Director of Academic Technology

Southern New Hampshire University

1d•Remote

About The Position

Southern New Hampshire University is a team of innovators. World changers. Individuals who believe in progress with purpose. Since 1932, our people-centered strategy has defined us — and helped us grow a team that now serves over 180,000 learners worldwide. Our mission to transform lives is made possible by talented people who bring diverse industry experience, backgrounds and skills to the university. And today, we're ready to expand our reach. All we need is you. Make an impact — from near or far At SNHU, you'll have the option to work remotely in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. We ask that our remote employees have access to a reliable internet connection and a dedicated, properly equipped workspace that is free of distractions. Employees must reside in, and work from, one of the above approved states. The opportunity The Director of Academic Technology will report to the Assistant Vice President Academic Technology. You will lead a team of professional staff who manage the delivery of academic technology solutions to Global Campus Academics, to support the online program portfolio. You will oversee a team responsible for partnering with the business on technology-driven solutions and services such as course roll out, continuous delivery release management, optimization of the learning management system (LMS), Brightspace, in support of the online portfolio, LTI integration testing for technology solutions that will be deployed at scale, and collaborating with D2L on their long-term roadmap for Brightspace. You will support current technology environments and implement new solutions to support product health and customer experience programs and helps define the university's technology roadmap. You will support the evaluation, testing, and transition to new technology systems to support a consumer-grade technology experience. You will establish strategies that support university programs and implements and operationalizes solutions that directly support those strategies. You will manage partner collaboration on integrations and new technologies to gain greater impact with student success and efficiency in online courses and in daily operations. You will oversee functional testing on platform upgrades and integrations upstream and downstream from the LMS. You will work with members of the Global Campus Academics and Customer Experience teams, and IT Operations. You will work 100% remotely from any of our approved working states within the US. #LI-Remote

Requirements

5+ years of experience in IT service delivery management, operations management, or product management within complex, enterprise technology environments.
4+ years of experience managing direct reports, including performance management, coaching, and employee development, preferably within cross-functional or matrixed organizations.
Experience managing product or platform roadmaps, coordinating product development or continuous delivery.
Experience leading strategic engagement with vendor partners to align on shared roadmaps or platform direction.
Experience supporting, testing, and delivering learning environments or complex, customer-facing platforms deployed at scale, including responsibility for functional testing, user acceptance testing, and integration validation.
Expertise with D2L Brightspace or other learning management systems.
Experience with LTI and other industry standard integration protocols.
Experience managing data collection and analysis workflows.

Responsibilities

Lead team providing direct support and leadership on optimization of the learning management system, coordination of core university processes such as course roll and grade pass-back, and execution of day-to-day operations of the learning management system that directly support the Global Campus online portfolio.
Cultivate a strong relationship with D2L support staff and product leadership to enable effective vendor collaboration on support issues and short- and long-term roadmap conversations, collaborating with the Sr. Director, LMS Operations on roadmap and support requests.
Lead Collaborate with Global Campus stakeholders and other SNHU departments to continuously refine our LMS platform strategy, provide internal technical consulting services in support of university initiatives and strategies, and provide Brightspace subject matter expertise, able to effectively advocate for SNHU's highest priorities and inform and align, where possible, D2L's roadmap and our vision for the learning environment.
Consult and provide guidance around how academic technology can best serve pilots and small-scale initiatives that aren't yet ready for a fully scaled, efficient model of academic technology support.
Partner with internal and vendor data teams to continually improve the use of data in the academic technology ecosystem, identifying opportunities for refinement and cross-platform alignment.
Continuously refine stakeholder communication practices to ensure visibility and engagement on team roadmap and sprint release notes, collaborating with leadership and peers on broader ATS communications to Global Campus, ITS, and university stakeholders.
Collaborate with business stakeholders to guide user experience optimization, integration enhancements, and testing and innovation efforts in the LMS, ensuring a unified vision for LMS optimization- and extensibility-focused teams.
Provide leadership on LMS customization and integration efforts, including Banner-Brightspace integration components, in support of a stable, secure, and interoperable LMS ecosystem in alignment with ITS Principles.
Lead the Academic Technology Solution Delivery team and drive results and excellent service to the scaled academic technology portfolio: Translate technology strategies and requirements into tactical implementations.
Collaborate with CX, NLS, faculty support team and the development team in ITS around the ideation, testing, and deployment of custom extensions of Brightspace.
Support managers and product owners responsible for critical university processes including course roll, grade pass-back, and Brightspace continuous delivery, establishing and maintaining relationships with relevant SNHU leaders to facilitate success of related cross-functional efforts.
Promote the effective use of existing technologies to improve operational processes and student support.
Represent university needs to learning technology vendors.
Manage extensive functional testing and user acceptance testing in a wide range of learning environments, including testing of system upgrades and new integrations.
Oversee the execution of testing and continual refinement of test plans for learning environments.
Work with stakeholders to support needs analysis and testing of new technologies and integrations.
Provide expert technical support, consulting, and training to SNHU Global Campus staff, working closely with faculty training managers and other staff and vendors to enable smooth delivery of solutions at scale.
Collaborate with other LMS and learning ecosystem leadership to ensure effective communication around system issues and close coordination on technology initiatives.
Ensure that both projects and operational work are organized, prioritized, aligned, and executed.
Track and communicate with stakeholders the status of technology-related projects.
Identify opportunities to deepen or expand team subject matter expertise and skillsets, through professional development and/or targeted hiring, to ensure the team is providing valuable services for evolving business needs (e.g., data querying and analysis via SQL and PowerBI, event-based analytics services via Google Analytics and Tag Manager, process optimization and automation with AI, etc.).
Attendance, punctuality, and reliability are essential functions of this role.
Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.