Position Summary

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is a high-level executive and business leader at UW-IT who is responsible for providing visionary leadership in developing and implementing innovative technology solutions. Reporting to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the CTO is responsible for executing institutional technology strategies that align with the university's mission and vision. While having a deep understanding of information system concepts and capabilities is crucial, the CTO must also be a business leader who can communicate effectively with other leaders, stakeholders, and end-users.

As a senior executive and leader, strong leadership skills are necessary to recruit, develop, and retain top talent. The CTO must also embrace and model organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) competencies. It is essential that the CTO understand the impact of technology on historically marginalized communities and ensure that technology solutions are inclusive and accessible to all members of the University community. The CTO must work to promote a culture of DEI within the infrastructure division and across the university, incorporating DEI principles into hiring, staff development, engagement, and decision-making processes. The CTO must also collaborate with other university leaders to ensure that technology solutions align with the university's DEI goals and values. Ultimately, the CTO must lead by example, modeling DEI principles in all aspects of their work and creating a culture of inclusivity and belonging within the team and across the University.

The CTO will collaborate closely with the CIO and other stakeholders to develop and implement a strategic technology roadmap that aligns with the University's mission and objectives. This involves identifying the most critical technology needs and opportunities and providing guidance on how to leverage emerging technologies to meet the University's goals. The CTO will work in partnership with the AVP for Research Computing to create and implement infrastructure capabilities and services to support the University’s extensive and diverse research portfolio. The CTO will work with other executives and stakeholders to ensure that the technology roadmap aligns with the overall university strategy, and that it enables the university to deliver an exceptional academic experience to students, faculty, researchers, and staff. The CTO will also be responsible for staying abreast of emerging technologies and trends, and for identifying opportunities to integrate new technologies into the University's technology ecosystem. Ultimately, the CTO's role is to lead the technology team in creating innovative solutions that enable the university to achieve its strategic objectives.

Leadership Agenda

• In partnership with other technology leaders, develop and implement a technology strategy that aligns with the university's mission and objectives.
• Lead infrastructure modernization, including hybrid multicloud, edge computing, containerization, and automated, programmable infrastructure.
• Partner with the AVP for Research Computing, the Associate Vice Provost for Research Cyberinfrastructure, and the research community to develop technology roadmaps to support the University’s research cyberinfrastructure needs.
• Serve as a key contributor to the technical direction, operational reliability, and business strategy of the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and influence the development of advanced network services to support the research and education community.
• In alignment with organizational workforce policies, develop a workforce strategy for the division to build the competencies and capabilities required to realize the technology roadmap.
• Create new digital business technology platforms with an emphasis on buy over build.
• Oversee the development of enterprise technology standards, service levels, and performance metrics to ensure IT delivers value to the enterprise.
• In partnership with the UW-IT leadership team and stakeholders, develops and drives technology strategy and sets the vision and direction for the enterprise.

Primary Responsibilities

• Oversee UW-IT teams responsible for IT Infrastructure Services, IT Operations, Regional Networks, Service Management Office, and Workforce Strategy & Development.
• Lead 144 staff and annual operating budgets of $53M.
• Works with business functions to understand customer requirements to translate them into digital capabilities and services that enable new business models and drive strategic business outcomes and improve the customer experience.
• Leverage trendspotting to anticipate how technological and non-technological trends could help the University prepare for and navigate change and disruption.
• In partnership with other technology leaders, assess the potential risk of bringing new and emerging technologies into the organization and determine how to mitigate it.
• In partnership with other technology leaders, ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of infrastructure through a risk management lens.
• Identify and implement best practices for optimizing infrastructure and operations costs, improving system performance, and ensuring service-level requirements are met.
• Identify emerging technologies that would help UW-IT deliver on its digital business strategy and evolve the architecture to support the introduction of new technologies to enable the strategy.
• Lead IT asset management team to ensure that assets are well managed and achieve their full lifetime cycle value.
• Develop and manage strategic vendor and partnership relationships.
• In alignment with organizational and University policies, formulates technology policies, procedures, standards, and performance management goals.
• Direct the preparation, review and consolidation of divisional business plans, budgets, and forecasts.

Position Complexities

The CTO position in a shared governance higher education environment with both centralized and decentralized technology is complex and challenging. One of the primary complexities of the role is the need to balance the competing interests and priorities of various stakeholders and partners. This requires a high level of political acumen and the ability to navigate complex organizational structures and relationships. Additionally, the CTO must be able to work effectively in a decentralized environment, where technology decisions may be made at the department or college level. The CTO will work to build consensus for technical directions by convening and collaborating intensively with leaders specializing in the needs of particular technology domains (e.g., research, health, education) and leaders with a deep focus on technology (e.g., networking, cloud, security).

