Director of Information Technology, Kersten Institute

Department
Crown Administrative Office
About the Department
As one of the first schools of social work in the United States, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice has shaped the field for more than 100 years. As part of the University of Chicago, the Crown Family School shares the University's core values and distinctive intellectual culture. Crown Family School faculty, staff, and students focus on identifying solutions to complex social problems through research, training, and direct community engagement. Guided by an interdisciplinary tradition, Crown Family School scholars conduct innovative research to address interconnected social challenges such as educational inequality, health disparities, crime and violence, poverty, and child and family welfare—working at multiple scales, from individual to policy-level interventions. More than 10,000 Crown Family School graduates in the US and globally hold leadership positions in academia, at nonprofits, in business, and at governmental agencies. The Crown Family School is the home of three academic centers. These include the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development, the Kersten Institute for Urban Education, and the Center for Climate, Health, and Society (CHAS). More information may be found at https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/.
Job Summary
The Director of Information Technology leads technology operations, information security, and research computing support for the Kersten Institute for Urban Education, a research institute whose units collect and analyze sensitive educational data on Chicago schools and students under data-use agreements with district and state partners.

Reporting to the Crown Senior IT Director with a dotted line to the Sr. Associate Dean of Administration, the Director is the technology leader for Kersten, combining hands-on technical execution with team oversight and research partnership. The Director is accountable for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Kersten data and for the systems and staff computing environment that support it. The Director is also a change agent for identifying and implementing technological advancements to streamline operations for Kersten employees, and identifying opportunities for adoption within the broader Crown technology landscape.

The role operates within Crown's overall IT structure and standards, while addressing the distinct technical and compliance requirements of Kersten’s data-intensive research environment. In collaboration with the Senior IT Director, the Director sets the direction for supporting the technical needs of Kersten employees and owns Kersten’s compliance posture with University policy and external regulatory obligations. The role will bridge efforts across the Kersten and Crown IT teams, increasing synergy for the overall Crown technology landscape.

The Director supervises one desktop support and two systems administration specialists, supporting over a hundred Kersten employees, including education researchers, practitioners, and affiliates across multiple projects and funding streams.

Categories of responsibilities and approximate percentages are as follows:

Team Leadership and Service Management (25%)
Information Security, Compliance, and Risk (25%)
Infrastructure, Endpoint, and Identity Management (20%)
Research Computing Partnership (15%)
Institutional Representation and Governance (10%)
Vendor, Licensing, and Budget Support (5%)

