Director Of It

Brighton College is seeking to appoint a Director of IT on a fulltime, permanent basis.

The Director of IT will support the College's Senior Management Team in defining the IT strategy, through engagement with all relevant stakeholders including pupils, staff and parents. The role is ultimately responsible for implementing the IT strategy with the support of both third party IT specialists as well as the College's IT team which the role will directly line manage. We are predominantly a Microsoft based School therefore skills and experience with Microsoft Azure, M365 including Hybrid Exchange environments, Windows Server and other related Microsoft systems are essential.

Job Summary

The Director of IT will be responsible for:

• Working closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure the IT strategic objectives enable Brighton College to become a leading educational institution for innovative use of technology;
• Ensuring that the IT strategy will encompass technology aspirations for all College stakeholders: in the classroom for pupils and teachers to further enhance our world class learning experience; front and back office systems for all staff; parent engagement through the portal and other systems, prospective parents through social media and the website (in conjunction with the marketing team);
• Leading on all IT project transformation initiatives, including the use of Artificial Intelligence where appropriate;
• Managing and leading the activities of the IT team including the infrastructure, application and technical support teams;
• Ensuring that cyber security, online safety (including safeguarding) and GDPR are maintained at the highest possible standards.

Main duties and Responsibilities

The Director of IT will directly line manage the following support staff teams:

• Infrastructure (networks, cyber security, hardware procurement);
• Applications (all school systems including iSAMs);
• Front line technical support (helpdesk, troubleshooting, onsite operational support)

In addition, the role will have close working relationships across the College in both the Senior School and the Prep School with key liaison roles including:

• The Bursar and the Assistant Head (Co-Curriculum and IT Strategy) who will jointly line manage this role;
• The Head of Computing (academic subject for pupils);
• The Director of Digital Teaching and Learning;
• The Director of Innovation;
• Senior Leadership teams (both support staff and academic staff);
• Brighton College International group of partnership schools to provide best practice advice.

Key responsibilities of the role

Pupil IT experience:

• Innovative use of technology in the classroom including increased use of AI;
• Pupil device strategy;
• Access to wifi with appropriate filtering and monitoring that fulfils compliance requirements including for boarding pupils outside of classroom hours;
• The teaching and learning environment (interactive teaching screens, use of OneNote, Teams and other tools.

Parent and other stakeholder IT experience:

• Continue to improve the parent experience via the 'one stop shop' parent portal;
• Best in class technology for efficient and secure communication, including the parent billing process;
• Support visibility of relevant pupil information (homework, results, reports etc.) for parents.

Staff IT Experience:

Teaching Staff:

• Development of systems to support innovative learning environment;
• Increased efficiency of day to day process, e.g. pupil registration, pastoral record keeping etc;
• Increased integration of systems to improve pastoral and academic monitoring.

Support Staff:

• Key systems to support the operational running of the school (iSAMS; Sage Finance; HR and Payroll system etc).

All Staff:

• Strive to be a 'gold standard' Microsoft Showcase school;
• Use of technology to improve efficiency for all College processes (e.g. event bookings; minibus
• tracking systems; security and access etc);
• Ongoing training, awareness and testing of cyber security;
• Staff device strategy.

Person Specification:

• Leading and implementing IT strategic objectives across mid-large size organisations, preferably with prior school experience, although not essential;
• Strong line manager with excellent communication skills to interact with pupils, staff, parents and visitors;
• Highly competent technical skillset; critical to have a strong Microsoft background;
• Excellent understanding of cyber security and data privacy (GDPR);
• Attention to detail and ability to adapt technology and systems to meet with stringent and often changing compliance requirements (e.g. ISI, Government and KCSIE standards);
• 'Never totally satisified' with a thirst for innovation and continual improvement;
• Positive collaboration and proactive approach to use of AI;
• Understanding of budgets and the ability to manage them;
• An infectious ‘can do’ attitude and a willingness to roll up their sleeves to ensure performance deadlines and high standards are met;
• Evaluating new technologies and maintaining knowledge of IT trends;
• Developing and maintaining IT policies, procedures and budgets;
• Maintaining key relationships with internal and external stakeholders;
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to deal with competing pressures.

Hours of Work:

• As a senior manager in the College, there is a requirement for flexibility for hours worked as and when required, including evenings and weekends from time to time.

Measuring Performance:

• Annual appraisals to be held jointly with the Bursar and the Assistant Head of Co-Curricular / IT.
• Probation period of 6 months during which time regular review meetings will be held.

Holiday:

• 23 days rising to 28 days after 2 years (of which 3 days need to be taken between Christmas and New Year when the College is closed), in addition to public/bank holidays.

For full details of the role please see the Job Profile on our website.