This requires the ability to influence and collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to align with a cohesive technology strategy. Furthermore, the CTO must be able to manage and integrate multiple technology platforms and systems, while ensuring data security and compliance with regulatory requirements. The CTO must also be able to balance the demands of day-to-day operations with the need to innovate and drive change. Overall, this position requires a unique set of skills, including strong leadership, political acumen, and the ability to balance competing interests and priorities.

Job Requirements

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible IT leadership experience including responsibility for technology strategy planning and budgeting in an organization with similar complexity.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing technology strategies that align with business objectives.
• Demonstrated experience managing a complex technology ecosystem, including centralized and decentralized systems.
• Strong leadership and management skills with the ability to build and lead high-performance teams.
• Proven ability to develop staff and guide teams through major transitions in roles, competencies, and technical direction.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
• Experience managing budgets and working with vendors and service providers.
• Proven operational and management skills in an entrepreneurial, fast-changing, and ambitious environment.

Desired

• Master’s degree.
• Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Experience leading technology teams in a decentralized organization with an emphasis on enabling research and development activities.

Candidate Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be used to evaluate candidates.  Applicants are encouraged to address in their cover letters and resumes how their experience aligns with the criteria.

Business Leadership & Political Acumen

• Multiple experiences building coalitions around ideas and codesigning solutions through intensive collaborative efforts.
• Track record of building business cases for investment.
• Experience developing and managing complex budgets with multiple sources of funds and areas of expense.
• Negotiated complex agreements and partnerships.

Organizational Development

• Led efforts to transition IT team skill sets to align with significant technology changes.
• Shifted an organization from hardware centric skill sets to a blend of hardware and software based infrastructure with increased automation, cloud services, and remote monitoring.
• Implemented strategies to build and strengthen teams in remote/hybrid work settings 

Technology Transformation

• Led modernization of infrastructure capabilities requiring changes including people, processes and technology.

Operational Excellence

• Focused on ensuring  high availability and reliability of infrastructure services in high stakes environments

Collaborative Leadership Approach

• Track record of engagement and collaboration with peer leaders and end users in both central and distributed IT units.
• Multiple examples of working with stakeholders to develop technology strategies and solutions.

Industry Knowledge

• Experience working and implementing change in a decentralized organization with an emphasis on enabling research and development activities.

To Apply

UW-IT has retained Next Generation Leadership Partners to assist with the Executive Direction and CIO search.  Inquiries and nominations may be made in confidence by contacting Next Generation’s Phil Goldstein phil@nextgenpartnersllc.com. Applicants should email a resume and cover letter to UWCTO@nextgenpartnersllc.com.  For full consideration, applications should be received by June 9th.

Conditions of Employment

The approved compensation range for this position is $250,000 to $280,000.

This position qualifies for a hybrid work structure with a regular presence on the Seattle campus.

Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

 As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.

The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.

About the University of Washington

The University of Washington is one of the nation’s most distinguished educational and research institutions. Ranked in the world’s top 15 universities in measures that include US News & World Report and The Academic Ranking of World Universities, the UW is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the Pacific coast. Together, the University’s three campuses in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell anchor the Puget Sound region and are firmly established as the pinnacle of the higher education system in Washington State. All three campuses benefit from the region’s Pacific Rim location, from the growth of the Pacific Northwest, and from the growth and dynamism of Seattle. 

As one of the world’s preeminent public universities, the UW conducts over $1.4B in funded research annually, and also comprises UW Medicine, a world-class healthcare organization known for its medical discoveries, teaching programs, and compassionate care provided to patients every day.  Together, the UW’s three campuses educate over 41,000 undergraduates and 16,000 graduate and professional students. In addition, the UW’s Continuum College programs (online, MOOCs, summer programs, and extension activities) educate more than 55,000 students annually. For additional data about the University, see http://www.washington.edu/about/.

UW staff enjoy outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities and an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty. Seattle is the nation’s fastest-growing city, with a population of approximately 700,000 in the city proper and over two million including surrounding King County. Major corporations headquartered in the Puget Sound area include Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Costco, and Weyerhaeuser. Seattle’s average household income is over $60,000, and more than 55% of residents hold a four-year college degree or higher.

The Seattle campus is one of the most iconic settings for a university campus in the country, encompassing 680 acres, 285 buildings with 24 million gross square feet (GSF), 22 miles of campus road & pathways, and two central power plants including seven miles of utility tunnels.