Vice President Of Technology at The African Leadership University (ALU)

Overall Responsibility

The VP of Technology will establish a world­ class technological roadmap to enable ALU’s vision over the short, medium and long term. He/she will lead the systems architecture and technology roadmap (software, systems integration, hardware, networks, server infrastructure etc) needed to achieve ALU’s ambitious milestones over the coming years.

The VP of Technology will be responsible for building a solid and productive team of software engineers and computer engineers to deliver these aggressive goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Owner of technology vision and roadmap at ALU

• Define, put together and manage a medium to long term technology roadmap for ALU, from systems architecture to systems integration, custom software engineering, network design, hardware, server infrastructure.

• Define and implement policies, standards and procedures for use of software applications in teaching, learning, finance (especially collection of student fees), student acquisition (e.g. digital marketing), employer partnerships, campus infrastructure management, administration, student life, alumni relations, etc.

• Build out technology division within ALU that includes software development, platform engineering and strong technical support across the organization

• Define and implement policies, standards and procedures for use of applications across the entire organization

• Build out an integrated system that allows ALU to easily manage a mix of on ­campus and digital students seamlessly

• Identify and evaluate new technologies and their appropriate applications and potential impact on teaching, learning, research and administration

• Responsible for ensuring integrity, uptime, security, disaster recovery of ALU platforms

• Responsible for a cost­ effective ALU technology budget.

• Manager of relationships with all technology vendors

• Perform other duties as required in support of the IT functions or assigned by the CEO

Essential

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field required (Master's Degree desirable);

• Extensive experience in a leadership role including setting priorities and plans to meet business goals and objectives;

• Experience within a programming and application system environment, including development of front end / web based platforms

• Relevant IT experience and leadership experience in a software development organization required.

• Ability to travel internationally

Additional

• Extraordinary dynamic leadership capability including demonstrated ability to be a change agent and influence the direction of the organization while maintaining a culture where associates are recognized as important assets to the organization;

• Ability to link vision and strategy with overall business objectives and communicate rationale in a compelling, concise manner; Experience setting technology direction with consistent track record delivering large scale IT solutions;

• Experience with leading the development multi­channel content management and delivery solutions, cloud based applications, and development of APIs, web services;

• Ability to demonstrate a repertoire of skills such as scheduling, prioritizing, organizing, planning, problem solving, decision­ making, financial savvy, attention to detail, project management and follow through;

• Capacity to maintain a big picture, strategic outlook with the ability to iterate from company strategy to product development and planning;

• Deep understanding of the Agile software development cycle and development methodology.