Director of Information Technology, Security & Data

Location – Croydon / Hybrid

Salary – £115 – £135k + discretionary bonus up to 10k

The Harris Federation is a highly successful not for profit education charity with 54 schools across London, educating some 40,000 young people. Their vision is to maximise the support and challenge for their academies by operating them so that they become more than the sum of their parts. Providing their academies with an innovative, robust and secure IT service is an integral part of delivering their vision for both students and staff.

They are looking to appoint a Director of Information Technology, Security & Data to join their head office central team and shape the future and Technology vision for the Harris Federation. As Director of Information Technology, Security & Data, you will oversee the day-to-day IT operations and services delivered to 5,000 staff and 40,000 students. The successful candidate will lead an IT strategy for the Federation and drive a wide range of technology-led change programmes and projects to improve infrastructure technologies. We are looking for an individual who has a real passion for technology and learning, and who has a genuine interest to work in the Education sector. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference within the Federation, and to help their academies and the young people of London.

We are looking for an individual with experience of strategic leadership and management of information services, and who can communicate and promote the adoption of technology within academies and nurture a culture of best practice to drive efficiencies.

You should be a strong communicator with the ability to translate a visionary/innovative concept into a practical implementation plan.

Main Areas of Responsibility

You will oversee the strategic development, operational delivery, and use of information technology and data across the Federation.

Reporting to the CEO, you will act as a key advisor on information technology, cyber security, data, digital transformation, and related high-risk technology matters. You will oversee a large IT function consisting of IT, Security and Data professionals, with indirect management of academy-based IT Technicians.

As Director of Information Technology, Security & Data, you will:

• Be responsible for information technology, security and data services for the Harris Federation academies and head office
• Be responsible for the development of the Federations Technology strategy and work with education colleagues on defining the digital learning strategies
• Delivery of any transformation programmes to support and enable change across the Federation
• Develop and promote a culture and vision for information technology with a tech-forward business strategy to support transformation and innovation within the central team and academies
• Lead on transformation and change projects and programmes, collaborating with Directors and Head Office departments to successfully deliver technology and not technology led change
• Work closely with Directors from both Education and Non-Education areas to embed best practice Information &; Cyber Security practices, ensuring compliance with legal or regulatory requirements
• Support the Federation’s mission statement for education by ensuring the robust integrity and functionality of the IT systems for learning, teaching, administration, and leadership Please download the application pack via our careers website for the full job description and person specification.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant technical discipline
• Proven experience as a Head of IT, IT Director, CIO, CTO or similar role and delivery of effective and transformative leadership of an IT function in a comparable organisation, delivering first rate, secure, and customer focused services
• Leadership and senior leader engagement to influence, drive and enable digital change
• Developing and executing IT strategies encompassing digital change and transformation programmes
• Practical knowledge of best practice Information Security and Privacy Practices Desirable
• MSc/MA in computer science, engineering, or relevant field or equivalent
• An understanding of the charitable organisations/education is desirable

Should you wish to discuss the role in strict confidence, please contact Grace Tattersall at grace.tattersall@andersonquigley.com or +44 (0)7510 384 761.

The closing date is on Monday 29th April 2024, however we reserve the right to close the advert earlier if we get a large response.