Overview Ascend Learning seeks to hire a Director of Technology to lead an innovative technology agenda that will continue to accelerate Ascend's mission to advance educational equity. Why extraordinary professionals teach at Ascend Ascend is the largest Brooklyn-based public charter school serving over 5,000 K-12 students in 17 schools. We exist to serve every student - to help them embody their inherent excellence by providing rich, joyful learning experiences that unlock a life of boundless choice. Access to education is a social justice issue. As educators, we center justice and live out our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (DEIA) by ensuring that our students have the skills, tools, and confidence they need to thrive today and in the future. We are proud to have a workforce that mirrors the diversity seen in our students. Working at Ascend provides a community focused on developing an environment of support and belonging. Educators collaborate closely and encourage each other to achieve great outcomes. Our schools honor, nurture, and challenge the whole child. Ascend fosters critical thinking skills and a love of learning through an inquiry-based learning approach, Responsive Classroom model, and anti-racist education. We are deeply committed to advancing educational equity for all of our students. Students at Ascend benefit from a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures natural curiosity about the world and guides them to think critically and independently. For more information on Ascend Public Charter Schools' model, approach, and core values, please visit our website. Responsibilities The Director of Technology work's closely with the Chief Operating Officer to: * Establish a shared technology vision that advances Ascend Charter Schools' mission * Develop and implement a technology roadmap that rationalizes the existing technology ecosystem; and specifies the foundational architecture and technology solutions that are needed and the scope and sequence of required technology developments, enhancements and/or decommissioning of existing solutions * Lead and manage a high performing technology organization with requisite skills and capacity, and enabled by scalable development and operations processes * Partner across the organization to drive technology-enabled innovations within the classroom, the school and the network. Staff and reporting relationships The Director of Technology reports to the Chief Operating Officer. Qualifications The Director of Technology should have depth and breadth across each of the following areas: * Is a strategic thinker with a history of designing longer-term strategy, mapping current gaps; * Effectively leads and manages people, and has experience in leading diverse teams using both agile and traditional project management methodologies; * Has experience and expertise in gathering stakeholder requirements; architecting, developing and maintaining scalable education technology platforms; integrating packaged solutions; and vendor management; * Has advanced knowledge of Meraki cloud and software-defined networking, switching, routing, firewalling, and load balancing * Has advanced knowledge of wireless networking (Wi-Fi 6 and cloud managed infrastructures) * Connectivity - fiber, microwave, ELANs, WAN, LAN * Performance management; staff, network, infrastructure, and applications * Experience in designing and implementing all technology infrastructures required to build/renovate buildings to be used as schools * Purchasing efficient and cost-effective technologies - hardware and applications * VoIP technologies and implementations, including HPBX systems/applications * Public and private cloud infrastructures including Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud * Microsoft's technology stack (Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Windows Server, DNS, DHCP, Hyper-V, Azure) * Threat detection/response/mediation and intrusion detection and prevention, and security operations center experience * Is knowledgeable of Ascend's current stack of technologies and applications, including: Citrix ShareFile, GoGuardian, Schoolytics, RingCentral, Mimecast, ManageEngine, AssetPanda, PolicyPak, Lenovo Thinkpads * Effectively communicates with, and translates between technical and non-technical stakeholders; * Demonstrated ability to quickly diagnose issues, identify root causes, and design effective and scalable solutions * Stays apace of technology trends and the landscape of education technologies and tools, and strategically considers how they can be leveraged to advance the organization * Seeks to work at a fast-paced, entrepreneurial organization deeply committed to education equity and access in Brooklyn. Compensation Initial salary offers for this position range from $95,000 - $115,000. Salaries are determined using an equitable compensation scale that accounts for years of experience and levels of attained education. Diversity at Ascend Ascend is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio-economic, gender, religious, and national identities-opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.