Ellucian Colleague Application Director- Southern California

Job Description

Job Description

Please note this role is on-site or hybrid in Southern California.

Job Summary

The Director of IT Enterprise Applications provides strategic leadership, vision, and operational oversight for the University’s administrative software ecosystem. This pivotal role focuses on the lifecycle management, optimization, and continuous modernization of our core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform, Ellucian Colleague alongside all integrated third-party systems.

The Director leads a dedicated team of business analysts, developers, and administrators to deliver high-quality, customer-focused technology solutions across academic and administrative departments. The ideal candidate is a dynamic, collaborative leader with deep functional and technical expertise in higher education operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. ERP & Strategy Management

• Drive application roadmaps : Define and execute the long-term application strategy and modernization roadmaps, focusing heavily on adopting Ellucian Colleague SaaS functionalities.
• Manage release cycles : Coordinate the testing, planning, and deployment of Colleague patches and software releases to ensure minimal disruption to university operations.
• Mitigate technical debt : Evaluate all sub-modules and code modifications to avoid technical debt and eliminate unnecessary system customizations.

2. System Integration & Analytics

• Oversee API ecosystems : Lead the technical architecture and maintenance of integration tools, using Ellucian Ethos to connect the ERP with third-party software like LMS (Canvas) and CRMs.
• Support data governance : Partner with stakeholders to implement strict data standards, ensuring data integrity, security, and compliance across administrative systems.
• Enhance reporting systems : Oversee data reporting infrastructure leveraging tools like Entrinsik Informer, Argos, or Ellucian Insights to drive university business analytics.

3. Team Leadership & Governance

• Mentor technical talent : Direct, recruit, and foster professional development for a team of database administrators, system programmers, and business analysts.
• Establish IT governance : Prioritize functional system requests, enhancements, and workflow automations alongside university leadership teams.
• Manage vendor relations : Act as the primary liaison to software providers, keeping track of licensing compliance, support contracts, and service level agreements.

Qualifications

Required Minimum Qualifications

• Education : Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
• Leadership : Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible IT experience, including at least 3 years in a direct management or leadership role.
• ERP Domain Expertise : At least 3 years of hands-on experience supporting and administering an Ellucian Colleague environment within a Higher Education institution.
• Technical Knowledge : Proven understanding of higher education operational frameworks (e.g., Financial Aid, Admissions, Student Records, and Human Resources).

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Degree : Master’s degree in a technical or business management field.
• Advanced Ellucian Stack : Experience migrating legacy architectures to Colleague SaaS or managing environments built on Ellucian Experience, Self-Service, and Ethos.
• Legacy and Modern Tooling : Proficiency or familiarity with Envision, Unidata, Colleague Studio, WebAPI, or SQL databases.
• Reporting Architecture : Prior success designing reporting ecosystems using Informer or Ellucian ODS/Insights.