About the Role

The Director of IT Services is a strategic leader responsible for overseeing the university’s information technology infrastructure, ensuring it aligns with and actively supports the institution’s mission, vision, and goals. This role involves planning, developing, and managing comprehensive IT strategies that enhance teaching, learning, research, and administrative operations across the institution.

This is a broad and consequential technology leadership role at a complex organization. The Director manages everything from network infrastructure and cybersecurity to enterprise applications, help desk operations, and instructional technology — working across academic and administrative stakeholders to deliver reliable, secure, and forward-looking IT services. Higher education experience is strongly preferred, as the environment presents a distinctive set of technology governance, compliance, and service delivery challenges not found in most other sectors.

Key Responsibilities

IT Strategy and Planning

• Develop and execute a comprehensive, institution-wide IT strategy that aligns technology investments and capabilities with the university’s academic mission, research priorities, enrollment goals, and administrative efficiency objectives.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, platforms, and methodologies to position the university as a leader in higher education digital transformation, with a disciplined approach to innovation that balances opportunity against operational risk.
• Collaborate with academic and administrative leadership to identify technology needs, anticipate future requirements, and build roadmaps that reflect both near-term service delivery and long-range infrastructure planning.

Infrastructure and Operations

• Oversee the management and continuous improvement of all core IT infrastructure including network systems, servers, storage, data centers, cloud services, and campus-wide connectivity.
• Ensure the availability, performance, and reliability of enterprise applications and system integrations that support student information systems, financial operations, HR, and academic platforms.
• Manage help desk and technical support operations, establishing clear service level standards and maintaining a user-focused culture of responsiveness and continuous improvement.

Cybersecurity and Data Protection

• Oversee the security and integrity of the university’s data and systems, developing and enforcing cybersecurity policies, frameworks, and protocols that meet NIST, FERPA, HIPAA, and other applicable regulatory standards.
• Lead institutional incident response planning, security monitoring, vulnerability management, and regular risk assessments to maintain a proactive security posture.
• Educate and engage the broader university community on cybersecurity best practices, building a campus culture that treats data protection as a shared responsibility.

Instructional and Academic Technology

• Oversee instructional and classroom technology including learning management systems, audiovisual infrastructure, remote and hybrid learning platforms, and research computing resources.
• Partner with academic affairs, faculty, and instructional design teams to ensure technology solutions genuinely support teaching effectiveness, student engagement, and research productivity.
• Stay current on EdTech innovations including AI-integrated learning tools, accessibility technologies, and emerging pedagogical platforms to inform institution-wide adoption decisions.

Team Leadership and Budget Management

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing IT team across infrastructure, applications, security, instructional technology, and support functions, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Set departmental goals, manage the IT budget effectively, and ensure compliance with institutional policies and applicable regulatory requirements across all technology operations.
• Manage vendor relationships, technology contracts, and procurement processes to ensure the university receives maximum value from its technology investments.

Education, Experience, and Skills

Key Leadership Competencies

Why This Role Matters

Every academic and administrative function at a modern university depends on reliable, secure, and well-designed technology. When IT works well, it is invisible — and that invisibility is the goal. When it does not work, the disruption is felt everywhere, from the classroom to the financial office to the research lab. The Director of IT Services is responsible for maintaining that invisibility while also advancing the institution’s digital capabilities in ways that create real competitive and educational advantage.

For a technology leader who understands the specific demands of the higher education environment — the governance complexity, the budget constraints, the faculty culture, the cybersecurity exposure — this is a role with significant scope, genuine institutional impact, and real career advancement potential.

Retained Search by Excelon Associates

Excelon Associates is a retained executive search firm headquartered in Asheville, NC, with additional offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL. Our higher education practice places IT directors, CIOs, vice presidents for information technology, and senior technology leaders at colleges and universities across the United States. Since 2007 we have supported institutions in identifying the technology leadership talent that underpins institutional operations and advances digital capabilities.

For institutions seeking an exceptional Director of IT Services, Excelon Associates is a trusted recruitment partner. Reach out to start a confidential conversation, or browse our full sample job descriptions library for related higher education leadership roles.