Job Openings

• Business Technology Director

Business Technology Director

About the Skoll Foundation
The Skoll Foundation (www.skollfoundation.org) was established in 1999 by eBay’s first president, Jeff Skoll, who serves as our founder and chairman. The foundation’s innovative approach to philanthropy is based on the belief that small investments can spur significant social change. Sally Osberg joined the foundation as its first president and CEO in 2001 and leads the organization’s team, drawing upon more than 20 years of social sector leadership experience.

Today, the foundation is dedicated to realizing a vision for a more peaceful and prosperous world. We advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs. The foundation is focused on social entrepreneurs working in six key issue areas - tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, economic and social equity, institutional responsibility, and peace and security - and whose models are at an inflection point where our support can accelerate significant impact. The core values of the Skoll Foundation workplace include respect, responsibility, leverage, innovation and tough-minded optimism.

Position Summary
The Business Technology Director is a senior level individual contributor position responsible for ensuring we leverage technology to advance the Foundation toward its mission.  This position’s primary focus will be on our business processes and systems.  These include grant management, customer relationship management, decision support and web publishing.  A prominent theme running through these processes is the imperative of improving our efficiency and effectiveness in capturing, sharing and harnessing information. The Business Technology Director will lead cross-functional project teams to analyze our current business processes and future needs, recommend initiatives and manage solution implementation. 

A secondary set of priorities involve oversight of the Foundation’s technology infrastructure and budget.   Our environment is a combination of in-house Microsoft Windows servers and PCs, ASPs and off-the-shelf business applications (e.g. Cybergrants and Great Plains), and open source web publishing tools (e.g. Plone). We outsource network/server management and help-desk support. The Business Technology Director will articulate the Foundation’s priorities, based on input from staff, vendors and others; recommend strategies and budgets; monitor performance; and serve as the primary point of contact with our service providers.  This is a service oriented role, requiring engagement at many levels ranging from design and oversight to hands-on technical work.    

The Director will advance staff productivity by identifying user competency needs and providing/sourcing training in targeted technologies.    

This new position will be a member of the Finance and Operations’ team, report to the Chief Operating Officer and work directly with all the Foundation staff.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead processes for implementing, improving and leveraging business applications, with an emphasis on harnessing information in order to increase our efficiency and effectiveness.
• Oversee the specification and provisioning of the Foundation’s computer and communications infrastructure, primarily by working with external service providers.
• Manage technology based polices, risk management, business controls and procurement procedures.
• Evaluate and strengthen technology toolsets and user capabilities that improve individual skills and organizational effectiveness.
• Propose budgets and monitor expenditures for technology and communications. 
• Contribute to the plans and work of the Finance and Operations team.
• Undertake special projects, as assigned.

Attributes

• Takes a systems, data driven approach to solving problems and making decisions
• Effective listener, skilled in constructive dialogue and facilitation; instills trust
• Effective business partner, collaborating with staff and service partners to produce agreed upon outcomes
• High work standards, integrity, and sense of humor
• Skilled at distilling and effectively communicating complex information
• Resourceful self-starter, comfortable navigating through ambiguity and multiple priorities
• Comfortable and effective balancing strategic perspective with hands-on problem solving
• Service oriented

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 7 to 10 years of relevant work experience, including management of, or in depth exposure to, multiple aspects of information technology, with a distinguished record of accomplishments and growth.  Desired areas of expertise include:
  • Business process applications (e.g. CRM, contracts, business intelligence in a professional services environment) 
  • Project management  
  • Web based applications
  • Leveraging and managing third party service provider relationships
  • Enterprise technology infrastructure
• Demonstrated ability to work sensitively with diverse people and communities
• A sincere affinity for the Foundation’s work and values
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience

Compensation
A competitive compensation package will be commensurate with background.

Applicants
Please send a cover letter and resume to: jobs@skollfoundation.org.by September 30. Please specify “BT Director” in the message subject line.  The foundation will contact qualified applicants. In your cover letter please tell us how your specific experiences and accomplishments address our needs and mission.