About NYC Kids RISE

NYC Kids RISE is a nonprofit organization working with the City of New York and the NYC Department of Education to manage the Save for College Program (the Program). Through the Program, eligible students enrolled in an NYC public school (including participating charter schools), starting in kindergarten, automatically receive a free NYC Scholarship Account with an initial allocation of $100 by NYC Kids RISE on their behalf, invested in a NY 529 Direct Plan, and opportunities to receive additional rewards over time. Their families can open and connect their own college savings account on their child’s behalf, and communities can contribute to groups of these NYC Scholarship Accounts as both a targeted and universal platform for community-driven asset-building in every neighborhood. This approach draws from a variety of best practices and disciplines across the fields of asset building, child savings accounts, financial empowerment, education, community wealth building, urban poverty, neighborhood effects and social capital research, collective impact, and more. Read more about NYC Kids RISE and the Save for College Program and listen to stories from partners who helped build the platform during its pilot phase from 2017 to 2022. You can also view recent articles in Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and the NYCHA Journal; and read more about NYC Kids RISE theory of change in a recent report by the Urban Institute.

After a successful pilot phase in the communities of School District 30 in Queens, NYC Kids RISE
expanded citywide during the 2021-2022 school year. This school year nearly 150,000 Kindergarten
students across more than 1,000 elementary schools have an NYC Scholarship for their
educational futures.

Position Summary:

As a universal wealth-building platform for NYC’s public school families and communities, the Save for College Program is underpinned by a technology platform that combines a) a family-facing portal that must meet the needs of NYC’s diverse families across languages, computer capabilities, familiarity with financial products, traditions, and levels of trust in government and nonprofit institutions; and b) a back-end record-keeping system that integrates educational, financial, and other programmatic data from across public and private agencies. Key agency partners on both the programmatic data and technology infrastructure include the NYC Department of Education, the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, NYC Cyber Command, and Ascensus Government Savings, among others. The effectiveness of this technology platform as an accessible and user-friendly public-facing resource for, ultimately, every NYC public school family-and as secure and efficient record-keeping and CRM system for NYC Kids RISE and its partners-has played and and will continue to play a critical role in the Save for College Program’s day-to-day operations and long-term impact.

NYC Kids RISE seeks a creative, entrepreneurial, visionary, and experienced technology leader and manager to serve as the organization’s first Senior Director of Technology. The Senior Director will be charged with both setting the long-term vision for the Save for College Program’s technology infrastructure to advance the organizations’ programmatic objectives, and ensuring the day-to-day excellent implementation of that vision in collaboration with the organization’s leadership team and public-, private-, and nonprofit-sector partners. Ideal candidates will have a passion for building sustainable, scalable technology solutions and designing excellent, easy-to-use technology products for and in partnership with diverse users. The Senior Director of Technology will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including consultants, school staff, community organizations, City and State agencies, financial institutions, and participating families to ensure state-of-the-art usability, design, functionality, and sustainability of the Save for College Program’s technology platform for both its current user base (13,000+ families in School District 30) and its projected future user base (1.1+ million users across every NYC public school).

Responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Lead the strategic direction of the Save for College Program’s technology infrastructure to advance the Save for College Program’s long-term vision as a citywide, universal, community-driven wealth-building platform, in coordination with senior leadership and external partners;
• Serve as the product owner of the organization’s Outcome Tracker platform (a software provided by a company called VistaShare that serves as the Program’s main technology system), ensuring both day-to-day functionality and continuous improvement;
• Lead all projects and initiatives related to the organization’s programmatic technology, working with a team of external vendors, consultants, software providers, and security advisors. Includes evaluation, selection, and coordination of services;
• Oversee the continuous improvement of the frontend, parent facing portal, creating and integrating extremely user-friendly and accessible tools that enable diverse families to advance their children’s educational and economic success and the success of their communities, complementing and magnifying the Program’s neighborhood-based, networked approach;
• Oversee data infrastructure, record-keeping systems and other back-end infrastructure to support data security and privacy, operational efficiency, and programmatic impact;
• Liaise with programmatic and operational teams in each program area to ensure alignment of day-to-day and long-term technology priorities with organizational needs and goals;
• Support the training of staff, partners, and end-users to access and use the Program’s technology systems;
• Define project metrics and ROI goals for initiatives, track performance post delivery, and communicate product performance regularly with stakeholders;
• Along with all NYC Kids RISE employees, maintain, and support other staff and volunteers to maintain, strict adherence to NYC Kids RISE data security and privacy policies; remaining vigilant on the ways in which NYC Kids RISE can continue to protect Confidential Information (including Student and Family Data); identify vulnerabilities, and proactively problem solve to improve controls and practices;
• Participate and share in the organization’s work to advance racial equity and anti-oppression in the organization’s and program’s operations and practices; proactively identify opportunities to advance the development of an anti-racist organization; share and solicit ongoing feedback and conversations to advance this work.

Qualifications:

• Experience: 7+ years of relevant professional experience, particularly in roles leading an IT or Engineering function within an organization. Exposure to or previous experience working in organizations in the fields of government, financial institutions, asset building and financial capability, community development, education and/or community organizing a plus.
• Technical: Experience working with modern web technologies and frameworks; Systems design and/or coding in a general purpose programming language (ie. Java, C/C++, Python, Node.js); Working knowledge of SQL, data modeling and database systems;
• Communication: Strong interpersonal skills, high levels of emotional intelligence and tendency to identify and amplify strengths in teammates; detail-oriented professional with demonstrated written, verbal, and presentational communication skills for various types of audiences.
• Project Management: Highly organized with proven ability to work cross-functionally, including ability to track, manage and execute work streams toward completion. Ability to translate technical concepts and solutions to non-technical and executive audiences; Ability to collaborate, build consensus, deliver, and drive technical decisions with various sized stakeholder groups; Experience working with municipal technology agencies such as NYC3 and DoITT a plus;
• Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving: Demonstrated ability to consider an issue, identify and anticipate needs and perspectives, propose solutions, elevate when necessary, and incorporate feedback effectively. Excellent research and presentation skills.
• Collaborative Spirit: Enjoys working as part of a team, but able to work independently; ability to have direct but empathetic conversations with leaders and staff at all levels of the organization; high degree of comfort with change and a fast-paced environment.

Due to COVID-19, the application process for this role will be conducted virtually. The entire team is currently working remotely and depending on the timing of this hire, the Senior Director of Technology will likely begin this position remotely as well. The office is otherwise based in Long Island City (Queens, NY), and the entire team is expected to return to the office once health conditions allow.

To apply, a cover letter and resume are required. Please list the name of the position, “Senior Director of Technology" in the cover letter. The potential salary for this position is from $140,000 to $165,000 which represents a range commensurate with experience.

NYC Kids Rise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate in employment on the basis of basis of gender, religion, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, marital status, caregiver status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, unemployed status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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