IT Special Projects Manager

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications, Information Systems, Higher Education Administration, Public Administration, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible experience supporting executive-level initiatives, managing strategic projects, or coordinating complex cross-functional work.
• Proven self-starter who can independently identify what needs to happen and move work forward with minimal direction.
• Demonstrated ability to translate executive-level vision into actionable plans and manage initiatives through completion.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to work confidently and credibly with CIO-, VP-, Director-, and other senior-level stakeholders.
• Highly proactive with the ability to anticipate needs, identify gaps, and address potential issues before they become roadblocks.
• Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills with the ability to bring together stakeholders across different teams and priorities.
• Persuasive communicator capable of building alignment, influencing stakeholders, and gaining support without necessarily having direct authority.
• Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills.
• Strong organizational, analytical, facilitation, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to quickly learn new concepts, environments, organizational structures, and technology-related priorities.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into concise, polished, executive-ready materials.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities independently in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
• Excellent judgment, professionalism, and discretion when handling sensitive or confidential information.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and collaboration/project management tools such as Smartsheet, Microsoft Teams, or similar platforms.

Nice to Have Skills & Experience

• Experience directly supporting a CIO, VP, dean, or other senior executive.
• Experience working in higher education, particularly within higher education IT or administrative operations.
• Experience coordinating strategic initiatives spanning multiple departments, business units, or organizational functions.
• Experience preparing executive briefings, leadership presentations, board/cabinet materials, or strategic summaries.
• Familiarity with project and portfolio management concepts, although this is not a traditional PMO/project delivery role.
• Experience developing dashboards, governance documentation, reporting processes, operational workflows, or policies.
• Understanding of enterprise IT environments, technology organizations, and governance structures.
• Exposure to ERP and/or Student Information System (SIS) planning initiatives.

Job Description

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with the CIO to coordinate and advance high-priority strategic and operational initiatives across ITS.
• Translate the CIO’s vision and executive priorities into structured plans, clear next steps, owners, timelines, and deliverables.
• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives involving ITS Directors, managers, and campus stakeholders, ensuring alignment and continued progress.
• Support strategic planning and special initiatives, including departmental planning, governance, continuity of operations, organizational climate, and culture.
• Develop executive-ready presentations, briefings, talking points, status updates, decision materials, and strategic summaries.
• Track project milestones, actions, decisions, risks, dependencies, and follow-up commitments to ensure initiatives stay on track.
• Anticipate potential gaps, roadblocks, or stakeholder concerns and proactively work to resolve them.
• Bring structure and momentum to new or evolving priorities that may not yet have clearly defined ownership, scope, or governance.
• Develop and improve dashboards, trackers, templates, workflows, and other tools that increase visibility and execution across special projects.
• Conduct research and synthesize complex information to support CIO decision-making and strategic initiatives.
• Manage sensitive executive communications, planning materials, and confidential information with discretion and sound judgment.

Day-to-Day

• Work directly with the CIO to understand strategic priorities and determine how to move them from vision into execution.
• Meet regularly with ITS Directors and other stakeholders to coordinate initiatives, establish ownership, and keep projects moving forward.
• Take loosely defined or ambiguous projects and create structure around the scope, tasks, stakeholders, timelines, and next steps.
• Proactively follow up with stakeholders rather than waiting for direction, ensuring commitments and deliverables stay on track.
• Maintain project trackers, dashboards, status reports, action-item lists, risk logs, and decision documentation.
• Prepare polished presentations, executive summaries, briefing materials, and talking points for leadership.
• Identify risks, dependencies, gaps, or stalled work and determine the appropriate path forward or escalation.
• Research new initiatives or organizational priorities and quickly get up to speed on unfamiliar subject matter.
• Build relationships across ITS and the broader university to gain stakeholder buy-in and facilitate collaboration.
• Operate as a flexible right hand to the CIO on special projects, stepping into whatever high-priority initiatives require additional organization, coordination, or momentum.