Opportunity:

The Academic Technology Solutions Manager is responsible for overseeing the planning, implementation, and management of academic technology solutions and services to meet the university’s goals.

This is accomplished through leading project teams and collaborating with business partners and IT teams to understand strategic initiatives and develop technical solutions to meet those needs.

This role bridges the gap between technical solutions and academic needs, ensuring optimal performance and alignment with the university’s goals.

The ideal candidate will be adept in vendor relationship management, data-driven decision making, and presenting complex technology strategies to executive leadership.

Responsibilities:

Technology Strategy & Management

• Evaluate, implement, and manage academic technology solutions including Learning Management System (LMS), assessment tools, collaboration platforms, and classroom technology.
• Collaborate with faculty, IT, and academic leadership to identify emerging needs and align solutions with pedagogical goals.
• Act as an IT owner and serve as a subject matter expert (SME) of assigned solutions and services.
• Implement and support technology solutions, platforms and services.
• Inform and drive innovative approaches for assigned solutions.
• Maintain knowledge of current and emerging technologies/products related to assigned solutions.
• Develop strategies and roadmaps for assigned solutions based on a situational awareness of various business scenarios and motivations.
• Provide IT support and information for R&D pilot efforts and drive operational implementation of solutions resulting from successful pilots.

• Experience leading the evaluation, selection, and implement of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that enhance student learning experience or technical support.
  

Data Analytics & Reporting

• Design and implement analytics frameworks to assess the usage, effectiveness, and ROI of academic technologies.
• Generate actionable insights from complex data sets to support decision-making across departments.
• Provide regular reports and dashboards to academic and IT leadership that inform and tell a compelling story that leads to actions.
• Perform competitive bench marking in areas of assigned academic technologies.

. 

Executive Communication

• Prepare and deliver high-impact presentations and strategic recommendations to senior leadership and governance bodies.
• Translate technical details into accessible language tailored to diverse audiences, including provosts, deans, and board members.
• Determine and track appropriate metrics to facilitate ongoing governance and continuous improvement of assigned solutions.

Vendor Management

• Lead vendor selection, contract negotiation, service-level agreement management, and ongoing performance evaluation.
• Foster productive relationships with external partners to ensure timely support, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
• Manage and execute communication activities with business partners regarding assigned solutions including but not limited to roadmaps, new features, and platform incidents as appropriate including user impacts and resolution plans.

• Contribute to the annual budgeting process to forecast student usage and vendor price increases for the coming year.

Project Leadership

• Understand business objectives and research and provide guidance, options and proof of concepts (if appropriate) to solve technology needs.
• Oversee the successful delivery of academic technology projects, from conception through post-implementation review.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with institutional priorities.
• Act as IT delivery leader and ensure that all technology deliverables required by business partners reach successful completion on the required schedule.

• Utilize project tracking tools (Asana, Microsoft Project) to monitor progress, identify risks, and keep stakeholders informed.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Below are the minimum requirements of the education, experience, knowledge, and skills required to competently perform in this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Critical features of this job are described under Essential Duties and Responsibilities. They may be, however, subject to change at any time due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons.

• Minimum of 5+ years of IT operations or IT administrative experience, preferably in a complex fast-paced environment.  Prior Solution Manager experience a plus.
• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, engineering or related field, or equivalent combination of education and recent, relevant work experience, graduate degree a plus.
• Navigate a workday that includes planned operations, projects, unplanned work / escalations, crisis/disaster recovery situations and strategy; creativity in problem solving, bringing the right people together; maintain velocity and quality of your deliverables.
• Technology enthusiast that can mature ideas into enterprise grade IT solutions.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Competent user, analyst, and creator of PowerBI based dashboards.
• Available to provide support and assist with Major Incidents outside of standard business hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, as needed.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization.
• Strong data analysis skills to create meaningful reports and dashboards, used for decision making.
• Ability to develop and manage budget evaluations.
• Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills.
• -Familiarity with common Academic Technology products including but not limited to:
• Canvas
• Cengage
• McGraw Hill
• Percipio
• VitalSource
• uCertify
• Playposit
• TurnItIn

90-110k, bonus eligible