Director of IT

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Director of Information Technology

Surfrider Foundation

San Clemente, CA

Surfrider Foundation is a network of staff and activists that includes a variety of stakeholders, platforms, tools and services, information sharing and actionable information. This position owns the strategic direction as well as the tactical, day-to-day support of this network as defined below.

The Director of Information Technology provides strategic direction and focus for Surfrider Foundation's network's technology needs, manages the IT operation in order to maximize service and reliability, and actively partners with internal stakeholders to align technology with business objectives. The Director maintains overall responsibility for project management, service quality, information security, system performance, and appropriate risk management.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develops and maintains strong relationships with organizational leadership and key stakeholders in order to best understand organizational needs and best convey & implement technology options and solutions.
• Manages multiple projects at different scales within the organization and ensures that deliverables are met in a timely manner
• Develop infrastructure and tools that support effective activist, membership, supporter communications and advocacy
• Contribute and drive innovative solutions to increase efficiency and effectiveness [in what?]
• Create and manage a vision for information capture, management use, security, backup and storage
• Drive data/network architecture decisions (networks, DBs, systems, software, platforms, partners, etc)
• Manage software selection and implementation processes to support headquarters, chapters and international affiliates.
• Coordinate any development and/or improvements to existing systems, and provide on-going analysis of system improvement opportunities
• Manage technology and related support budgeting, expenditures and related financial reporting

Operations Management

• Ensure staff's information tools and needs are being met with emphasis on membership, chapter support, infrastructure, mail order and web-related technologies
• Ensures the safety, reliability, availability and security of Surfrider's IT systems.
• Sets annual targets related to IT operations and monitors the overall performance of the department.
• Develops and executes annual work plan and supporting budgets, managing expenses and resources carefully in an effort to achieve maximum efficiency and minimize costs.
• Oversees all operating and capital expenditures and manages fixed assets, licenses and other departmental resources.
• Identifies outside vendors and manages relationships and performance of services.
• Directs and manages chapter-based and club-based technology tools, service and support

Organization-wide Strategy

• Assesses current technology and engages in continuous process of evaluating the efficacy of Surfrider's technology infrastructure and services.
• Develops a holistic, enterprise-wide strategy for the Surfrider network, ensuring alignment with both mission and tactical lines of business.
• Defines controls, policies and standards for organization's technology performance and usage and measures department and system success accordingly.
• Ensures organization's enterprise architecture is flexible enough to adapt to changing program and business needs.
• Stays abreast of industry trends, best practices, and evolution of technologies and leverages relevant emerging technologies to further the organization's mission.
• Identifies areas of weakness and contracts with outside experts as necessary to ensure the smooth running of the organization's IT infrastructure.

Requirements and Preferred Skills:

• Bachelor's Degree in computer science, business administration or a related field.
• 5+ years of progressive IT experience, including project and staff management.
• Demonstrated leadership qualities and an ability to lead and motivate others.

• 3 years minimum experience with HTML/XHTML, Javascript, Wordpress and CSS, Web programming with PHP; experience working with relational databases (a preference given to those proficient with MySQL) and knowledge of the database programming language SQL
• Proficient on OS X and comfortable using Linux servers and the command line
• Membership / constituent database experience a plus
• Experience or knowledge of Expression Engine is essential.
• Strong communications, presentation and customer service skills.
• Well-versed in current IT trends in remote-access and site-to-site connectivity and data sharing.
• Non-profit experience strongly preferred.
• Ability to act as "change agent" for driving process and continuous improvements within an organization.

Reports to COO and serves as a member of the senior management team