Director, Learning Technologies

Director, Learning Technologies

University of Southern California - Information Technology Services (ITS)
Location: Los Angeles, California (Hybrid)

About USC

USC is the leading private research university in Los Angeles-a global center for arts, technology, and international business. With more than 47,500 students, we are located primarily in Los Angeles but also in various US and global satellite locations. As the largest private employer in Los Angeles, responsible for $8 billion annually in economic activity in the region, we offer the opportunity to work in a dynamic and diverse environment, in careers that span a broad spectrum of talents and skills across a variety of academic and professional schools and administrative units. As a USC employee and member of the Trojan Family-the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who make USC a great place to work-you will enjoy excellent benefits, including a variety of well-being programs designed to help individuals achieve work-life balance.

About the ITS Team

The University of Southern California's Information Technology Services (ITS) is committed to continually improving services for faculty, staff, and students in support of USC's ascent as a leading institution of higher education. The ITS vision aligns strategy, business, and services; affirms ITS cultural values; empowers cross-functional teamwork; embraces world-class best practices; and promotes innovation, excellence, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this vision, ITS is committed to providing a modern technology infrastructure that is resilient and delivers the performance necessary to meet the demands of a growing customer base, providing training in the latest technologies for its highly productive and motivated workforce, outstanding customer experience, and technology services that are aligned with the university's mission to provide exceptional learning opportunities for students. ITS creates a workplace where employees can develop cutting-edge skills, take pride in the services they provide, and have access to the roles and career paths that align with their abilities and potential.

We are looking for top talent to join us on our journey.

ITS Culture

USC's ITS organization represents a diverse and talented team, committed to supporting a collaborative culture and delivering secure and innovative IT services, core to the mission of USC. ITS values accountability, excellence, and commitment to exceptional customer experience. ITS strives for a supportive and inclusive culture that encourages employees to do their best work every day and where individuals are recognized and celebrated for their contributions.

Position Summary

As the Director, Learning Technologies, you are responsible for leading the delivery and support of the university's learning management system (LMS) and related learning technologies within Information Technology Services. This role ensures that learning technologies effectively support teaching, learning, and engagement across the university.

The Director works closely with faculty, academic leadership, and IT stakeholders to support system reliability, guide enhancements, and ensure that services meet the needs of the campus community. This role also oversees vendor relationships and contributes to planning efforts that align learning technologies with institutional priorities.

Job Accountabilities:

• Directly or indirectly supervises all assigned subordinate staff, usually through other supervisors. Recruits, screens, hires and trains staff. Assesses need for technical and professional growth and recommends development opportunities. Evaluates performance and provides guidance and feedback. Counsels and/or disciplines as needed.

• Sets departmental goals and objectives and communicates to staff. Reassesses or redefines priorities as appropriate in order to achieve performance objectives.

• Participates in the planning and administration of departmental and project budgets as assigned.

• Consults with users on systems development project requests. Communicates regularly and effectively with stakeholders, technical staff, senior level management and customers regarding project goals, objectives, deliverables, plans and status throughout a project. Designs system(s) and/or system(s) configuration and specifications to satisfy user needs. Develops project schedules and plans and estimates staffing and other resource requirements. Directs the work of staff to ensure project plans and schedules are adhered to and follows up with users to ensure satisfaction with services provided. Makes presentations, as needed.

• Evaluates vendor proposals for system upgrades and configuration changes and/or purchases of hardware, software and technical services to assure adherence to specifications. Analyzes proposed projects for feasibility.

• Develops internal operating policies and procedures and ensures they are well documented for use and reference by staff. Develops and disseminates policies and procedures for users. Provides interpretation as required and/or approves exceptions as authorized.

• Manages communication amongst all affected faculty, staff, students, and teams to ensure timely issue resolution; manages response, action and communication for high-visibility outages, problems, changes, or incidents; leads root cause analysis and communicates steps taken to mitigate future issues.

• Actively engages collaborative, mutually effective relationships with key university leaders, IT service leaders, and staff members; leverages functional expertise and technical competency within assigned area to gain credibility and influence with stakeholders.

• Collaborates with university leaders to develop short- and long-term plans that enable competitive strategies and fiscal requirements; develops product/service strategies that exploit current and emerging technologies or processes; supports IT governance principles and protocols; assists in governance activities.

Required Qualifications

The candidate for the position must meet the following required qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree

• Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education

• 7 years of work experience

• 5+ years of work experience in Learning Management Systems leadership, academic technology, information technology, data services, application services, IT service management, or a related field

• Directly relevant experience in field to provide technical expertise along with supervisory and budget management experience

• Ability to effectively collaborate and engage academic communities to support the adoption of technologies that improve learning outcomes and student success

• Demonstrated experience managing learning management systems and associated technologies, with the ability to deliver effective service and support to a campus community including students, faculty, and staff

Preferred Qualifications

The ideal candidate for the position has the following preferred qualifications:

• Master's Degree

• 7+ years of work experience in Learning Management Systems leadership, academic technology, information technology, data services, application services, IT service management, or a related field

• Experience leading or managing a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Brightspace, Canvas, or Blackboard

• Background in higher education, academic technology, or educational technology (EdTech) environments

• Demonstrated experience supporting enterprise application platforms used across large, complex organizations

• Experience building relationships and working with stakeholders across faculty, academic leadership, and administrative units

• Experience participating in cross-functional governance groups or committees

• Familiarity with LMS integrations, including connections with student information systems (SIS) and third-party tools

• Experience managing vendor relationships and working with external partners to support platform capabilities

• Strong communication skills, including the ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical audiences

• Experience leading teams of technical and functional individual contributors

• Exposure to change management or product management practices related to enterprise platforms

In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words, and actions, a strong commitment to USC's Unifying Values of integrity, excellence, community, well-being, open communication, and accountability.

Salary and Benefits

The annual base salary range for this position is $189,193.65 to $200,000.04. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer alignment, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

To support the well-being of our faculty and staff, USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of perks to help protect their and their dependents' health, wealth, and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USC's comprehensive benefits here.

Come join the USC ITS team and work as a trusted partner in shaping an environment of innovation and excellence.

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