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 () 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.
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.
QUALIFICATIONS:
* 10+ years’ experience in a senior-level functional leader role, partnering with executive staff and external stakeholders
* Strong agile product management experience required
* Experience with Lean preferred
* Deep experience in human-centered design (Design Thinking) an important plus
* Required strategic planning integrated with multi-million budgeting and forecasting experience
* Process re-engineering and process improvement experience a must
* Experience with Salesforce and Workday preferred; experience with Schoology, Netsuite, and Marketo a plus
* Must have expertise in influence through abundance mindset storytelling
* Track record of leadership in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations and roles
* Proven leadership skills and management experience with an ability to recruit, develop, inspire, and retain a high performing organization and effectively manage a diverse array of perspectives
* Expertise driving efforts for strategic and operational change – courageous and willing to be disruptive based on high impact initiatives
* Demonstrated success leading through influence, leveraging relationships and communication skills to drive results
* Sophisticated interpersonal skills, including excellent written/oral communications and presentation skills
* Ability to embrace evolving environments as an opportunity to improve culture and bring about success within the organization
* Strong project management, organizational, and analytical skills
* Experience serving constituents in a complex, multi-site, multi-state environment; highly effective operating within a matrix environment
* A passion for working with young adults, an unshakable belief in their potential and a strong commitment to Year Up’s mission
* Understanding of the Opportunity Divide and its drivers
* Committed to diversity, equity & inclusion
ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION:
Year Up is an award-winning, national 501(c)3 organization that enables motivated young adults to move from minimum wage to meaningful careers in just one year by providing the skills, experience, and support they need to reach their full potential. Through a one-year, intensive program, Year Up utilizes a high-expectations, high-support model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships at more than 250 top companies. Its holistic approach focuses on students’ professional and personal development to enable young adults with a viable path to economic self-sufficiency and meaningful careers. Year Up has served more than 30,000 young adults since its founding in 2000. Year Up has a presence in 27 U.S. cities, including Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, the National Capital Region, New York City/ Jersey City, Pittsburgh, Puget Sound, Rhode Island, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Wilmington.
Voted one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For in the country by The NonProfit Times, Year Up is a rewarding place to work. Our staff is passionate, supportive, mission-driven, and committed to positive change and continuous learning. We set high standards for both ourselves and our students, and live by a set of core values that reflect an unshakable belief in the talent and full potential of our young people. The work we do is life-changing, and we know that our team is the greatest asset in achieving our mission.
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: https://www.yearup.org/about/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.
TO APPLY:
Please submit a thoughtful cover letter and resume through our website.
Note that applications without a cover letter will not be considered. We respectfully request no phone calls.