Director of Information Technology

About the organization

Founded in 1981 in partnership with whistleblowers, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that works to expose waste, corruption, abuse of power, and other instances where the government fails to serve the public. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles. POGO has an over $7 million annual budget that supports a staff of over 50 employees.

About This Role

POGO is looking for a talented Director of Information Technology to play a crucial role in advancing POGO’s mission by providing strategic leadership on IT and oversight of our IT systems and infrastructure. You will help POGO better leverage technology by being responsible for: developing and implementing IT strategies to support the organization's goals; ensuring the security, compliance, and integrity of our systems and data; and optimizing technology resources to enhance not only operational efficiency but also the impact of our work. This position reports directly to the Vice President (VP) of Finance and Administration.

We encourage potential applicants to apply even if they only have experience or familiarity in some of the areas described below. We fully recognize that many great candidates will not have experience in all of the areas we list, or may have relevant experiences and skills that we have not listed or considered.

Core Responsibilities

• Set POGO’s multi-year technology strategy and roadmap in alignment with the strategic plan, and translate it into annual priorities, investments, and measurable outcomes.
• Advise the executive leadership team on the organization’s technology posture, including the tradeoffs among operational stability, speed of adoption, cost, compliance obligations, and organizational capacity, and bring recommendations with clear options and costs.
• Own the organization’s cybersecurity program: set the risk posture and security roadmap, direct the virtual CISO engagement, oversee risk assessment and penetration testing, maintain cyber insurance readiness, and report on risk to executive leadership.
• Author and maintain the organization’s technology, data governance, cybersecurity, and acceptable use policies, and lead their adoption across the organization in coordination with Legal and Human Resources.
• Define POGO’s compliance posture for data protection and privacy, accessibility, PCI DSS, and related obligations, and serve as the organization’s internal advisor on technology-related legal and regulatory questions in partnership with Legal.
• Identify where technology can materially increase the impact of POGO’s investigative, policy, and advocacy work, and scope, source, or build solutions — including data collection, pipelines, automation, and analysis tooling — in partnership with program leadership.
• Set the organizational framework for information architecture, records, and data management, and lead cross-departmental adoption of technology standards, with teams owning their own structures within it.
• Lead the IT team: supervise and develop the IT team, set priorities and service standards for the function, and ensure they have the capacity, skills, and succession depth to meet organizational needs.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 years of progressive IT experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership role with responsibility for technology strategy, budget and staff, preferably at a nonprofit, law firm, or other organization with comparable sensitivity around data.
• Demonstrated experience setting and executing technology strategy aligned to organizational goals, and presenting options and recommendations to executive leadership.
• Demonstrated experience owning a cybersecurity program, including risk assessment, policy development, incident response planning, and directing external security advisors.
• Demonstrated experience with technology governance and compliance, including data protection and privacy, PCI, and accessibility obligations, and working in partnership with legal counsel.
• Demonstrated experience owning a technology budget, leading vendor selection and contract negotiation, and making build, buy, and sourcing decisions.
• Strong working knowledge of modern cloud-first enterprise environments, including Microsoft 365 and Entra, sufficient to direct, evaluate, and hold accountable technical work performed by others.
• Demonstrated experience supervising and developing technical staff.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate technical matters for non-technical executives and staff and to build consensus across departments.
• Commitment to creating, maintaining, and otherwise fostering an inclusive work environment.
• Commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications

• (+) Legal, compliance, or privacy background or credential (e.g., CIPP), or experience serving as a technology advisor to legal teams preferred but not required
• (+) Experience identifying and delivering technology solutions that increase program impact in research, policy, advocacy, or investigative settings, including data pipelines, automation, and analysis tooling preferred but not required.

POGO is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. We encourage all interested and qualified individuals to apply.