Director, IT Business Partnership

Director, It Business Partnership

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 325,000 students in 500+ schools and employing over 45,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. Aligned with our transformed philosophy, we are steadfastly focused on ensuring that the District provides resources equitably to support every student, every school, and every community. Six core values guide the work we do every day for our students – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning. Each role in the district supports our vision that every student deserves a rigorous, joyful, and equitable learning experience.

The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) works to build the capacity of schools to use information and technology, maintain network infrastructure, security standards, and support other departments to meet district goals. ITS provides innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of education for students, reduce the administrative burden on educators, facilitate parent interaction, increase community engagement, and support CPS' mission of transparency by focusing on the ease and equity of access to information.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Executive Director of IT Business Partnership & Innovation, the Director, IT Business Partnership will be responsible for shaping technology strategy and demand, serving as a key IT liaison to the District's business units and relationship management across all of CPS. This position will serve as the business relationship link by servicing mid-management to senior leaders of business units district-wide, providing transformational leadership, tactical execution support, strategic direction, and end-to-end guidance through key ITS initiatives. The Director of IT Business Partnership will lead a team of Managers of IT Business Partnership, Senior Business Analysts, and Business Analysts responsible for collaborating with ITS functional services to oversee and partner with Business Owners and strategic IT vendors on delivering CPS business priorities from intake, plan, design, develop, test, and deployment and/or an agile iterative approach in the plan, build, test, and release of CPS business solutions.

The Director, IT Business Partnership will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Provide the overarching vision for Enterprise AI, leading the analysis of future-state business capabilities and developing a 5-year enterprise AI roadmap to ensure the District remains at the forefront of educational technology. Develop and maintain value-added Business Relationship Management (BRM) professional maturity for the entire team, fostering a culture of consulting and high-level service delivery.
• Serve as a senior technology advisor across the CPS portfolio, acting as a key liaison between business units and ITS to align technology roadmaps with the District's 5-Year Strategic Plan and Blueprint.
• Recruit, onboard, and provide direction, guidance, and strong leadership to the IT Business Partnership team to ensure robust learning and career development consistent with the CPS values and mission; foster collaboration and effective integration of efforts with division-wide initiatives
• Lead team members and business leaders to define joint IT/Business strategies, evaluate investment proposals, and determine how new initiatives fit into long-term business capability roadmaps.
• Lead the design and conceptualization phases for IT and AI initiatives, ensuring all solutions are human-centered, culturally responsive, and practically relevant to the school environment.
• Drive continuous improvement efforts in value optimization and IT performance; proactively identify business capability gaps and initiate efforts to improve the efficiency of business units.
• Act as a champion for IT transformation, communicating priorities, project milestones, and critical decisions to all levels of staff to ensure transparency and buy-in for District initiatives.
• Oversee operational planning for the delivery of new technology solutions, ensuring they meet the established objectives of business partners and remain in accordance with the enterprise portfolio roadmap.
• Proactively share knowledge of emerging technologies, risks, and opportunities to build district-wide digital capabilities that support student learning, engagement, and operational excellence.
• Other duties as assigned.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Director, IT Business Partnership must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field from an accredited college or university.
• Relevant professional certifications/designations such as PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®, Disciplined Agile® Scrum Master (DASM) Certification, and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Experience Required:

• Minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional leadership experience in IT Business Relationship Management and IT Business Consulting, including the following, is required:
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience leading/managing one or more of the above functions, including experience designing, developing and leading a large (ex: 15 or more) team of employees spanning multiple levels, including contractors, and management-level roles.
• Experience in Senior-level IT business management, business account management, and business functional experience at a large, public or private sector institution similar in size and complexity to Chicago Public Schools, preferred.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of the experience above, strongly preferred.

Other Requirements:

• Local and Domestic travel (E.g., traveling to different CPS locations, attending conferences with School Educators, Academic Directors, and ITS Managers, etc.) required up to 10%.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Continuous learner of emerging technologies such as Generative AI, EDTech solutions, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Digital 4.0 business capabilities.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to facilitate presentations to technical and non-technical audiences.
• High levels of IT expertise, integrity, honesty, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions.
• Ability to work in collaboration with the ITS leadership team to understand and adhere to CPS ITS strategies, standards, and policies.
• Ability to develop deep knowledge of the District's business units and functions, building both horizontal and vertical relationships with business departments and IT leaders that deliver business impact.
• Strong leadership and team building skills, e.g. ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success.
• Expertise in leadership development; ability to coach managers and individual contributors toward excellence and build the capacity of technical teams.
• Ability to contribute to the people priorities and objectives regarding people leader effectiveness, employee engagement, and enabling others to perform.
• Ability to articulate a vision, set high standards, and effectively guide teams and stakeholders in the realization of expectations set.
• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment.
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management, and organizational development.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support organizational success.
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps.
• Capable of following Company policies and practices while representing CPS in an ethical and professional manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, vendors, contractors, suppliers, students, and the Chicago community.
• Skilled in the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace.

Conditions of Employment:

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.