Director of Information Technology, Kersten Institute

Crown Administrative Office

As one of the first schools of social work in the United States, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice has shaped the field for more than 100 years. As part of the University of Chicago, the Crown Family School shares the University's core values and distinctive intellectual culture. Crown Family School faculty, staff, and students focus on identifying solutions to complex social problems through research, training, and direct community engagement.

Guided by an interdisciplinary tradition, Crown Family School scholars conduct innovative research to address interconnected social challenges such as educational inequality, health disparities, crime and violence, poverty, and child and family welfare-working at multiple scales, from individual to policy-level interventions. More than 10,000 Crown Family School graduates in the US and globally hold leadership positions in academia, at nonprofits, in business, and at governmental agencies.

The Crown Family School is the home of three academic centers. These include the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development, the Kersten Institute for Urban Education, and the Center for Climate, Health, and Society (CHAS). More information may be found at (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..

The Director of Information Technology leads technology operations, information security, and research computing support for the Kersten Institute for Urban Education, a research institute whose units collect and analyze sensitive educational data on Chicago schools and students under data-use agreements with district and state partners.

Reporting to the Crown Senior IT Director with a dotted line to the Sr. Associate Dean of Administration, the Director is the technology leader for Kersten, combining hands-on technical execution with team oversight and research partnership. The Director is accountable for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Kersten data and for the systems and staff computing environment that support it. The Director is also a change agent for identifying and implementing technological advancements to streamline operations for Kersten employees, and identifying opportunities for adoption within the broader Crown technology landscape.

The role operates within Crown's overall IT structure and standards, while addressing the distinct technical and compliance requirements of Kersten's data-intensive research environment. In collaboration with the Senior IT Director, the Director sets the direction for supporting the technical needs of Kersten employees and owns Kersten's compliance posture with University policy and external regulatory obligations. The role will bridge efforts across the Kersten and Crown IT teams, increasing synergy for the overall Crown technology landscape.

The Director supervises one desktop support and two systems administration specialists, supporting over a hundred Kersten employees, including education researchers, practitioners, and affiliates across multiple projects and funding streams.

• Team Leadership and Service Management (25%)
• Information Security, Compliance, and Risk (25%)
• Infrastructure, Endpoint, and Identity Management (20%)
• Research Computing Partnership (15%)
• Institutional Representation and Governance (10%)
• Vendor, Licensing, and Budget Support (5%)

• Manage the day-to-day operations and existing architecture for Kersten's IT infrastructure, which includes on-premises servers and hypervisors, cloud accounts, virtual desktop infrastructure, database servers, and web application platforms hosting…