Title:
Vice President, Information Technology
Department:
IT
Reports to:
Chief Operating Officer
Introduction
For over 125 years, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly have been heralded around the globe as a vital institution in the performing arts.
Our Mission (what we do):
The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts shares the transformative power of the performing arts and arts education with the widest possible audience.
Our Vision (what we aspire to: our ‘North Star’):
To inspire and connect humanity with exceptional performances and experiences serving Philadelphia and the world.
Our Values (what we treasure):
Authentic
Exceptional
We communicate openly and honestly and act with acceptance, integrity, and respect.We are committed to quality and innovation. We engage our audiences and communities with exceptional experiences.
Collaborative
Inclusive
We are conveners, bringing people, institutions, and ideas togetherWe seek and value diverse perspectives, modeling equity and access in all we do. We pursue diversity on and off our stages.
Summary
As the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts strive to become a data-driven, knowledge-enabled organization, technology efficiency and innovation are critical to our success in meeting these challenges. The Vice President, Information Technology (VP, IT), is the visionary and strategic leader responsible for overseeing all aspects of technology across the organization, ensuring that systems, infrastructure, and digital initiatives support the mission, operations, and artistic goals of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts Philly.
The VP, IT, will lead technology planning, implementation, and innovations while aligning IT with organizational priorities including, but not limited to, ticketing, marketing, fundraising, artistic production, audience experience, and business operations. Specifically, the VP, IT will oversee the team that delivers results in Infrastructure, Help Desk Management, Cloud Engineering, Business Applications, Project Management, and Network Engineering.
Key Responsibilities
Overall Leadership:
- Provide the overall vision and leadership for technology roadmaps, while ensuring its full integration into the business, campus, programmatic, and operational strategy
- Develop and articulate the technology vision around major IT decisions such as migration to the cloud, strategic outsourcing, open source, etc. Serve as an effective change agent by building partnerships and consensus across the organization to support these transformational changes that impact not only IT but the broader organization
- Support the Executive Leadership Team, as revenue models evolve, on potential impacts to the technology ecosystem
- Direct and approve the design of all technology, policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines, and ensure that they are accessible, well-planned, thoroughly tested, and effective
- Oversee and monitor the technology budget, including capital projects, and ensure strategic allocation of funds
Technology Operations:
- Oversee the IT department, including infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, help desk, and enterprise systems
- Lead, motivate, and mentor direct reports and promote an inclusive and positive work environment
- Build and cross-train the technology team to establish bench strength, create professional development opportunities, and minimize the dependency of key persons on critical systems and platforms through cross-training
- Manage vendor relationships and technology contracts to ensure service levels, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with strategic goals
Business Application Support:
- Drive technology standards to ensure compatibility and integration of multivendor platforms
- Maintain and support the organization’s SaaS applications; Microsoft O365, Adobe and SharePoint intranet environment
- Facilitate IP (Internet Protocol), VPN licensing, and maintenance
- Manage product development of Internet-based electronic commerce solutions for the distribution market
- Oversee critical applications hosted internally including Tessitura and Qlik
- Lead the management of the Tessitura (ticketing/CRM platform) base product, including the deployment of the latest version upgrades and desired functionality enhancements
- Drive a data-hygiene program to ensure that organizational data is clean, accurate, consistent, and well-maintained
- Oversee and supervise the creation of Tessitura training programs and facilitates workshops and vendor-coordinated training on business applications, including new and updated releases
- Assess, select, and implement a central data platform/warehouse capability to enable self-service data practices
Infrastructure Applications:
- Manage all network hardware; switches, routers, firewalls, VPNs, hyperconverged UCS, VMs and the Wi-Fi infrastructure
- Manage telecommunication hardware, end user software and contact center software
- Procure and manage End-user hardware; desktops, printers and peripherals
Data Governance and Security:
- Establish and maintain IT governance, risk management, and compliance frameworks
- Maintain the security and integrity of data; mitigate and close security gaps based on risk profile and severity of gaps
- Maintain Disaster Recovery Plans to protect information assets and ensure business continuity
- Lead the organization’s cybersecurity program, ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and industry best practices. Conduct quarterly annual compliance testing and verification
- Develops backup and recovery strategies of business applications and databases
Project Management:
- Collaboratively guide decision-making about key business applications through an ROI (Return on Investment) and road mapping process
- Works with team to create project plans and monitor work progress
- Creates and maintains change management processes, standard operating procedures, and other technical documentation
Education/Experience:
- 15+ years of relevant technology experience ideally within non-profit, performing arts, academia, or other analogous sectors, with at least five years in a leadership position
- A record of accomplishment of conceptualizing, integrating, and supporting a hybrid technology environment comprised of proprietary and vendor platforms and solutions
- Bachelor's degree in a related field. Master's degree in Business Administration or related field a plus
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
Modern technical skills related to:
- IT strategy and product roadmap
- Enterprise architecture
- Digital transformation
- IT operations and delivery
- Solution implementation and administration (including requirements analysis, software design, quality assurance testing, evaluation, and operational management)
- Data management systems and a strong background in relational databases
Critical Leadership Capabilities:
- Works to achieve goals while overcoming obstacles and/or planning for contingencies
- Shows strong feelings (e.g., urgency) about reaching targets
- Checks work of self and others against required quality standards
- Reviews performance and progress on a regular basis to ensure the team is achieving results
- Collaborating and Influencing
- Engages people in a dialogue to gain commitment and bring them "on board", linking their perspective to the intent
- Adapts own approach to the stakeholder, anticipating the impact of words and actions, preparing for resistance, and responding in an appropriate style, using a range of influencing styles
- Ability to empathetically engage with staff across levels and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals of different abilities, cultures, backgrounds, and orientations
- An elevated level of professionalism and ability to work with sensitive and confidential matters by displaying strong judgment and leveraging outstanding relationships and diplomatic skills
- Capable of presenting concise, comprehensive, and persuasive updates on the technology program to the CEO, Board of Directors, Executive Leadership, and Senior Leadership Teams
Location / Working Conditions / Physical Demands
- The Vice President, Information Technology, will be based at the organization’s headquarters in Philadelphia, PA
- This position is required to be onsite as business dictates; occasional nights and weekends are required
Application Requirements:
Resume and cover letter are required when applying for this position.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement:
The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, Inc. does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, parental status, or military service.
