Chief IT Architect

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Responsibilities

Technology Architecture and Strategy: Builds and maintains a framework for developing technology solutions that meet the university’s technology requirements and the needs of students, faculty and staff.

• Organizes and leads skill development and educational sessions for OTS staff on emerging technologies

• Designs secure technology solutions based on industry standards and best practices

• Stays abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies

• Evaluates and recommends new products and technologies

• Documents architectural components and systems

• Assesses technical concerns, ideas, and suggestions

• Participates as an expert on UBalt and USM workgroups regarding cloud services, system architecture issues, and technology solution strategies

Analysis of University IT Needs and Solutions: Coordinates review, design, and implementation resulting in effective solutions that meet the needs and expectations of customers.

• Reviews and provides feedback on all proposed technology purchases requested by the University community to that they meet UBalt’s established standards and methodologies, and advising for any compliance considerations

• Documents university needs in order to define system requirements and specifications

• Assesses benefit of architectural alternatives, and recommends solutions that provide the best solution for the university

• Works with the community, external vendors, senior technical staff, peers in the university System of Maryland and other higher education institutions to obtain functional requirements, best practices and technology trends

• Analyzes the scope and impact of proposed systems and integrations

• Evaluates hardware and software, and suggests integration methods

• Communicates system requirements to development teams

• Provides technical leadership and support to implementation teams

IT Procurement review: Completes pre-procurement reviews of software, subscriptions that are submitted to the IT procurement review process.

• Performs pre-procurement reviews of software, ensuring appropriate and effective use of technology and that it meets UBalt’s established framework and methodologies

• Review procurements for compatibility with both USM and institutional Information Technology security and architecture policies and standards.

Change Management for Technology: Establishes and oversees a program to review, coordinate and communicate IT changes resulting in a stable technology environment with no unplanned or unexpected impacts to the user community.

• Organizes and leads the university’s IT Change Control Board (CCB)

• Ensures that all technology change requests follow approved change control procedures, and are accurately described and recorded

• Reviews proposed technology changes for adherence to university architectural standards and policies, and the impact to the university community

• Facilitates the discussion of proposed changes when necessary

• Mentors team members regarding the role of change management within the organization and the protocols and procedures employed

IT Portfolio Management: Maintains an inventory of IT resources that supports data-driven decision making.

• Maintains a configuration management database (CMDB) to assist in making data driven decisions

• Participates in the project management process by providing initial technical reviews

• Serves as a project team member on technology related projects

• Provides analysis and reporting of the information relevant to university projects, initiatives, and compliance

• Ensures CMDB accuracy by meeting with OTS managers twice per year and validating against the Office of Procurement records

• Maintains accurate documentation of the current state of the IT environment

Information Security: Collaborates with the information technology security staff to develop, document and implement a security architecture and policy that supports the appropriate confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and information technology systems.

• Incorporates security architecture into enterprise architecture planning and design

• Provides guidance to the IT security staff by reviewing USM security policies for impact to university technology architecture

• Provides guidance to staff pertaining to security issues

• Provides backup support for information security tasks as necessary

• Provides support for audit requirements and audit processes as necessary

Minimum Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems or related field

Experience:

• Five years of experience designing information and system architecture

• Understanding of IT infrastructure and enterprise architectures

• Knowledge of systems including network design and management, and server infrastructure

Preferred Qualifications:

Education: Master’s degree in computer science, IT engineering, or related field/discipline that informs and supports position responsibilities and duties

Experience:

• Seven years of experience designing information and system architecture

• Knowledge of systems including network design and management, server infrastructure, application and integration architectures, and enterprise data management paradigms

• Advanced understanding of IT infrastructure and enterprise architectures

• Experience with higher education IT systems

• Familiarity with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Analytical Skills

• Ability to determine big-picture implications from basic specifications

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex requirements into forward-thinking functional architecture

• Ability to be involved in simultaneous projects to assure they are delivered on-time and meet customer requirements

• Ability to perform cost-benefit analyses of alternatives and assess risk

• Ability to understand the legislative, regulatory, policy and procedure requirements regarding enterprise architecture and security, and to apply that knowledge to the university’s systems

Organizational Skills

• Provides input for the development of project plans including tasks, timelines and dependencies

• Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational skills

• Ability to track and document requirements and other information between multiple parties

• Ability to schedule and prioritize tasks to meet project deadlines

• Ability to work on multiple projects concurrently

• Ability to develop, adopt, and implement technical standards, as well as integrate industry standards

Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent communication skills

• Demonstrated ability to successfully interact with multiple stakeholders with divergent interests to obtain common goals and objectives

• Ability to work with clients (end users, business unit management, and senior management) in changing business processes, training, defining requirements, and managing issues to assure architecture policies are followed

• Ability to effectively communicate with all levels of management, make technical presentations in lay terms and fully inform management of pertinent issues and project progress

• Ability to communicate effectively with all levels of personnel on complex technical issues to obtain the best outcome

Technical Skills

• Knowledge and understanding of software engineering principles and programming languages

• Ability to problem solve complex IT issues

• Knowledge of the following technologies:

• Cloud services, technology and infrastructure

• Enterprise architecture methodologies such as Zachman and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF)

• Networking protocols and frameworks

• Routing, switching, and wireless networking

• Application gateways, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention

• Communications technology

• Security incident and event management (SIEM)

• Security integration approaches and technologies including federation

• Encryption technology

• Identity and related lifecycle management

• Desktop and server operating systems

• Database management

• Enterprise software applications, including ERP and CRM systems

We offer a competitive benefits package, including health, life, prescription, and dental plans, tuition remission benefits, paid leave (22 days of annual, 15 days of sick, 3 days of personal, and 14-15 holidays) and retirement plans with employer contributions. You can see more details on our benefits here.

Additional Job Information:

The University of Baltimore ("UBalt" or "University") does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, race, religion, age, disability, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other legally protected characteristics in its programs, activities or employment practices. UBalt is an Equal Opportunity/ADA Compliant Employer & Title IX Institution.

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