The Hill School Mission: The Hill School prepares young people from across the country and around the world for college, careers, and life. Within a family school environment and a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, we challenge our young people to work hard; think and reason; be fulfilled; serve the common good; and be prepared to lead as citizens of the world, uniquely guided by our motto, "Whatsoever Things Are True."
Position Summary
The Director of Information Technology Services (ITS) assumes overall responsibility for leading and managing the ITS department consisting of several professionals, supervising all personnel, and leading all efforts to ensure that information technology is effective for all constituents, including students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees. Working closely with other community leaders and the broader faculty and staff, the Director of ITS will be responsible for proactively maintaining, developing, and implementing technology infrastructure that support the highest quality teaching and learning, and enhancing community life.
Qualifications
A candidate would ideally have at least 15 years of experience serving in professional information technology settings, a significant portion of which is in a leadership capacity. Direct experience in an educational setting is not required, though it is ideal. A bachelor's degree is required; a master's degree is preferred. Relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, PMP, CISSP, or CISM) are preferred.
An effective candidate will need to have superior people and management skills, know how to motivate and lead a team, understand and collaborate with the different constituencies of a residential community of over 800 people, and possess the technical knowledge and relevant hard skills to maintain and improve the School's existing platform. This role presents an opportunity to create and implement an innovative vision for how information technology will optimize teacher instruction student learning in the present and future. Effective candidates will possess skill and experience in project management, network facilitation, and broader network integration.
Responsibilities
Provide leadership and oversight on all technology integration services used across departments, including learning management systems, information databases, etc. These programs include, but are not limited to: Veracross, Canvas, Slate, Blackbaud, Reach, etc.
Develop and maintain the School's databases, and internal and external networks.
Collaboratively develop, maintain, and execute a technology plan to include strategies on effective integration of Artificial Intelligence prominently.
Responsible for developing a strategy and maintaining compliance around cybersecurity framework standards (e.g., NIST, COBIT) and data security for all technology resources.
Strategically provide current, data-driven studies and analyses relating to ITS processes to various School constituencies, including School leadership and Board of Trustees.
Oversee ITS customer service to our students, faculty, staff, parents, and administrators for their technology needs that arise throughout the School's calendar.
Manage the personnel of the ITS department, including oversight on hiring, development, and evaluation in accordance with School practices in these areas.
Strategically manage the School's ITS operating and capital budgets, in direct consultation with the CFO.
Oversee all related training of the School's community members around information technology.
Collaborate with community leaders to bring appropriate support and vision for how information technology can support the highest quality teaching and learning experiences, in and out of the traditional classroom setting.
Consistently seek opportunities to leverage information technology to streamline campus workflow, reduce administrative costs, and enhance teaching and learning.
Participate in appropriate national, regional, and local professional consortiums and meetings of information technology professionals.
Maintain an inventory of the School's information technology resources.
Professional Expectations
Actively support the mission and vision of The Hill School in a positive and professional manner.
Work as a dynamic team member in a professional collaborative environment.
Prioritize effective partnerships between ITS and all other departments at The Hill School.
Positive, energetic, and extremely organized to thrive in a fast-paced environment while collaborating closely with students and colleagues.
Willingness to manage numerous priorities and have the ability to switch from a variety of roles.
Communicate effectively and
with empathy in working with all constituencies.
Approach all communications promptly, thoroughly, and thoughtfully.
Willingness to be available and flexible in order to meet the needs of a school and residential community.
Emphatically prioritize specific initiatives and philosophies that actively promote integrity, inclusion, and belonging for all human beings at The Hill School and across the world.
Position is contingent upon successful completion of certain background checks, including criminal history background checks, fingerprint-based background checks, reference checks, employment history checks, and educational background checks, upon hire and during the course of your employment, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with the School's policies regarding employment eligibility.
A candidate would ideally have at least 15 years of experience serving in professional information technology settings, a significant portion of which is in a leadership capacity. Direct experience in an educational setting is not required, though it is ideal. A bachelor's degree is required; a master's degree is preferred. Relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, PMP, CISSP, or CISM) are preferred.
Since its founding in 1851 and for 168 years, The Hill School has provided a traditional liberal arts education to its students. Although The Hill’s curriculum continues to evolve, we have never strayed very far from a proven, rigorous blend of humanities, classics and modern languages, social sciences, mathematics, science, and the arts. For our students, we have prioritized broad knowledge in our steadfast belief that this comprehensive foundation best prepares students for “college, careers, and life.”
The Hill School also has begun implementing an ambitious STEM curriculum, which includes one of the most extensive secondary school engineering programs in the nation. We have bolstered our fine arts programs with courses in digital media, video production, design technology, rapid prototyping and fabrication, and design thinking. And, we are offering pre-professional, co-curricular programs in business and entrepreneurship.
Over the coming years, we will continue to affirm what we already do very well while honing curricular and co-curricular programs such as leadership training, service learning, experiential education, and interdisciplinary studies. We will find improve...d ways to teach all Hill students 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and leading, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing data, and curiosity and imagination. We are working with our Faculty and Staff to become both the most traditional and the most innovative boarding school in the country, simultaneously.
The Hill was founded as The Family Boarding School and when you visit campus, you might note that we are still a bit traditional, despite our emphasis on innovation! We follow a dress code, our students regularly sit down with faculty members for family-style meals, we gather twice a week at Chapel for thoughtful reflection; many of our students study Latin and Greek; and we pride ourselves on a student-written Honor Code and demanding code of conduct. We enjoy historic and blossoming traditions such as 130-year-old athletics rivalries, revered a cappella vocal groups, school-wide service projects, community team-building events, small group meetings with caring faculty advisers, and a very special jump in the Dell pond after graduation!
Over the next three to five years, the Hill School is set to achieve several accomplishments sure to leave their mark on the School’s history. The School’s Advancement Office is a 25 person-strong organization driven to achieve the goals set forth in the current “Strength of All” capital campaign which is entering its fourth year of the five- to seven-year campaign. The capital campaign will fund many efforts, including a significant increase in our financial aid and faculty compensation endowment. In 2018-2019, we expanded the seating capacity of our historic dining hall and completely renovated our food service and preparation areas used by our food service contractor, Sodexo. In 2019-2020, the School will construct the Quadrivium Center (a STEM facility) where our science, engineering, computer science and mathematics classes will be housed. The School has developed property adjacent to our main campus by recently erecting beautiful new homes for our faculty in our East Faculty Village. This Faculty Housing expansion is likely to continue with additional property available for housing construction to ensure The Hill School offers the very best of this important housing benefit to our residential faculty. One of our most ambitious goals is to be a driving force in the economic revitalization of Pottstown and our immediate neighborhood and through our Hobart’s Run Community Development program and participation in Pottstown CARES, we are finding traction in ways both small and large.