IT Program Director

Job Summary

The Program Director of Cloud Engineering provides both operational and technical leadership for the Compass engineering program, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and delivery of innovative, cloud-based solutions that advance clinical and research capabilities across the Anschutz campus.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide program direction for Compass’s engineering program by aligning technical capabilities with organizational priorities and evolving customer needs.
• Develop multi-year cloud infrastructure roadmap and drive adoption of emerging technologies that enhance operational efficiency, data integration, and scalability.
• Develop, manage, and forecast the engineering program budget; identify cost efficiencies, evaluate return on investment, and recommend strategic investments.
• Lead vendor strategy, contracting, and RFP/RFQ processes while cultivating partnerships that expand capabilities and support long-term program goals.
• Allocate resources across projects and product lines to ensure appropriate application stack coverage and anticipate future capability needs.
• Establish performance metrics, track operational effectiveness, and oversee program reporting against SLAs and strategic objectives.
• Serve as a strategic partner with Compass leadership and OIT to ensure all solutions meet security, compliance, and governance expectations.

Technical

• Provide technical vision and oversight to guide the engineering team toward Compass’s future-state architecture, including integration with campus and external partner systems.
• Contribute as a technical advisor or subject matter expert for high-impact initiatives, pilots, or operational workflows.
• Standardize and optimize program operating procedures, including performance monitoring, capacity planning, and quality assurance.
• Identify opportunities to reduce technical debt, improve code and data quality, and optimize cloud-native workflows.
• Manage vendor relationships and performance for cloud-native platforms and tools.
• Collaborate with leadership to expand Compass’s data and infrastructure capabilities using advanced tools for protection (e.g., DLP), integration, and enrichment (e.g., NLP and LLM/AI applications).

Work Location

Hybrid – this role is eligible for a hybrid schedule of 3 days per week on campus and as needed for in-person meetings.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a closely related field from an accredited institution.
• A combination of education and related technical/military/paraprofessional experience may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree on a year for year basis.
• At least six (6) years of progressively responsible experience in cloud computing, data engineering, data analysis, or cloud platform management.
• At least four (4) years of people management or supervisory experience.

Why Join Us

Health Data Compass (Compass) is the technology innovation arm of the Research Informatics Office. Compass maintains, develops, and innovates within a data integration and analytics platform on cutting-edge, cloud-based technologies to support biomedical research and clinical excellence throughout the CU research enterprise and our hospital partners.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The University of Colorado is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.