Regional Head of ICT at Aga Khan Education Service, Kenya (AKESK)

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Regional Head of ICT will be a key member of the Senior Leadership Team. This individual will be responsible for leading, overseeing and providing regional ICT insight, creating sustainable ICT infrastructure and implementing approved systems. Specifically, the role will entail providing strategic and technical leadership in all matters concerning ICT for AKS operations in East Africa, in addition to supporting AKS ICT operations in other countries as required from time to time.

To this extent, the Regional Head of ICT will:  

• Drive the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the technology infrastructure and development and execution of the information systems strategy.
• Oversee the administration and maintenance of technology infrastructure.
• Oversee the development and implementation of ICT policies and standard-operating-procedures.
• Ensure ICT business continuity and risk mitigation measures are in place to ensure continuity of ICT services.
• Play a key role in ensuring compliance with statutory regulations like data protection regulations from ICT perspective.
• Drive the development, implementation and maintenance of an Education Management Information System (EMIS) and other auxiliary information systems (HR, student management, financial, etc.).
• Liaise with various stakeholders to elicit requirements, define the business processes and facilitate the change management.
• Utilise design principles and collaborate with AKES service companies to align policies and procedures and lower the total lifecycle cost of the information system.
• Advise management on data security and information protection regulations in the region.
• Utilise technology and software-based innovative solutions to automate business processes and workflows.
• Oversee the implementation and operations of data warehouse and analytics tool for dashboard reporting.
• Oversee all ICT service desk activities at the regional level.
• Build and maintain vendor relationships and manage the purchases of approved software, hardware and other ICT supplies at the regional level.
• Ensure all organisation assets are maintained responsibly.
• Create a framework for monitoring and evaluation to assess the impact on target communities.
• Initiate and implement improvements in all areas of ICT responsibility.
• Serve as main point of contact on all ICT related matters for AKS operations in East Africa.
• Identify and provide standards for gathering information for use in trend analysis and reports for AKS.
• Remain at the forefront of emerging industry practices.
• Manage, guide, appraise and coach ICT team members.

The requirements

The preferred candidate will have:

• Master’s degree in computer science, information technology, information management or a related field;
• 3-5 years proven experience on IT and information management;
• Extensive technical knowledge and vast experience of managing technology infrastructure, large-scale academic and enterprise information systems, and software solutions;
• Good knowledge of industry best practices, quality standards in IT and data protection regulations, such as GDPR, etc; 
• Excellent planning, organisational and management skills;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Effective technical writing, communication and presentation skills in English;
• Ability to build effective working relationships across teams;
• Ability to effectively coordinate with internal and external stakeholders;
• Intercultural sensitivity and the ability to confidently move between different cultural environments and work with a highly diverse group of staff and students;
• A high degree of professionalism, commitment and integrity; and
• Willingness to travel for work, as needed.