Project Director, Office Of The Cio (Ocio)

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600+ schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.
The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) works to build the capacity of schools to use information and technology, maintain network infrastructure, security standards, and support other departments to meet district goals. ITS provides innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of education for students, reduce the administrative burden on educators, facilitate parent interaction, increase community engagement, and support CPS' mission of transparency by focusing on the ease and equity of access to information.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Chief Information Technology Officer (CIO), the Project Director is responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership to the OCIO, and serving as a liaison between the CIO and other key stakeholders. This role will also lead the development and implementation of programs, initiatives, and special CEO-mandated projects that align with the organization's information technology and services strategy.
The Project Director has budgetary responsibility for expenditures for the ITS CIO Projects Portfolio; develops and provides budget guidance for ITS expenditures, and provides organization cash flow projections. Areas of responsibility include working daily with stakeholders from the Office of the CEO, Office of the CEdO, Office of the COO, IT Business Partnership & Innovation, Project Portfolio Management, ITS Solutions Delivery, ITS people managers, Talent HR Business Partnership, and the ITS leadership team.
The Project Director will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the CIO and other IT leaders to develop and implement the overall information technology and services strategic plan; ensure that the Office of the CIO operates effectively and efficiently, and that the information technology needs of the organization are met.
• Serve as a liaison between the CIO and other key stakeholders, including senior leaders, business units, and external partners, and drive the implementation of effective demand management processes to ensure that IT resources are aligned with the needs of the business.
• Provide strategic direction and leadership for the Office of the CIO, including working with the PMO, Business Operations, Vendor Management Office, Finance, Business Partnership Management, Quality Management and the IT Operating Model.
• Lead the development and implementation of special programs, initiatives, and projects that align with the organization's information technology strategy, to include execution performance, optimal tracking of KPIs, and SLO to ensure delivery against enterprise goals and priorities.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the Office of the CIO and across the organization, staying current on industry trends and developments in information technology and make recommendations for changes and improvements as necessary.
• Plans, leads, and delivers ITS leadership team weekly agendas, action items reports, quarterly strategic planning workshops, monthly people manager's meetings, monthly employee town hall meetings, annual town hall meetings, employee engagement committees, employee recognition programs, employee retention programs, and compliance reports for RISE performance reviews, mandatory training, annual goals-setting, talent reviews, succession planning, and budget variance gaps.
• Establish strong partnerships with ITS Top 20 strategic technology vendors to ensure alignment and execution of critical priorities that support CPS 5-year strategic plans and the ITS 5-year strategic plan.
• Recruit, onboard, and provide direction, guidance, and strong leadership and performance. management to the OCIO Project Managers to ensure robust learning and career development consistent with the CPS values and mission; foster collaboration and effective integration of efforts with division-wide initiatives.
• Other duties and workstreams as assigned.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Project Director, Office of the CIO must possess the following qualifications:
Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field from an accredited college or university.
• Master's degree in a relevant field from an accredited college or university, preferred.
• Relevant professional certifications/designations such as Project Management Professional (PMP) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), preferred.

Experience Required:

• Minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional leadership experience as an IT Chief of Staff, IT Business Relationship Management, IT Project Management, or IT Service Delivery, including the following, is required:
• Minimum of eight (8) years of experience leading/managing one or more of the above functions, including experience designing, developing and leading a medium (ex: 10 or more) team of employees spanning multiple levels, including contractors, and management-level roles.
• Experience in Senior-level IT business management, business account management, and business functional experience at a large, public or private sector institution similar in size and complexity to Chicago Public Schools, preferred.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of the experience above, strongly preferred.

Other Requirements:

• Local and Domestic travel (E.g., traveling to different CPS locations, attending conferences with IT leaders, etc.) required up to 10%.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to facilitate presentations to technical and non-technical audiences.
• High levels of IT expertise, integrity, honesty, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions.
• Ability to work in collaboration with the ITS leadership team to understand and adhere to CPS ITS strategies, standards, and policies.
• Ability to develop deep knowledge of the District's business units and functions, building both horizontal and vertical relationships with business departments and IT leaders that deliver business impact.
• Strong leadership and team building skills, e.g. ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success.
• Expertise in leadership development; ability to coach directors and managers toward excellence and build the capacity of technical teams.
• Ability to contribute to the people priorities and objectives regarding people leader effectiveness, employee engagement, and enabling others to perform.
• Ability to articulate a vision, set high standards, and effectively guide teams and stakeholders in the realization of expectations set.
• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment.
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management and organizational development.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support organizational success.
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps.
• Capable of following Company policies and practices while representing CPS in an ethical and professional manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, vendors, contractors, suppliers, students, and the Chicago community.
• Skilled in the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace.

Conditions of Employment
As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. "Up-to-date" on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.