IT Project Leader, Wharton Computing

Information Technology Project Leader

Responsible for leading technology initiatives for assigned academic departments at Wharton, acting as strategic partner to faculty and department leadership, ensuring alignment with university standards, managing cross‑functional teams, and driving adoption of emerging tools such as AI‑enabled classroom technologies.

• Serve as the named strategic partner for assigned departments, providing consistent engagement with faculty and departmental stakeholders.
• Engage directly with faculty to understand needs, provide consultation, and address simple issues or coordinate requests across teams.
• Coordinate and route requests across Wharton Computing teams, ensuring clear context, alignment, and timely resolution for complex or cross‑functional issues.
• Represent departmental needs within Wharton Computing, ensuring alignment with available services and resources.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with faculty, department leadership, and administrative staff through regular engagement.
• Facilitate cross‑team collaboration by forming and leading pod‑based teams to address departmental needs.
• Lead and coordinate technology initiatives, ensuring clear scope, alignment, and successful delivery, partnering with specialized service teams.
• Support faculty in the effective use of technology for teaching and research, including emerging tools such as AI‑enabled classroom technologies.
• Identify patterns, recurring issues, and opportunities for improvement across departments.
• Ensure that solutions align with university standards, security requirements, and operational expectations.

• Bachelor of Science and 2–3 years of experience or equivalent education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross‑functional technology initiatives from strategy through successful implementation.
• Demonstrated understanding of emerging technologies, including AI‑enabled tools, and ability to evaluate their strategic, operational, and ethical implications in an academic environment.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, and ability to translate complex technical concepts for non‑technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to drive organizational change and support adoption of new systems, processes, and workflows.
• Strong ability to translate business needs into clear technical requirements and actionable project plans.
• Experience partnering effectively with senior academic and administrative leadership to influence decision‑making without direct authority.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives while balancing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations.
• Experience analyzing and optimizing business processes to deliver measurable operational improvements.
• Familiarity with enterprise systems, integrations, and data governance considerations in a complex IT environment.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, evaluating third‑party solutions, and overseeing service delivery performance.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate across multiple teams and stakeholders to deliver clear, consistent outcomes without direct authority.

• ITSM/ITIL experience.
• Prior experience in higher education.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Wharton School

$71,733.00 – $85,000.00 Annual Rate

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible…