Director Enterprise Applications - IT Solutions

Director, Enterprise Applications

DATE ISSUED: 10/21

FLSA: Exempt

PTO: VCS

The Director of Enterprise Applications is responsible for creating and leading an enterprise application environment and ecosystem that supports and enables the university's strategic goals and technology priorities. The position will oversee the Enterprise Applications team in planning, developing, implementing, and supporting a broad portfolio of enterprise applications and related systems and services, including the university's Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), enterprise-wide and discipline-specific applications, websites and portal(s), mobile applications, document imaging and workflow, integrations, database administration, data warehousing, and business intelligence (reporting, analytics).

The Director will work collaboratively with university partners and key stakeholders to understand their needs and deliver an enterprise application ecosystem that is user-centered, seamless, and connected; develop a deep technical understanding of the entire enterprise systems and solutions environment; and ensure cohesiveness, resiliency, redundancy, and reliability. The position will lead an Enterprise Applications team that fosters high- performing and agile teams, adopts modern and forward-looking technology and service strategies, and effectively utilizes its technological, financial, and human resources.

As a member of the IT Solutions (ITS) leadership team, the Director of Enterprise Applications will help lead the division in realizing its mission to "empower an agile, digital university and elevate technology as a strategic institutional asset". They are expected to work with the CIO, Deputy CIO and other divisional leaders to drive cultural and technological transformation within IT Solutions and promote a collaborative, human-centered, innovative, accountable, transparent, and inclusive culture within ITS.

Reports to: Chief Information Officer and/or Deputy Chief Information Officer

Supervises: Associate Director for Integration, Analytics & Web Services; Manager of Digital Workplace Applications; and Senior Manager for Student-Centered Applications

ESSENTIAL DUTIES - May include, but not limited to the following:

Planning & Budgeting

• Creates an enterprise applications roadmap that leverages modern design principles and technologies, and effectively meets both current and future university needs.
• Leads strategic planning for new or enhanced enterprise application services, including requirements gathering, user-centered design, implementation, assessment, and retirement of services and systems.
• Establishes, leads, and/or participates in "communities of practice," informal and formal user groups, advisory councils, steering committees, and governance groups to communicate with and engage students, faculty, and staff in enterprise applications strategy, planning, policy development, priority-setting, service delivery, outreach, and more.
• Manages operating and capital budgets for the Enterprise Applications team
• Leads the evaluation of enterprise application technologies that meet short and long- term goals, and develop business cases, ROI, TCO, and other analyses to help guide their selection.
• Determines Enterprise Applications priorities and ensures resources allocated accordingly.
• Recommends enterprise application enhancements and investments, where appropriate, to support the university's strategic goals and technology priorities, improve processes or user experience, and/or reduce costs.

Service Delivery & Optimization

• Directs the day-to-day operations for the Enterprise Applications team, including creating and managing strategies, plans, policies, procedures, and budgets.
• Ensures high availability, reliability, and security of the enterprise application ecosystem.
• Manages and/or participates in university-wide or divisional Enterprise Application projects, as appropriate, coordinating with IT Solutions Project Management Office and Customer Experience & Engagement for project scoping, planning, communication, and/or reporting.
• Identifies appropriate industry standards, legislative requirements, university policies, and ITS procedures, and best practices for enterprise application management and support, and ensure they are consistently implemented across the department.
• Continually assesses and improves departmental processes, services, and systems.
• Identifies and implements key metrics and service level agreements (SLAs) for enterprise application services (in coordination with Customer Experience & Engagement, where appropriate); and track, analyze, and report on trends relative to key metrics and SLAs.
• Establishes protocols for on-call enterprise application support, assist with on-call availability, and ensure response within agreed upon timeframes.

• Participates in internal and external audits, prioritize corrective actions, ensure successful remediation within requested timeframes, and report efforts to auditors, as appropriate.
• Creates and documents standards and practices regarding Enterprise Application for use across the university.

Management & Leadership

• Builds, supports, and expands a culture that is supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion where employees from all backgrounds can succeed and thrive.
• Trains, coaches, and mentors employees under their supervision. Plan and conduct performance appraisals of employees under their supervision. Participate in or lead hiring processes, as needed.
• Builds strong and collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders across the university, actively participating in university activities and initiatives, and serving on university-wide committees and projects, as assigned.
• Cultivates, negotiates, and formalizes vendor relationships and external partnerships that support or enhance IT/campus partner digital initiatives.
• Develops a strong network of peers at comparable institutions and represent Texas Woman's University at local, statewide, and national meetings and conferences, as appropriate.
• Maintains current knowledge of, and advises the CIO and Deputy CIO on, best practices and future trends in all areas related to enterprise applications, including but not limited to: enterprise application architecture, application development, data warehousing, business intelligence, integrations, software- as-a-service (SaaS), and agile development.
• Serves as a member of the ITS leadership team, and assists in with divisional management, strategic planning, fostering a high-performing and innovative technology environment, and driving digital transformation at the university.

• Performs other duties as requested.

Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree preferred. Additional job-related experience may substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

Ten years of relevant experience in enterprise application management/support, enterprise architecture, data warehousing, and/or business analysis. Supervisory experience required.

Additional job-related education may substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.

Regular and reliable attendance at the University during regular scheduled days and work hours is an essential function of this position.

Work is performed under minimal supervision and performance is based on the effective operation of the administrative function. The performance evaluation is conducted through the performance evaluation system and in accordance with the University Policies & Procedures.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES - The following are essential:

• Experience in a management role, with proven leadership skills and demonstrated ability to manage high-performing teams, operations, and budgets.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically about the application of technology to solve business problems, assess technologies and standards to determine best fit, and develop user/functional/business-driven technology strategies and plans.
• Commitment to continuous assessment and improvement with experience identifying, establishing, and reporting on key performance metrics.
• Experience leading organizational and/or technology change initiatives with a strong emphasis on relationship-building, collaboration, and shared stewardship.
• Strong written and oral communication skills (including ability to present ideas in user- friendly, business-friendly and technical language) and interpersonal skills with a focus on rapport-building, listening and questioning skills.
• Ability to build effective relationships and strong commitment to working collegially and collaboratively with constituents at all levels in a diverse and distributed environment.
• Ability to use a personal computer and other office equipment, including related university software and email.

Additional/Desirable Skills & Abilities

• Professional project management and/or IT certifications, such as PMP, ITIL, Six Sigma, agile.
• Familiarity with effective IT or other shared governance models.
• Experience with budgeting, financial planning, and business operations.
• Understanding of software lifecycle and application development processes.
• Experience with business process analysis, including process mapping and re- engineering.
• Familiarity with enterprise application support, database management, application development, data warehousing, and/or application integration.
• Understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and/or robotics process automation (RPA) as they apply to enterprise application systems and services.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.