Director IT Support Services (Hybrid Opportunity)

About UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region

Job Summary

The Director of IT Support Services leads and oversees the organization 's IT support functions. This role ensures the efficient operation of IT help desks, technical support teams, and IT service management processes to deliver exceptional support and services to internal and external stakeholders. The Director manages a team of IT professionals, develops strategic plans, and collaborates with other departments to ensure IT systems and services are effectively aligned with organizational goals and objectives.

Essential Functions

• Lead, mentor, and manage the IT support services teams, ensuring high-quality technical support and customer service across campus, including helpdesk operations, enterprise desktop support, instructional and classrooms support.
• Collaborate with Chief Operations Officer (COO) to define and execute the IT strategy and roadmap in alignment with the organizational overall IT and business goals.
• Manage recruitment, training, performance evaluations, and professional development of IT support staff to ensure continuous growth and high service standards.
• Promote a customer-focused culture that ensures efficient issue resolution, user satisfaction and effective service delivery.
• Develop and enforce best practices, policies and procedures to ensure consistent and efficient operations.
• Direct the design, implementation, and ongoing management of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes, including incident and problem management, change management, and request fulfillment; drive continuous improvements through process optimization, automation and the adoption of new technologies.
• Facilitate budget planning activities for assigned units; manage budgets and resources to ensure efficient allocation to meet organizational needs and service excellence.
• Partner with campus departments to align IT priorities with university-wide goals, focusing on instructional technology, computing spaces and online services.
• Lead selected organizational assessments of central and distributed IT operations to drive business process improvements and promote standard operating procedures (SOP) across campus. Collaborate with IT units and campus stakeholders to foster communication, innovation, and streamlined services to provide high quality, effective and reliable desktop support across campus.
• Track service performance through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to meet Service Level Agreement (SLA) targets and drive improvements through process optimization, automation and new technologies. Monitor and report on user feedback, satisfaction, system up/down time, and issue resolution times. Develop and monitor productivity metrics to ensure high customer satisfaction and to establish an equal workload among staff members.

Other Functions

• Maintains confidentiality of all information related to IT employees and participates in sensitive HR/labor relations discussions.
• Perform other duties as assigned or required to meet Department, Executive Area/Division, and University goals and objectives.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

• Bachelor's degree with 10 years of progressively responsible relevant experience.
• At least five (5) years of supervisory experience.
• Experience managing a technical team devoted to enterprise desktop support, instructional and classroom technology, helpdesk support on both Windows and Mac platforms.
• Demonstrated collaborative team building and leadership skills, including establishing credibility and building strong working relationships with senior leadership, colleagues, and clients, promoting transparency and trust, building consensus, and pursuing service excellence and continuous improvement.
• Experience in meeting the demands of complex production-oriented environments where timeliness and availability of systems is considered critical. Must be able to work effectively to resolve problems under stressful conditions where the rapid restoration of normal operations is critical.
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity; ability to establish and maintain harmonious relationships with co-workers and with a broad range of clients with diverse skills and backgrounds which includes executives, faculty, staff, and vendors.
• Strong assessment and analytical abilities, and particular skill in the effective resolution of complex, potentially sensitive issues.
• Experience designing and developing clear instructional materials.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; accountability and reliability in meeting project deadlines and requirements.

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

Experience in Higher Education working with faculty and staff is preferred.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

Typical Office Environment.

Work Schedule

• Monday - Friday, 40 Hours.
• This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee's work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position is non-unit, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees Non-Unit (Professional/or Classified) Employee Personnel Policy.

Salary Information

Commensurate with experience.

Special Instructions to Applicants

Along with the application, please submit a resume, and cover letter. References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references.

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University. To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.