Job Description
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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.
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.
Military Crosswalk: https://hr.sao.texas.gov/Compensation/MilitaryCrosswalk/MOSC_ProgramManagement.pdf
Required Minimum Education and Experience:
Bachelor's degree from an accredited fouryear college or university with major coursework in computer science, information systems, computer engineering, or a related field.
Ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional experience in information technology, business operations, or a related field.
Six (6) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in information technology, including responsibility for leading technical teams.
Additional related work experience may substitute for the required education on a yearforyear basis.
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.
Experien
