Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Systems & Data Solutions

About the role

The Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Systems & Data Solutions is responsible for creating and leading an enterprise application and systems environment that supports Villanova University’s strategic goals and technology priorities. Reporting to the VPIT & CIO, the AVP leads the development, delivery, and support of all enterprise applications and data analysis and reporting platforms that enable the university to deliver services to students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders. The role includes responsibility for technology strategy across ERP systems, student information systems, constituent relationship management, software development, integrations, database administration, data warehousing, business intelligence, and other enterprise-wide applications (on-premises and cloud). The AVP contributes to the IT Strategic Plan and manages the enterprise and data solutions teams to achieve goals, objectives, and key results.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning
  • Create an enterprise applications roadmap leveraging modern design principles and technologies to meet current and future university needs.
  • Lead strategic planning for new or enhanced enterprise application services, including requirements gathering, user-centered design, implementation, assessment, and retirement.
  • Partner with stakeholders to develop a data strategy that improves access to quality data and analytics and supports integration across on-premises and cloud solutions.
  • Evaluate enterprise application technologies, develop business cases, ROI assessments, total cost of ownership analyses, and other analyses to guide technology selection.
  • Build capabilities to support digital process transformation and improvements to the constituent experience in collaboration with administrative units.
• Operational Excellence
  • Build strong, collaborative partnerships with university stakeholders and participate in university activities and initiatives.
  • Collaborate with IT decision-making structures, stakeholders, and the IT PMO to establish project priorities aligned with university and IT strategic plans.
  • Adopt modern, forward-looking technology and service strategies structured around common technology layers and consistent service delivery through standard processes.
  • Address legacy technical debt, modernize integrations, and work with stakeholders to reduce modifications and increase application sustainability.
  • Manage operating and capital budgets for the Enterprise Systems and Data Solutions team.
  • Direct day-to-day operations, including strategies, plans, policies, procedures, and budgets.
  • Ensure high availability, reliability, and security of the enterprise application and data ecosystem.
• Organizational Leadership
  • Facilitate the implementation of Villanova’s Augustinian values and IT’s RESTLESS vision and values.
  • Foster high-performing, agile teams dedicated to technical excellence, exceptional customer service, and fluid customer experiences.
  • Promote effective communication within the team, across IT, and across the university.
  • Build and sustain an inclusive culture where employees from all backgrounds can succeed and thrive.
  • Train, coach, and mentor employees; plan and conduct performance appraisals; participate in or lead hiring processes as needed.
• Additional Duties
  • Perform other duties and assist with projects as assigned.
  • Cultivate, negotiate, and formalize vendor relationships and external partnerships that support digital initiatives.
  • Develop a strong network of peers at comparable institutions and represent the university at local, statewide, and national meetings and conferences.
  • Maintain current knowledge of best practices and future trends in enterprise applications, including architecture, development, data warehousing, business intelligence, integrations, SaaS, and agile development.
  • Keep the VPIT & CIO informed of current and potential issues, operational outages, and risks that may affect IT service delivery.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required. Additional job-related experience may substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis.
• Experience: 15 years of relevant experience in enterprise application management/support, enterprise architecture, data warehousing, and/or business analysis.
• Job Knowledge:
  • Track record of directing large and complex IT development and operations teams.
  • Proven leadership in senior management roles with ability to manage high-performing teams, operations, and budgets.
  • Strategic thinking about applying technology to solve business problems; ability to assess technologies and standards to determine best fit.
  • Commitment to continuous assessment and improvement with experience establishing and reporting on key performance metrics.
  • Experience leading organizational and/or technology change initiatives with emphasis on relationship-building, collaboration, and shared stewardship.
  • Strong written and oral communication skills, including ability to present ideas in user-friendly, business-friendly, and technical language.
  • Ability to build effective relationships and work collegially and collaboratively with constituents at all levels in a diverse and distributed environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree preferred.
• Understanding of software lifecycle and application development processes.
• Experience with business process analysis, including process mapping and re-engineering.
• Experience in a large and complex IT environment in higher education.
• Familiarity with enterprise application support, database management, application development, data warehousing, and/or application integration.
• Understanding of AI, machine learning, and/or robotic process automation as applied to enterprise systems and services.
• Visionary mindset to identify technology possibilities.
• Demonstrated conflict resolution, influence, and consensus-building abilities.
• Familiarity with shared governance models.