Year Up has partnered with the CIO Search Group for the Chief Information Officer search. Please express interest by submitting your cover letter and resume to Phil Schneidermeyer (phil@ciosearchgroup.com) via email.

OVERVIEW:

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Chief Information Officer (CIO) drives Year Up’s information technology and digital strategy to close the Opportunity Divide. Year Up’s technology strategy is built around the following components: 

1. Vision to close the Opportunity Divide with technology-enabled solutions

2. Mission to apply leading-edge technology expertise and deliver high-quality digital experiences in order to drive Year Up outcomes and transform its impact

3. Goals to improve user engagement and experience, staff productivity, return on investment and make it easy for our stakeholders to connect and work with us

4. Strategy to continually enhance Year Up’s ability to achieve outcomes

5. Operating model to execute with human-centered design, an innovation lens, and agile product management

The CIO serves as a key member of the Executive Team, defining and delivering IT strategy and capabilities across the organization. In this role, the CIO cultivates a diverse, high performing team who partners with leaders throughout the organization, plays an integral part in enabling Year Up to continue to evolve in a way that promotes best practices in diversity, equity and inclusion, and ensures we are the strongest community we can be as we strive for long-term growth and impact.  

In keeping with Year Up’s values, the CIO, like all members of staff, interacts with students as a mentor, group facilitator, or advocate, participating in creating and sustaining a positive educational environment.

In keeping with Year Up’s values, the CIO, like all members of staff, interacts with students as a mentor, group facilitator, or advocate, participating in creating and sustaining a positive educational environment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy & Roadmap

With strong commitment to key principles of usability, scalability, and sustainability, the CIO is accountable for strategic planning that demonstrates value through a roadmap aligned to Year Up’s strategy. They will ensure that initiatives are prioritized, operationalized, and continuously assessed for improvement:

• Run foundational business capabilities such as enterprise applications, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, security, and support services across the organization.
• Grow technology-enabled solutions and impact to serve students and alumni directly, such as centralized enrollment, enterprise operations, a learning management system, and Year Up’s external website.
• Transform by empowering others and changing systems to close the Opportunity Divide such as Year Up’s Talent Ecosystem.
• Execute a $12M annual budget with excellence in both the current environment and also in anticipation of future organizational needs.
• Increase cost efficiency as part of assessing vendor and service provider capabilities and value.
• Lead data gathering, analysis, and reporting for key metrics to identify high impact opportunities.

IT Operating Model

The CIO partners and collaborates across the Year Up enterprise to take the established operating model to the next level. They will ensure that the IT operating model is resourced and supported to meet current and future Year Up needs to facilitate both operational excellence and innovation and support multiple delivery channels and speeds:

• Progress Year Up’s human-centered design approach to further understand user perspectives and ensure that needs are effectively met. Year Up uses IBM’s Enterprise Design Thinking and IDEO methodologies as a standardized problem-solving approach.
• Formalize utilization of an innovation lens through IDEO principles and other tools to bring together what is (1) desirable from a human point of view with what is (2) technologically and organizationally feasible and (3) economically viable.
• Scale use of agile product management to execute in a way that focuses on achieving business outcomes. Year Up has adopted agile product management as a way to set technology strategy, create roadmaps, and encourage an adaptive approach to planning and implementation to integrate feedback and build technology-enabled solutions. 

Leadership & Entrepreneurship 

The CIO provides technology leadership and stewardship by actively engaging across the Year Up enterprise and building cross-functional relationships based on trust, partnership, and stakeholder collaboration in order to establish a One Year Up culture:

• Partner with senior leaders to represent Year Up with external stakeholders and constituency groups, including community, governmental, and private organizations.
• Fuse business and technology strategies by leveraging financial data, an understanding of markets, partnerships, and disruptive forces to determine an innovative organizational strategy.
• Lead the department’s vision, operating model, budgeting, talent and engagement strategy, and culture.
• Engage stakeholders to align with business needs/strategy and develop plans to address gaps in a sustainable way, creating a competitive advantage for Year Up (stakeholders include staff, students, alumni, corporate partners, donors, and other Year Up entities such as Year Up Professional Services - YUPRO).
• Enable inclusion and antiracist practices by deploying business processes and technology tools that support Year Up’s drive toward equity-centered outcomes.
• Serve as a role model for continuous learning and increase effectiveness through collaboration and improvements across all functions.

Team Management & Development

The CIO leads 35 team members across 5 key areas; business intelligence, digital experience, enterprise applications, architecture & security, enterprise operations, and infrastructure & support services:

• Lead a diverse, high-performance team, providing employees with opportunities to engage across the organization to achieve career and business goals.
• Build a knowledgeable IT culture where talent understands business drivers, customer expectations, and the external market.
• Cultivate an effective and trusted technology organization, combining strong technical competency with effective consulting and customer service skills in order to achieve IT’s vision, mission, goals, and strategy.
• Establish strong relationships with key functions and their leaders across the organization, instilling a detailed understanding of their issues, challenges, and opportunities across the IT team.
• Develop and maintain a succession plan that provides for continuity in the most critical IT positions.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

• Salary: Competitive and commensurate with relevant experience and skills.
• Benefits: Comprehensive healthcare options and dental coverage; 401(k) match for eligible participants.
• Vacation: Earn three weeks paid vacation in first year of employment; four weeks after initial year.
• Professional Development: Support available to all staff in achieving career objectives.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY:

Year Up actively engages individuals from all backgrounds. We are committed to embracing diversity within our organization because we firmly believe that diverse employee teams help us to achieve our best organizational outcomes and provide the most effective support to our young adults as we work to close the Opportunity Divide. We are deeply dedicated to creating and maintaining an inclusive and supportive work environment. Learn more about our commitment to diversity: http://www.yearup.org/about-us/careers/commitment-to-diversity/

As an equal opportunity employer, Year Up is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.