Director of Technology Services - Portland, ME

The Director of Technology Services provides strategic and operational leadership for the university's core technology platforms that support teaching, learning, research, and administrative operations. This role is responsible for the design, security, availability, and moderniz ...

Job description

The Director of Technology Services provides strategic and operational leadership for the university's core technology platforms that support teaching, learning, research, and administrative operations. This role is responsible for the design, security, availability, and modernization of campus network infrastructure, data center systems, cloud-based services, and unified communications and collaboration technologies.

The Director of Technology Services partners with academic leadership, administrative units, and IT colleagues to ensure reliable, secure, and scalable technology services that advance the institution's academic mission and long-term strategic goals. This role is accountable for service reliability, capacity, lifecycle management, and continuous improvement across network, infrastructure, cloud, and communications platforms.

About The University of New England

UNE is Maine's largest private university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study-abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible online offerings. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to positively impact a world full of challenges. We are the state's top provider of health professionals and home to Maine's only medical and dental colleges, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care programs, and nationally recognized programs in the marine sciences, the natural and social sciences, business, the humanities, and the arts.

Benefits Overview

• Multiple health and dental plan options, plus vision coverage.
• Up to 8% retirement plan match.
• Generous leave time, including vacation, sick, and personal time, and 12+ holidays per year.
• Educational benefits:
• UNE tuition waiver for employees, spouses, and domestic partners

For more information about our outstanding benefits, please visit: UNE Benefits Overview

Responsibilities

Enterprise Network, Infrastructure and Cloud Services Leadership

• Develop and maintain a multi-year strategy and roadmap for campus network, infrastructure, cloud, and unified communications and collaboration technologies aligned with institutional priorities.
• Participate in IT governance committees and contribute to transparent decision-making and prioritization processes.
• Establish enterprise standards, architectural principles, and lifecycle management practices appropriate for a higher education environment.
• Advise senior leadership on infrastructure, connectivity, and unified communications and collaboration technology risks, opportunities, and investments.

Campus Network, Infrastructure and Unified Communications and Collaboration Technologies

• Oversee the design, implementation, and operation of campus-wide wired, wireless, and wide-area networks supporting academic, residential, and administrative needs.
• Provide leadership for university unified communications and collaboration technologies, including voice platforms (VoIP), collaboration tools, contact center services, emergency communications, and carrier services.
• Ensure reliable, high-quality voice, data, and video services across all campus locations.
• Lead operations of data center infrastructure, virtualization platforms, storage, and core systems.
• Ensure high availability and performance for critical academic, administrative, and public safety services.
• Lead disaster recovery and business continuity planning to support instructional continuity, operational resilience, and emergency communications.
• Own and continuously improve operational service processes, including incident response, problem management, change management, maintenance windows, root cause analysis, and clear campus communications during outages.
• Ensure strong asset and configuration management practices, including current network diagrams, inventories, standards, runbooks, and up-to-date documentation that reduces single points of failure.

Cloud Strategy and Academic Enablement

• Lead the university's cloud strategy, including hybrid and multi-cloud environments that support teaching, research, administrative, and unified communications and collaboration technology platforms.
• Guide cloud adoption for enterprise applications, academic technologies, research workloads, and collaboration platforms.
• Establish governance, security, and cost-management practices for cloud services.
• Support innovation through scalable platforms that enable instructional technology, data analytics, research computing, and modern collaboration environments.
• Establish cloud financial management expectations (tagging standards, budgets, forecasting, rightsizing, and cost transparency), and define a clear shared-services model with academic and research partners where applicable.

Security, Risk and Compliance

• Partner closely with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to ensure network, infrastructure, cloud, and unified communications and collaboration technologies align with the university's cybersecurity strategy, risk management framework, and security policies.
• Collaborate with the CISO on enterprise-wide security priorities, standards, and risk mitigation efforts across infrastructure and collaboration services.
• Serve as a key operational partner in security initiatives, including incident response, resilience planning, and security-by-design implementation.
• Support compliance with applicable regulations and standards (for example FERPA, HIPAA where applicable, PCI-DSS, E911 requirements, and state or federal regulations).
• Incorporate security considerations into all planning, modernization, and operational activities.
• Coordinate vulnerability remediation and patching commitments within defined timelines, maintain secure configuration baselines, and support third-party risk activities for infrastructure and communications vendors.

