Senior Director, IT Security

Company Description

About KIPP Texas Public Schools 

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 54 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 30,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose - college, career, and beyond - so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more fair world.

Founded in Houston in 1994 and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, we are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join a Team and Family with an unwavering commitment to creating classrooms, offices, and communities rooted in belongingness, academic success and joy. If you are passionate about joining a mission and values-driven community who wants every child to want to run to school, the KIPP Texas Team and Family is for you!

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools with nearly 16,500 educators and 190,000 students and alumni.

Job Description

KIPP Texas seeks a visionary and strategic Senior Director, IT Security, reporting to the Deputy Chief of Information Technology. This pivotal role involves establishing and leading the organization's comprehensive Information Technology Security function, architecting and implementing a robust security framework, and driving a continuous, proactive approach to safeguarding KIPP Texas against evolving internal and external cybersecurity threats. The Senior Director will collaborate closely with IT leadership to shape and execute the IT security vision and strategy, ensuring the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of a resilient and forward-thinking security architecture that protects our students, staff, and data.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Direction Setting

• Leads the strategic development and execution of IT security programs, ensuring the effective protection, integrity, and availability of all educational technologies to further KIPP Texas' mission and foster student success.

• Continuously tracks emerging cybersecurity landscapes and technological advancements in K-12 education, and strategically adapts by developing and implementing proactive security solutions.

• Ensures IT security systems and tools are functional and scalable to effectively secure and enable KIPP Texas' continued growth.

• Develops well-articulated business cases for investments in hardware, software, and cloud capabilities.

• Fosters a culture of continuous security improvement, actively identifying and implementing innovative ways to strengthen KIPP Texas' cybersecurity posture and enhance secure user practices.

• Actively promotes a strong IT security culture through ongoing awareness initiatives, while ensuring rigorous adherence to all internal and external audit requirements.

• Collaborates strategically with the Deputy Chief of Information Technology to ensure business and technological synergies are leveraged effectively across all IT functions to best serve the needs of KIPP Texas.

Service Delivery

• Oversees the management of IT security services including continuous monitoring, threat response and investigations, security awareness, security audits and security systems updates and maintenance.

• Oversees the strategic management of KIPP Texas' IT security framework and leads daily security operations, threat intelligence, and incident response.

• Develops and implements clear IT security standards, incorporating relevant metrics (educational SLAs/KPIs), comprehensive documentation, and effective user communication and training strategies.

• Implements service improvements based on incident analysis and root cause, focused on preventing recurrence and enhancing user experience.

• Conducts regular stakeholder meetings for continuous service improvement, aiming to empower teaching and learning within a safe and secure environment.

Functional Management

• Holds responsibility for strategic financial planning, prudent expense management, and effective staff management within the IT service delivery functional area, aligning resource allocation with the educational priorities of KIPP Texas.

• Analyzes business needs, evaluates and recommends technical solutions, overseas sourcing decisions and scalable vendor management