The Technical Lead, Administrative Computing is responsible for providing deep technical leadership, operational expertise, and hands-on support for the university's core Enterprise Resource Planning system, Ellucian Colleague, and tightly coupled administrative applications.
This is a senior hands-on technical role within a legacy, highly customized ERP environment, reporting to the Deputy CIO for Enterprise Applications. The position serves as the university's primary technical expert for Colleague operations, production support, upgrades, troubleshooting, and customization analysis in a mission-critical higher education environment.
The environment includes a large and complex footprint of Colleague customizations (18,000+ objects/processes), requiring strong technical depth, disciplined change control, and extensive experience supporting legacy ERP ecosystems.
In addition to operational responsibilities, the role provides technical leadership for ERP readiness and rationalization efforts in preparation for potential future modernization initiatives, including data cleanup, customization inventorying, and dependency analysis in support of possible transition to a SaaS ERP platform (e.g., Ellucian Banner SaaS). This role focuses on technical analysis, engineering leadership, and operational readiness rather than formal project or personnel management.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Ellucian Colleague Operations & Production Stability (25%)
- Provide technical leadership for day-to-day operations and stability of Ellucian Colleague ERP
- Ensure system uptime, performance, batch processing integrity, and data reliability
- Support production operations in a high-complexity, legacy ERP environment
- Serve as senior technical lead for resolution of high-impact ERP incidents and recurring system failures
- Support disciplined operational controls, standards, and change management practices
- Analyze system behavior and operational trends to improve platform reliability and resiliency
- ERP Technical Leadership & Solution Analysis (20%)
- Intake, evaluate, and analyze ERP enhancement and production support requests
- Perform deep technical and functional analysis of Colleague-related issues
- Develop implementation approaches, technical impact analysis, and effort estimates
- Provide technical guidance and coordination for development activities performed internally or through contracted resources
- Support prioritization efforts through technical analysis and operational impact assessment
- Document solution approaches, technical dependencies, and operational considerations
- ERP Upgrades, Releases & Controlled Change Execution (15-20%)
- Provide technical leadership for planning and execution of Colleague upgrades, patches, and maintenance releases
- Coordinate technical testing, validation, and controlled production deployments
- Support disciplined change management practices across technical and functional teams
- Mitigate operational risk during production changes and maintenance activities
- Ensure upgrades and releases do not destabilize highly customized ERP configurations
- Validate compatibility of customizations, integrations, and batch processes during upgrade cycles
- ERP Customization Rationalization & Modernization Readiness (15-20%)
- Perform and coordinate structured technical analysis of 18,000+ Colleague customizations and extensions
- Identify, classify, and document customizations by function, risk, operational dependency, and business value
- Partner with stakeholders to evaluate whether customizations should be retained, redesigned, retired, or replaced
- Perform data quality assessment and support targeted data cleanup initiatives
- Document system dependencies, integration points, and technical debt exposure
- Support ERP modernization readiness activities and SaaS migration preparation efforts
- Produce accurate current-state inventory and dependency mapping for institutional planning and decision-making
- Production Support & Escalation Management (10%)
- Serve as senior technical escalation resource for ERP production issues and critical incidents
- Ensure timely troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and long-term corrective actions
- Partner with support teams to facilitate ERP-related issue resolution and operational continuity
- Support mission-critical institutional operations dependent on ERP system availability and reliability
- Vendor & Technical Coordination (5%)
- Serve as primary technical liaison with Ellucian support and product teams
- Coordinate technical evaluation of patches, fixes, upgrades, and vendor recommendations
- Assess vendor guidance against local customization complexity and operational constraints
- Interpret vendor releases and technical advisories within the context of a highly modified ERP environment
- ERP Lifecycle & Technical Planning Support (5%)
- Provide technical input into ERP lifecycle planning and modernization readiness activities
- Support technical estimation and operational impact analysis related to upgrades, maintenance, and technical debt remediation
- Assist leadership with planning considerations related to ERP sustainability and future-state transition readiness
- Governance & Institutional Engagement (10%)
- Participate in ERP governance and enterprise application decision forums
- Provide technical input into prioritization, sequencing, operational risk, and dependency decisions
- Collaborate with academic and administrative stakeholders regarding ERP constraints, capabilities, and operational impacts
- Support alignment between ERP operations and institutional continuity requirements
- Professional Depth & System Mastery (5%)
- Maintain deep, hands-on expertise in Ellucian Colleague ERP (required and non-substitutable)
- Stay current on Colleague architecture, administrative modules, batch processing, and legacy operational support patterns
- Develop advanced understanding of ERP technical debt, modernization constraints, and SaaS transition considerations
- Serve as institutional subject matter expert for complex Colleague operational and technical issues
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related technical field required
- Equivalent combination of education and direct Colleague ERP experience considered only in exceptional cases
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum 5+ years direct hands-on experience supporting Ellucian Colleague ERP (REQUIRED)
- Experience must include production support and system administration responsibilities in Colleague environments
- Demonstrated experience serving as a senior technical lead or subject matter expert within ERP support environments
- Demonstrated experience supporting highly customized Colleague environments at scale
- Direct experience with ERP upgrades, patching cycles, and production release management
- Higher education ERP environment experience strongly preferred
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES
Candidates must demonstrate:
- Deep operational expertise in Ellucian Colleague ERP architecture and behavior under customization load
- Proven ability to troubleshoot and stabilize complex production ERP environments with minimal vendor dependency
- Experience supporting significant ERP technical debt and customization sprawl
- Strong ability to analyze system dependencies across modules, integrations, and batch processes
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills within high-accountability operational environments
- Excellent communication skills across technical, functional, and executive stakeholders
- Demonstrated discipline in change control, operational risk management, and production support practices
- Ability to operate independently while collaborating across cross-functional teams
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
- Ellucian Colleague experience required (hands-on, not advisory or peripheral)
- Deep familiarity with Colleague administrative modules, integrations, and batch processing architecture
- Experience troubleshooting ERP production environments and resolving complex operational issues
- Experience working with legacy database structures and data extraction/cleanup activities
- ITSM and ticketing system experience required
- Scripting, automation, or systems integration experience strongly preferred
- Experience analyzing ERP dependencies and customization impacts preferred
TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP
- Provides technical leadership and guidance to ERP support personnel, developers, contractors, and cross-functional teams
- Serves as senior technical escalation resource for complex ERP operational issues
- Coordinates technical activities across operational support and ERP enhancement efforts
- Contributes technical expertise to institutional ERP planning and operational decision-making
- Reports to Deputy CIO, Enterprise Applications
RESOURCE & PLANNING SUPPORT
- Provides technical input into ERP operational planning, lifecycle considerations, and modernization readiness efforts
- Assists leadership with technical estimation and operational impact analysis related to ERP initiatives
- Supports operational planning activities associated with ERP sustainability and technical debt remediation
WORK ENVIRONMENT
- High-stability production ERP environment with minimal tolerance for downtime
- Standard office setting
- Occasional off-hours support required during upgrades, maintenance activities, or critical incidents
DECISION-MAKING ENVIRONMENT
- Provides senior technical judgment and guidance for ERP operational stability and production support activities
- Exercises independent technical decision-making within established operational and security standards
- Works under general direction of the Deputy CIO, Enterprise Applications
INTERPERSONAL ENVIRONMENT
- IT leadership and ERP technical teams
- Administrative and academic system users
- Ellucian vendor support and technical teams
- Enterprise governance and institutional decision-making bodies
The hiring salary range for this position is $110,000.00 - $120,000.00. The hiring salary range above represents the University's good faith estimate at the time of posting.
