Director of Infrastructure

10 Colleges. Unlimited Opportunities. The Maricopa County Community College District is one of the largest community college systems in the nation. Home to 10 individually accredited community colleges and 31 satellite locations, we serve students in every corner of the Valley. Each day, our dedicated faculty, staff, and administrators live out our vision—creating excellence in education for a better world. We focus on people—not profits—with 100% acceptance, zero rejections, and affordable tuition, providing the flexibility and support our students need to succeed.

About the role

Information Technology Services (ITS) is seeking a hands-on, highly technical Director of Infrastructure to architect, build, and lead the ground-up modernization of MCCCD’s enterprise technology environment. This role is tasked with recruiting and structuring a high-performing engineering team and designing a resilient, modern technology stack across cloud native environments, hybrid data centers, next-gen networking, automation, and database systems. The Director will serve as a principal technical authority, driving hands-on architectural decisions, establishing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) standards, and migrating legacy systems onto scalable, high-availability enterprise platforms.

Responsibilities

• Technical Architecture & Stack Modernization (30%): Leads the hands-on design, evaluation, and implementation of a modern enterprise technology stack; architects cloud-native and hybrid infrastructure (AWS/Azure, Kubernetes, IaC/Terraform), modern networks (SD-WAN, zero-trust security), and automated database platforms to ensure high availability, security, and scalability.
• Team Building & Engineering Leadership (25%): Supervises and provides direction to a top-tier engineering and operations team; establishes a DevOps culture, defining technical workflows, CI/CD pipelines, operational standards, and performance metrics to drive engineering excellence; identifies training needs and opportunities; promotes professional growth and development; holds team members accountable for completing assigned tasks.
• Infrastructure Operations & Continuous Improvement (20%): Oversees daily technical operations across networking, telecommunications, cloud systems, and database management; implements robust monitoring, automated failover, incident response, and continuous improvement practices to guarantee uptime and system resilience.
• Enterprise Architecture & Stakeholder Collaboration (10%): Partners with peer IT leaders and district stakeholders to align infrastructure engineering with institutional priorities; serves as the lead enterprise architect for districtwide initiatives and emerging technology evaluations.
• Fiscal & Technical Resource Optimization (10%): Directs infrastructure engineering budgets, cloud resource optimization (FinOps), and hardware life-cycle management; negotiates technical contracts and vendor agreements for enterprise-level software, hardware, and cloud services.
• Strategic Operations (5%): Performs related technical leadership and administrative duties as assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution in a field related to the responsibilities described and six (6) years of professional experience aligned with the intended assignment, including two (2) years of supervisory or management experience. OR an equivalent combination of education, experience, and/or relevant industry certifications sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job.

Qualifications

• Experience building and scaling enterprise IT infrastructure teams and engineering workflows from the ground up, including recruiting technical talent and establishing a modern DevOps culture.
• Hands-on experience in hybrid and cloud-native architecture (e.g., AWS, Azure, VMware, Kubernetes) and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tooling (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
• Experience architecting and overseeing high-availability enterprise infrastructure, including modern networking (SD-WAN, zero-trust security), database platforms, automated failover, and disaster recovery.
• Experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder technology modernizations, technical system migrations, and cloud transformation projects across an enterprise environment.
• Current advanced industry certifications in cloud, networking, or security (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, CISSP, CCNA/CCNP, Fortinet, or ITIL).
• Experience defining technical operational standards, automated monitoring pipelines, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to drive continuous infrastructure reliability.
• One year of relevant full-time MCCCD experience during the previous two years.

Special Working Conditions

• Mandatory minimum in-office expectation.
• The selected candidate will need to reside in the Phoenix area or relocate within one month.
• This role may involve after-hours work and non-regular business hours.
• May be required to sit for prolonged periods; viewing a computer monitor.
• May be required to present in large meetings and sponsored events.
• ITS does not sponsor individuals for any type of work visas.

Pay

Starting salary range: $111,666.61 - $145,166.29 annually, dependent on experience.

Benefits

MCCCD is committed to providing a competitive and comprehensive benefits program that supports employees' and their families' health and well-being.

• Affordable and Comprehensive Benefits Package:
  • Nationwide Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
  • Paid Time Off: Vacation, Sick Leave, and Personal Time
  • 20 Paid Observed Holidays
  • Company-paid Life Insurance, AD&D, and Short-Term Disability plans, with the option to purchase supplemental coverage
  • Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) Pension, including Long Term Disability and Retiree Health Insurance with 100% employer-matching contributions
  • Optional Retirement Plans: 403(b), 457(b), Roth 403(b), Roth 457(b)
  • Tuition Reimbursement for employees and dependents
  • Annual Professional Development Funding
  • Flexible Work Schedules
• Employee Health & Wellness Programs:
  • District-Wide Wellness Program with Workshops and Webinars
  • Monthly Health & Wellness Calendar and Newsletter
  • Virta Diabetes Reversal Program, Support Groups
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Sight-On-Site Eye Care Services
  • Pre-Retirement Planning Events
  • Qualifying Employer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (potential loan forgiveness for federal Direct Loans after meeting repayment requirements and working full-time for an eligible employer)