Vice President Engineering / Chief Technology Officer

MA / NH · Job # 7713BK

Our Client:  A privately-held education industry trailblazing company dedicated to improving the lives of people through literacy achievement.   

Their Mission:  To provide quality professional learning, ongoing support, programs, and tools to educators whose goal is to educate students to become fluent independent readers. 

We have been retained to search for a Vice President/Chief Technology Officer. This is a newly created position. He/she will be a key member of the executive leadership team and report directly into the Publisher/CFO. The person in this role will lead the company in their next generation of web and digital offerings and must have a strong background in leading high-performance product development teams.

  Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Grow the technology-based product development practice. You will serve as a “technical visionary” in creating a product technology function that focuses on the technical design and development of leading classroom, mobile and related technology solutions

• Demonstrates a core competency in complex technical environments; assesses the current environment for future growth and expansion to improve authoring capabilities, content management, technology platforms, and product integrations

• Leads a team of software designers and developers to create impactful tools for teachers and students from initial inception to final product

• Work collaboratively with the technology team, the program development group and content developers

• Oversees technology platforms that support the creation of online learning program development

• Guide and grow the portfolio of digital learning products and solutions focused on educator professional development and student learning

• Work with a small team of developers and designers to bring in-house capabilities to the online learning space - managing all product roadmaps, platforms, and product feature delivery

• Partner with the executive team to build a robust web and mobile based product strategy and product roadmap

• Directs the digital product development roadmaps and builds plans for all online product and learning solutions. Leads the technical development teams from initial inception to final product         

• Conducts technical, competitive, and trend analysis to identify and evaluate potential technology-based educational tools and products

• Determines product feasibility considering education ecosystems and digital delivery requirements such as interoperability, connectivity, data portability, etc.

• Works effectively in a large matrixed environment to promote knowledge sharing, user requirements gathering, and teamwork 

  Professional Requirements:

• Experience building and leading high performance product teams that partner well with marketing, program management, and customer support 

• Creative technology leader who still loves to “code” with product development experience in agile methodology processes, leading mobile and web application development teams

• Demonstrated competency in leading technology teams, including managing resources across multiple projects in a complex environment
• Superior analytics, planning, innovation and product development mindset
• Demonstrated interest in and understanding of emerging educational and product technology trends and opportunities that prepare students and drive highly personalized learning experiences
• Knowledge of best practices for data security, especially regarding student or other sensitive data; identity and access management 
• Knowledge of Data & Information Management: Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, Analytics
• History of working with a Service Oriented Architecture, REST
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills - with the ability to influence, facilitate, collaborate and manage cross-matrix team
• Knowledge of web application technologies required including .Net Framework, JavaScript, contemporary JavaScript libraries such as “Knockout.JS”, “Angular.JS”
• Knowledge of mobile technologies including Objective-C, xCode, Swift, Xamarin, Java, Eclipse
• Knowledge of cloud technologies including Microsoft Azure and Cloud Computing Strategy

• Experience in using Gamification in a learning environment a plus 

Personal Characteristics:

• Inspire a culture of innovation, execution, teamwork, and accountability

• Exudes passion for building educational products for literacy

• Customer focused

• Strong collaborator / communicator across all levels and functions

• Highly intellectual, analytical, and product focused

• Market facing. Visible to ecosystem. (Teachers. Students. Schools) 

Strongly Preferred:

• Bachelor or Master's CS Degree 
• Passionate about using technology to make a difference in a person’s life 
• Start-up experience