Director, IT Applications

About Us

Are you ready to transform lives through academic excellence, innovative research, strong community partnerships and economic opportunity? Kennesaw State University is one of the 50 largest public institutions in the country. With growing enrollment and global reach, we continue to expand our institutional influence and prominence beyond the state of Georgia. We offer more than 190 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to empower over 50,000 students to become thought leaders, lifelong learners, and informed global citizens. Our entrepreneurial spirit, high-impact research, and Division I athletics draw students from throughout the region and from more than 100 countries across the globe. Our university's vibrant culture, career opportunities, rich benefits, and values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity, and accountability make us an employer of choice. We are part of the University System of Georgia . We are searching for talented people to join Kennesaw State University in our vision . Come Take Flight at KSU!

Location

(Primary Location for Job Responsibilities) Our Kennesaw campus is located at 1000 Chastain Road NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144.

Our Marietta campus is located at 1100 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060.

Job Summary

Serves as second in command of the department. Provides leadership and direction for the applications portfolio. Focusing on building partnerships with business units to understand business needs and delivering appropriate solutions. Oversee a team of technical staff that work with customers and vendors to identify, implement, and manage applications to meet business objectives. Responsible for managing the overall area projects. Serves as a coach for staff within the department.

Responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: -
1. Provides direction over the institution's application portfolio
2. Build partnerships with business units and works to understand the business needs
3. Identifies appropriate applications to meet business objectives and oversees implementations and ongoing support needs
4. Builds and manages vendor relationships to maximize the benefits the institution receives from the products, services, and agreements
5. Responsible for managing and mentoring a team of technical staff, provides leadership, direction, operational oversight, and fostering professional growth
6. Responsible for executing the full lifecycle of applications, ensuring quality, reliability, stability, recoverability, and security
7. Ensures that application inventories and documentation are maintained, such as application architecture diagrams, data flow diagrams, business process documentation, configurations, data governance documents, standard operating procedures, and run books
8. Responsible for tracking cost estimates and expenditures, and maintenance renewals, projects, and components within department projects
9. Responsible for developing, tracking, and analyzing key performance metrics for direct reports

Required Qualifications

Educational Requirements
Bachelor's from an accredited institution of higher education or an equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience.

Required Experience
Eight (8) years of related IT experience demonstrating a progression of increasing responsibility including significant IT management experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Preferred Educational Qualifications
An advanced degree from an accredited institution of higher education in technology, business, or related field of study
A degree from an accredited institution of higher education in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field is preferred

Preferred Experience
Previous experience in higher education IT
Experience working with sensitive and confidential data, and responding to audits
Experience with business process automation

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

ABILITIES
Able to lead a team of advanced technical staff, fostering growth in the chosen career paths
Able to build relationships, elicit and understand customer needs, analyze, understand, and document business processes
Able to troubleshoot complex issues independently to determine root cause while maintaining detailed documentation of the progress through completion
Able to master new applications, in order to fully utilize their capabilities, including utilizing their scripting and process development logic
Able to anticipate problems and proactively develop appropriate solutions
Able to appropriately assess and communicate risks, benefits, and alternatives
Able to work well within a team environment
Able to prioritize, attention to details, time management, and organizational skills
Able to navigate user interfaces for Windows and Linux operating systems
Able to anticipate problems and proactively develop appropriate solutions
Able to appropriately assess and communicate risks, benefits, and alternatives
Able to work well within a team environment
Able to prioritize, attention to details, time management, and organizational skills
Able to communicate technical concepts to non-technology staff
Able to handle multiple tasks or projects at one time meeting assigned deadlines

KNOWLEDGE
Extensive knowledge of IT applications, planning, operations, and lifecycle management
Must be well versed in current and emerging technologies, technological trends, and industry best practices for the areas of responsibility
Experience analyzing business processes and supporting implementations from a technical perspective based on the business requirements
Experience with relational databases and a basic understanding of SQL
Knowledge of application installation and packaging systems, debugging and analysis tools, OS and middleware (e.g., IIS, Apache/Tomcat, Nginx) related application dependencies and configurations Able to translate between technical and functional teams

SKILLS
Strong leadership and technical background, with extensive experience executing IT strategy, and coordinating and providing support for large-scale, distributed enterprise technologies, solutions, and services
Excellent interpersonal, initiative, teamwork, problem solving, independent judgment, organization, communication (verbal and written), time management, project management and presentation skills
Proficient with computer applications and programs associated with the position (i.e., Microsoft Office suite)
Strong attention to detail and follow up skills
Strong customer service skills and phone and e-mail etiquette

USG Core Values

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 25 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at _personnel_conduct .

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at .

Equal Employment Opportunity

Kennesaw State University is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for living, work and study. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, the University prohibits harassment of or discrimination against any person because of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment, pregnancy, and medical conditions related to pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran or military status by any member of the KSU Community on campus, in connection with a University program or activity, or in a manner that creates a hostile environment for members of the KSU community.

For additional information on this policy, or to file a complaint under the provisions of this policy, students, employees, applicants for employment or admission or other third parties should contact the Office of Institutional Equity at English Building, Suite 225,

Other Information

This is a supervisory position.
This position does not have any financial responsibilities.
This position will not be required to drive.
This role is considered a position of trust.
This position does not require a purchasing card (P-Card).
This position may travel 1%-24% of the time.
This position does not require security clearance.

Background Check

• Standard Enhanced
• Education

Per the University System of Georgia background check policy, all final candidates will be required to consent to a criminal background investigation. Final candidates may be asked to disclose criminal record history during the initial screening process and prior to a conditional offer of employment. Applicants for positions of trust with screening
results which confirm a disqualifying criminal history will be immediately disqualified from employment eligibility.

All applicants are required to include professional references as part of their application process. Some positions may require additional job-based screenings such as motor vehicle report, credit check, pre-employment drug screening and/or verification of academic credentials.

_manual/HRAP_Background_Investigation_Employment.pdf