Financial Stewardship and Vendor Management

• Develop and manage budgets for network, infrastructure, cloud, and unified communications and collaboration technologies with an emphasis on sustainability and transparency.
• Evaluate and manage vendor relationships, contracts, and service providers, including network carriers, collaboration service providers, and cloud vendors.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimization, contract consolidation, and service improvements.
• Support long-term capital planning for infrastructure and collaboration technology investments.
• Implement structured vendor performance management, including SLAs, quarterly business reviews, documented escalation paths, and proactive renewal planning tied to roadmap priorities.

People Leadership, Team Development and Service Excellence

• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team responsible for network, infrastructure, cloud, and unified communications and collaboration technologies in a service-oriented culture.
• Set measurable performance goals, provide ongoing feedback, and support professional development through coaching, training plans, and growth opportunities.
• Promote professional development, cross-training, and knowledge sharing across technical domains to strengthen resilience and reduce single points of failure.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative, and outcomes-driven team culture focused on reliability, customer experience, and continuous improvement.
• Establish operational support models, including on-call and after-hours coverage, that balance service needs and staff well-being.
• Foster documentation, standard operating procedures, and continuous improvement practices to improve consistency, reduce operational risk, and accelerate onboarding.
• Build succession planning and cross-coverage to reduce single points of failure across specialized platforms and critical services.
• Champion modern IT service management practices (incident, problem, and change management) and a continuous learning culture to ensure operational maturity and service excellence.

Collaboration and Campus Engagement

• Collaborate with academic departments, research units, administrative offices, public safety, and central ITS teams.
• Translate complex technical and unified communications and collaboration technology concepts into clear, actionable information for faculty and staff.
• Serve as a trusted partner in planning and delivering technology and collaboration services that support instruction, research, student success, and campus safety.
• Support proactive cross-functional planning with realistic timelines, dependencies, and coordinated delivery across ITS (especially where network, cloud, security, applications, and academic technology intersect)
• Provide regular, concise updates to leadership and governance groups on portfolio health, risks, issues, and decisions required.

Strategy, Governance, and Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with ITS leadership to develop multi-year roadmaps and annual plans that align the enterprise Network, Infrastructure and Cloud Services portfolio.
• Support technology and data governance processes, including prioritization, risk management, and investment decisions.
• Define and report a concise set of operational and modernization KPIs (availability, incident trends, patch compliance, lifecycle progress, cloud cost trends) on a regular cadence to ITS leadership and appropriate governance groups.
• Identify and implement process improvements to reduce duplication and enhance delivery and user experience of technology services.

Additional Responsibilities

• Participate in special projects and perform other duties as assigned by the VP and CIO.
• Lead select critical initiatives when needed while delegating operational and project work appropriately to ensure sustainable delivery and strong team development.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

• 8 to 10+ years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure, networking, cloud, or unified communications and collaboration technologies, including leadership roles.
• Demonstrated expertise in enterprise networking, unified communications and collaboration platforms, data center infrastructure, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or equivalent).
• Experience supporting complex, distributed environments typical of higher education institutions.
• Strong experience with budgeting, vendor management, and service delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical concepts to nontechnical audiences and lead effectively in shared governance environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop teams, build trust, and foster a collaborative work environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a higher education environment.
• Relevant certifications (for example AWS or Azure Architect, CCNP or CCIE, ITIL, CISSP).
• Familiarity with unified communications platforms, emergency notification systems, academic research computing, instructional technologies, or ERP systems.
• Demonstrated experience executing disaster recovery capabilities (not only planning), including testing, documentation, and operational readiness.

EEO Statement Summary

Consistent with federal and state law and University policy, the University of New England is committed to the fundamental concept of equal opportunity for all of the members of the University community. The University prohibits, and will not tolerate, discrimination in employment, the provision of academic services or in any other area of University life based on race, color, sex, physical or mental disability, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, ethnicity, genetic information, HIV status, or status as a veteran. Prohibited bias factors should not motivate decisions regarding students, employees, applicants for admission, applicants for employment, contractors, volunteers or participants in and/or users of institutional programs, services, and activities.

COVID Vaccination Statement (PLEASE NOTE)

Employees in clinical settings must meet the State of Maine's immunization requirements for clinical activity.

Additional Note

This position is not eligible for H-1B visa sponsorship.