Executive Director for Research IT

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

VUMC IT Leaders

Job Summary:

The Executive Director of Research IT will provide leadership, partnership and vision of information technology for the VUMC Research Organization. The Executive Director must think strategically about technology needed to support the Research Organizations mission and is responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of information technology, under the direction of the VUMC Central IT, to support the complex research community and strategic initiatives. The Executive Director works closely with the VUMC Central IT Leadership team to ensure alignment with the Research Institute objectives.

The Executive Director has responsibility for managing a unit under the VUMC Central IT Division that provides specialized research IT support, advocacy with senior leadership for Research IT issues, active brokering and coordination across providers of technology support across the VUMC umbrella, providing capabilities and expertise for advanced scientific computing for research, bioinformatics, high performance computing, and translational research. This includes providing leadership for operations, project management, the establishment of standards of excellence, development and management of all services, infrastructure, applications, budget management, supervision of personnel and coordination with other disciplines and departments to achieve the mission and goals of the Research Organization.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Implements, develops, and maintains services, infrastructure principles, applications and processes to align with the Research Institute’s operational and strategic goals.

• Provides support services necessary for the diverse investigative needs of research, including applications, servers, storage area networks, data transfer mechanisms, and collaboration tools.
• Leads and coordinates implementation of new services, infrastructure, applications and enhancements to current services to improve administrative, compliance, and scientific operations of research providing methodologies and techniques that start with the business requirements and security features.
• Translates user needs into technical requirements and educates end users about the importance and relevance of data security, backup, retention and other IT best practices. Identifies needs and opportunities for the efficient and cost effective use of existing and new services.
• Participates in the design and security validations in coordination with the Vanderbilt IT Security Department.
• Coordinates with Research Leadership and staff to operationalize infrastructure services, applications and high quality support for these based on agreed service levels.
• Develops standards and procedures to monitor and continuously improve the management of services.
• Keeps pace with latest software/hardware innovations.
• Facilitates vendor evaluations and solution recommendations and supports RFP creation, management and execution process.
• Ensures internal quality measurement programs exist and are followed.
• Manages budgets and executes annual planning in conjunction with appropriate stakeholders.
• Develops and collaborates on policies, procedures, and related documentation to formalize standards, service capability, and service level expectations.

2. Develops coordinated long-term strategies and maintains technology roadmaps for technologies and applications in coordination with Research and VUMC Central IT Teams.

• Leads and facilitates conversions and implementations to address emerging Research requirements.
• Surveys user community, peer institutions, and industry sources to establish benchmarks and metrics for organizational performance. Functions as a key participant in the level-setting of expectations and determination of group priorities.
• Represents researcher needs in the development of enterprise IT standards, policies, and system implementations.
• Collaborates on capabilities for advanced scientific computing, staffing to provide infrastructure to current and future technology trends required or useful to the scientific community.
• Establishes relationships within Research, Central IT, other institutional departments, and coordinates with Research IT at committees, boards, and other meeting, both internally and at national levels.

3. Lead and/or Participate in Governance Committees

• Communicates regularly to Senior Staff, Department Heads, and Principal Investigators regarding key departmental services and to discuss current and future needs and expectations.
• Seeks input from staff, membership, and other stakeholders on items requiring discussion, and contribute to agendas appropriately.
• Prepares for meetings by gathering relevant information and documentation to facilitate meaningful discussion.
• Utilizes meeting management skills and consensus decision model to ensure meeting productivity, inclusiveness of points of view, and effective decision making.
• Prepares and submit monthly report detailing monthly and year-to-date accomplishments.
• Meets regularly with management and direct reports to review projects, staffing, budget, and any areas of concern.

4. Identify, measure, and compare key departmental quality and service processes to establish “Best Practices”.

• Utilizes data-driven decision making to inform and recommend solutions.
• Gathers direct client feedback, both formally and informally to ensure optimal team performance.
• Establishes goals based on specific metrics and drives improvement by implementing best practices.

5. Promote and maintain the smooth functioning and efficient operation in all areas of responsibility

• Monitors work queues, service requests, assignments, and customer satisfaction of IT service delivery.
• Negotiates and monitors service-level agreements with services not directly provided by Research IT, and escalates issues to appropriate levels of leadership.
• Works within the VUMC Central IT Department to coordinate integration of shared functions.
• Develops standards of performance, determining areas of responsibility and accountability, and delegates authority through various supervisory and professional staff.
• Resolves grievances and staff concerns timely and efficiently.
• Develops criteria-based performance evaluation standards for staff.
• Builds team capabilities and capacity through career development, coaching, training and organizational opportunities.
• Exhibits outstanding leadership through mentoring and role modeling.

PREFERRED SKILLS:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience is required. Master’s degree is preferred.

• Previous management experience at the director level or above in an academic research environment preferred.

• At least five (5) years of IT management experience required.

• Understand and comply with all enterprise and VUMC Central IT departmental information security policies, procedures and standards.

• Support the integration of information security in the development, design, and implementation of Technology Resources that process, transmit, or store information.

