Chief Digital & Technology Officer- Salary: £141,190 - £166,633
The University of Sussex is a leading academic institution nestled in the beautiful South Downs, on the outskirts of Brighton. With staff and students from over 100 countries, we are a diverse and innovative environment, and one of the highest performing universities in the world. Committed to excellence in education, research, and global partnerships, Sussex continues to empower students and drive positive social impact.
In these challenging times for the UK education sector, we are seeking a visionary Chief Digital & Technology Officer (CDTO) to lead the transformation of our digital landscape and drive technological excellence across the University. This pivotal role offers the opportunity to shape Sussex's future, ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation, learning, and research.
As the University’s most authoritative technological voice, the CDTO will influence the direction of all aspects of the University’s life and strategies, from the Student Experience to key research and Professional Services deliverables. Given the pace of change in technological capabilities, the role holder will advise the University on how it may leverage these changes, from embedding the use of Artificial Intelligence to leveraging the democratizing power of technology and enabling all employees to have the power to suggest and implement innovative working practices and delivery models.
The CDTO has budgetary responsibility for circa £13m operational expenditure and is accountable for significant capital investment, in excess of £80m, in technology transformation and modernisation.
Key responsibilities:
- As a member of the UEB, participate in developing and enacting Sussex’s long-term planning, advising on the relevance of current and emerging technologies for its overall direction.
- Lead the development, implementation, and delivery of IT/Digital plans, incorporating a costed IT Project Portfolio, to achieve the University’s objectives and vision.
- Lead the planning of new and existing technology, systems, and applications for continuous support to business and academic operations. Provide direction for delivery of the IT Services operating model, organisational structure, and governance processes, ensuring a culture of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and high performance, whilst delivering value for money through university technology expenditure and the IT Project Portfolio.
- Act as SRO for significant projects including the Network Replacement Project and the Digital Infrastructure Programme, and for major projects as required.
- Balance effectiveness and cost-efficiency in the management of the IT Services budget, demonstrating compliance with Value for Money and Return on Investment principles and benchmarking ITS performance against key metrics from similar organisations.
- Oversee and ensure the effective implementation of human resources processes for the division, ensuring that operational, legal, and financial risks are mitigated.
- Accountable for high quality, stable, and resilient IT solutions and customer services to enhance academic, student, and research experiences, ensuring that digitally driven products are supported by the right architectures, systems, behaviours, and metrics.
- Safeguard the University by leading the approach to cyber security defences and technology risk management, developing and executing robust policies, standards, and solutions that protect key assets and data.
- Strategic-level collaboration with other senior leaders in respect of digital, data, and AI needs and their intersection with IT for alignment toward Sussex’s strategic goals.
- Evolve and improve the student experience through the digital transformation of our student-facing processes and systems across the student lifecycle and through our marketing teams' online platforms.
- Work with campus stakeholders to develop and implement frameworks for the effective management of technology such as IT governance and enterprise architecture.
- Present on key performance indicators related to the division and prepare reports for Sussex’s senior leaders on the implementation of projects and programs, successes, areas of improvement, and overall use of budgets.
- Ensure the optimal and secure usage of institution-wide data to inform and support delivery of university processes and streamline its collection where appropriate to ensure optimal business and system performance, whilst facilitating a move towards objective data-driven decision capabilities.
- Maintain currency on new technologies and platforms, providing direction on all aspects of emerging opportunities and innovation efforts as they relate to organisational strategies, whilst horizon scanning to plan for the operationalization of emerging technologies in the fulfilment of the University’s strategic framework.
Additional Information:
The University is committed to equality and valuing diversity, and applications are particularly welcomed from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, and Mathematics (STEMM) at Sussex.
If you are interested in this vacancy, please follow the “EasyApply” process which will register your interest and add you to the distribution list for our dedicated microsite. For any further information, please reach out to Mercedes Sargant on or via email at .
Closing date: 10th February 2025 (23:59)
#J-18808-Ljbffr
