach and methods to achieve results; recovers quickly from setbacks and finds alternatives.
• Commitment to Diversity: Recognizes the value of diversity and helps create environment that supports and embraces diversity.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and implement cultural change related to technology/systems.
• Ability to recognize emerging technologies and their impact on organizational business process related to network operations, technology, systems and business goals.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage diverse team structures and roles.
• Experience in interpreting and effectively applying federal and state laws and regulations to organizational operations and policies.
• Knowledge of contemporary hardware, software, and network architectures.
• Strong technical background in systems and networking.
• Ability to plan, design, develop and manage integrated security solutions to organizational requirements.
• Ability to present ideas in a user-friendly language to an audience with varying technical understanding.
• Clearly demonstrated strong organizational, analytical, interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
• Clearly demonstrated strong customer service orientation.

Pay, Benefits, & Work Schedule

Salary : $105,000 - $115,000 annually 

Schedule/Appointment: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm (1 hour lunch)

Working Conditions: Work is performed in an indoor office setting with frequent in-person interactions. It is essential to be able to remain at a desk/computer work station for prolonged periods of time, perform extensive data entry and other computer-related tasks and create/maintain filing systems for departmental records. Some evening or weekend work and/or occasional travel may be required.