• Support all compliance activities related to state, federal regulatory requirements, healthcare accreditation standards, and all other applicable regulations that govern the use and disclosure of patient, financial, or other confidential information.

• Ability to articulate facts and ideas clearly and concisely.

• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills.

• Excellent analytical and written and oral communications skills. Excellent project management skills.

• Ability to prepare documentation to support established objectives consistent with generally recognized standards.

• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and work effectively with minimal direction and supervision.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES

AD HOC REPORTING - (INTERMEDIATE): Demonstrates mastery of reporting in practical applications of a difficult nature. Able to sort through data to identify patterns and establish relationships. Possesses sufficient knowledge, training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering complex reports from active and archived information in state-of-the-art databases without requiring support and instruction from others. Demonstrates knowledge of data mining and data warehousing.

CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING - (ADVANCED): Demonstrates the ability to apply diverse areas of business knowledge to successfully meet broad objectives independently. Able to communicate intelligently with users, customers, management, and business leaders on the impact of technology changes. Demonstrates ability to anticipate resource needs, identify discrete tasks, set priorities, define dependencies, schedule activities, and organize work for a diverse, multi-functional configuration plan. Competently handles multiple plans and projects simultaneously managing to commitments and deadlines while successfully navigating dependencies. Improves workflows and systems in the environment as plan results dictate.

CORPORATE SYSTEMS ARCH STANDARDS (INTERMEDIATE): Has detailed knowledge of the architecture of the systems which support more than one core business area. Demonstrates knowledge of how the core business areas' applications and support systems are structured, how various components and parts interact, as well as what protocols and interfaces are used for communications and cooperation between modules and components. Participates in the overall planning and design of the specific core business systems. Able to train and educate others in the structure and components of systems architecture for those core business areas.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES (ADVANCED): Demonstrates high levels of knowledge in new and emerging technologies. Contributes to strategic planning in areas which require expert knowledge and experience. Participates in advanced technology efforts for the company, evaluating and testing new products to determine their value and applicability to the organization. Often takes a lead role in critical situations where there is a need to apply knowledge of technological trends, emerging technology and/or new tools and products. Successfully selects and implements new technology to meet requirements of state-of-the-art systems and projects. Helps set standards and establish procedures relating to new technological products and services. Actively participates in outside professional organizations and forums.

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT (EXPERT): Is a recognized expert and authority in Incident Tracking and Problem Reporting. Anticipates design and architectural flaws early in the testing process. Occupies the position which is the last internal resource for support or direction. Expected, as a result of the position, to have the ultimate knowledge, control, influence, and/or jurisdiction in the skill. Takes a lead role in developing best practices for the organization.

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION (INTERMEDIATE): Demonstrates mastery of systems integration in practical applications of a difficult nature. Able to blend legacy systems with new systems and technology in a seamless solution. Possesses sufficient knowledge, training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering systems integration solutions without requiring support and instruction from others.

Our professional administrative functions include critical supporting roles in information technology and informatics, finance, administration, legal and community affairs, human resources, communications and marketing, development, facilities, and many more.

At our growing health system, we support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

Core Accountabilities:

* Organizational Impact: Establishes function strategies with direct impact on the function results.* Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Directs the resolution of numerous strategic issues that affect own function and the broader organization.* Breadth of Knowledge: Applies in-depth business knowledge across multiple areas of the business. * Team Interaction: Leads a function serving the organization at large.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Acts upon constructive feedback from all levels of the organization and initiates strategies to develop talent in others. - Builds and Maintains Relationships: Leverages relationships and insight to forecast potential future needs and influence delivery of work to exceed expectations. - Communicates Effectively: Anticipates difference audience concerns, styles and finds mutually beneficial solutions across conflicting and sensitive issues. Delivering Excellent Services : - Serves Others with Compassion: Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of broad-based issues and considers the interests of others to improve satisfaction of services. - Solves Complex Problems: Critically evaluates complex information and identifies trends/risks to make recommendations to improve processes across areas. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing feedback and development discussions to motivate and support team members to maximize performance .Ensuring High Quality : - Performs Excellent Work: Anticipates problems or obstacles which may interfere with quality standards and develops plants to ensure area's quality standards are met. - Ensures Continuous Improvement: Routinely draws upon valuable learning from others, past experiences, and new information to determine key opportunities. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Develops appropriate corrective actions for unsafe environments in order to ensure operational and safety compliance. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Identifies potential obstacles to goal achievement and develops solutions to address those obstacles. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Creates the appropriate systems and processes to effectively manage resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Applies in-depth knowledge of data to recommend and implement new approaches to improve decision making capabilities. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Identifies opportunities and leads development of new initiatives that create value across areas. - Applies Technology: Creates the energy and drive for self/others to identify and leverage technology in new, innovative ways to drive greater efficiencies. - Adapts to Change: Anticipates the change process and clearly communicates impact on others/own team(s), assisting them in embracing the change.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

10 years

Education:

Master's

Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. EOE/AA/Women/Minority/Vets/Disabled