Responsibilities

- Manage the day-to-day operations and existing architecture for Kersten’s IT infrastructure, which includes on-premises servers and hypervisors, cloud accounts, virtual desktop infrastructure, database servers, and web application platforms hosting Kersten and project sites.
- Supervise Kersten’s technical specialists, who support systems administration, infrastructure and database administration, and provide desktop support, with accountability for hiring, onboarding, work assignment, performance management, and professional development.
- Set priorities across competing project and service demands, and maintain work-tracking and documentation systems, including issue templates, wikis, and operational runbooks.
- In collaboration with the Crown IT team and an aim to create synergies across team processes, establish and maintain standard processes for technical set up for new hires, device provisioning, and account lifecycle management, including technical components of employee offboarding.
- Function as the top point of escalation for the most complex technical issues, including systems administration, database administration, and network infrastructure, serving as a working technical lead.
- Serve as Kersten’s information security lead, complementing and/or maintaining synergy with Crown’s security framework and standards.
- Conduct Kersten’s annual security framework assessment and coordinate Kersten's response to University and external audit findings, in consultation with the Sr. IT Director.
- Administer the security training program across core, privileged, and research-user tiers for Kersten employees, while undertaking steps to consolidate the program for adoption across all of Crown.
- Direct incident response for endpoint detection alerts, vulnerability findings, and exposure events, including triage, remediation, and after-action documentation, updating the Sr. IT Director, when warranted.
- Review data security agreements and vendor security assessments for Kersten projects.
- Maintain controls appropriate to the Kersten’s data sensitivity, including endpoint encryption, privileged access management, backup and recovery, and vulnerability scanning.
- Stay abreast of emerging regulatory obligations affecting research and administrative systems, collaborating with the Sr. IT Director to translate them into unit-level action.
- Administer endpoint and identity management across a mixed Windows, macOS, and Linux environment.
- Evaluate capacity and update the Kersten IT continuity and disaster-recovery plans, including dependencies on data center facilities outside Kersten’s control.
- Coordinate with external web and application development vendors whose work runs on Kersten infrastructure.
- Set standards and oversee execution for the managed staff computing fleet across Windows, MacOS, and Linux, including enterprise mobility management, operating system and third-party patch management, configuration baselines, and hardware refresh cycles.
- Own identity and access administration, including group-based entitlement management, single sign-on integrations, and enterprise password management.
- Partner with Kersten research staff on computing needs for data collection, analysis, and dissemination, including secure handling of restricted datasets and support for statistical and survey platforms. Resolve escalated issues affecting Kersten research operations.
- Represent Kersten in Crown IT planning processes and the University’s IT Leadership Council and equivalent University-wide bodies, in partnership with the Sr. IT Director.
- Convene and chair Kersten’s Technology Leadership Committee, a standing forum with unit representatives for technology priorities, staffing changes, and policy decisions.
- Translate central initiatives - identity modernization, enterprise platform changes, AI governance - into Kersten planning, and in collaboration with the Crown IT team.
- Partner with the Sr. IT Director in development and implementation of acceptable-use guidance for emerging technologies, including agentic AI tooling, and serve as Kersten’s designated contact for University compliance inventories.
- Maintain working relationships with University IT organizations and external vendors relevant to Kersten’s research mission.
- Partner with the Sr. IT Director on infrastructure design and capital planning.
- Manage Kersten’s technology budget in coordination with the Sr. IT Director, including hardware procurement, annual software license renewals, recurring cloud and service charges, and equipment disposition.
- Evaluate, select, and manage vendors and service contracts.
- Prepare budget justifications and effort documentation for grant proposals and sponsored-project reporting.
- Manage employees by establishing annual performance goals, allocating resources, assessing annual performance, and determining individual merit, incentive, and/or promotional increases.
- Interprets University initiatives to create plans detailing the design, installation, modification, and operation of information systems.
- Prepares long- and short-range plans for application selection, software systems development, systems maintenance, production activities, and necessary support resources.
- Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.
Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field strongly preferred, or equivalent professional experience combined with an Associate’s degree.
- Advanced degree, or research experience sufficient to engage substantively with research staff on methods and data.

Experience:

- Seven or more years of progressively responsible information technology experience, including at least three years of direct supervisory responsibility for technical staff.

- Demonstrated ownership of an information security program, including risk assessment, incident response, and audit or assessment response.

- Experience managing technology budgets, vendor relationships, and software licensing.

- Experience in a higher education, research institute, or research computing environment.

- Experience handling restricted human-subjects or educational data under data-use agreements (FERPA, IRB protocols, district, or state data agreements).

- Familiarity with a recognized security framework (NIST 800-171, NIST CSF, or comparable).

- Experience in a federated IT environment where central and local IT share responsibility.

Preferred Competencies

- Experience introducing and implementing new technology/technological processes within a large organization.
- Proven ability to act as a change agent for new technology and process improvements.

- Hands-on competence across systems administration, endpoint management, and identity and access management in a mixed Windows, MacOS, and Linux environment.

- Demonstrated ability to translate policy and regulatory requirements into operational controls.

- Evidence of effective communication with non-technical senior stakeholders, and of working credibly with research or academic staff.
- Working knowledge of infrastructure-as-code, scripting, and API-driven administration.

Working Conditions

- Hybrid work schedule, on-site at the Hyde Park campus in Chicago.

Application Documents

●      Resume (required)

●      Cover Letter (required)

●      References (when asked)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.

When applying, the document(s) MUST  be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
Information Technology
Role Impact
People Manager
Scheduled Weekly Hours
40
Drug Test Required
No
Health Screen Required
No
Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No
Pay Rate Type
Salary
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FLSA Status
Exempt
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Pay Range
$140,000.00 - $155,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook .

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.   A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.   Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at:  http://securityreport.uchicago.edu . Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.