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The News Literacy Project

Chief Technology Officer

Full time • Virtual (U.S.) • Reports to the President and CEO

Who we are

The News Literacy Project, founded in 2008, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building a national movement to ensure that all students are guaranteed to be skilled in news literacy before high school graduation, giving them the knowledge and ability to participate in civic society as well-informed, critical thinkers. NLP is the country's leading provider of news literacy education and works with districts and educators in all 50 states, primarily through our signature e-learning platform, Checkology®, and weekly educator newsletter, The Sift®. To read more about the organization and our plans, visit our website.

Where you fit in

The News Literacy Project empowers educators to teach middle and high school students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age. We are at an exciting inflection point for our work, and we are making critical investments to rapidly scale our growth and impact. To that end, we are seeking the organization's first Chief Technology Officer to lead technology and product functions under NLP’s strategic vision as we scale Checkology's reach nationwide. This is a great opportunity for you to shape the technology foundation of a national movement and directly expand access to news literacy education for hundreds of thousands of students. We're looking for someone who can have an immediate and meaningful impact on our work.

This position reports to the President and CEO.

About the position

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) serves as the organization's senior technology leader, responsible for technology vision, platform delivery, digital innovation, operational reliability and technology governance across the organization. The CTO ensures technology investments advance mission impact, support sustainable growth and meet the security, privacy and compliance expectations of K-12 school districts and institutional partners.

The CTO serves as a member of the Executive Team and partners closely with the CEO, COO and functional leaders to translate strategy into technology priorities and measurable outcomes.

Specifically, in this job, you will:

Technology Strategy & Governance

• Develop and execute a multi-year technology strategy aligned with organizational and programmatic and product priorities.
• Establish technology principles, governance processes and investment priorities across product and enterprise systems, including annual roadmaps and technology operating and capital budgets tied to organizational outcomes.
• Advise executive leadership and the Board on technology opportunities, risks, infrastructure and digital transformation.
• Chair the internal AI Committee, setting the organization's AI vision, enablement strategy and governing policies.
• Ensure technology governance processes account for and support the organization's data strategy, in partnership with data leadership.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and determine where innovation meaningfully advances mission and user value.

Product Leadership

• Oversee the Product team through its senior leader, ensuring strong product strategy, roadmaps and execution.
• In collaboration with the VP of Product, align architecture, platform investments, and engineering capacity to enable the product roadmap.
• Balance innovation, user needs, technical feasibility and organizational capacity across all digital offerings.

Cybersecurity, Privacy & District Compliance

• Establish organization-wide cybersecurity strategy and risk management practices, including incident response planning, business continuity and disaster recovery.
• Own technology compliance requirements associated with serving K-12 school districts, including policies and controls for student data privacy and security obligations.
• Oversee district technology approvals, security reviews, vendor questionnaire and procurement-related technical documentation, and maintain readiness for audits and compliance reviews.
• Ensure systems support district requirements including identity management, rostering, integrations, accessibility and data governance.
• Maintain security controls, access governance and security awareness programs, and develop policies governing technology use and information security.
• Monitor organizational technology risk and report regularly to executive leadership.

Technology Operations, Architecture & Vendor Management

• Lead strategy and performance management of the managed IT services partner, defining service expectations, SLAs, escalation process and accountability mechanisms.
• Oversee internal technology operations including devices and collaboration tools; identity management, networking and help desk effectiveness, ensuring staff have reliable, secure and scalable technology support. 
• Partner with data leadership to build and maintain the infrastructure that enables organizational measurement, reporting and impact analysis, ensuring responsible use of organizational data.
• Establish standards for architecture, integrations, technical quality and platform sustainability, and oversee application lifecycle management, technical debt prioritization and platform reliability.
• Guide build-versus-buy decisions and oversee technology vendor selection, contract negotiation, performance management and ROI evaluation.
• Drive modernization and operational efficiency across enterprise systems.

This full-time position is virtual. Highly qualified candidates who live in, and are authorized to work in, the United States are encouraged to apply.

About you

This position will directly impact many thousands of educators and hundreds of thousands of students in schools across the country and plays a pivotal role in shaping and achieving our organizational strategy. As the Chief Technology Officer, you will partner with the President and CEO to build the technology vision and infrastructure that powers our next chapter of growth. While we do not expect candidates to meet all qualifications, the successful candidate will have all or most of the following:

Your Experience

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. Advanced degree preferred.
• Ten to 12 years of experience with at least seven to ten years of leadership experience in technology, product management, engineering or digital transformation, including at least five years leading cross-functional technology teams.
• Experience leading technology strategy fora school district, SaaS company, EdTech company or similar, particularly in organizations between 25 and 200 employees.
• Demonstrated success leading product functions through senior product leaders to deliver customer-centered digital products.
• Experience overseeing outsourced technology partners, managed service providers, software vendors and technology budgets, contracts and investment decisions.
• Experience serving on an executive leadership team and contributing to organizational strategy.
• Mission-driven leader with a passion for improving education through technology and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

Technical Expertise

• Deep understanding of modern software development, cloud infrastructure, systems architecture, APIs, data integration and enterprise technology.
• Experience designing and deploying security frameworks aligned with regulatory and compliance regimes.
• Experience implementing and managing enterprise productivity platforms, CRM systems, learning technologies, analytics platforms and business applications.
• Working knowledge of AI technologies, automation and emerging technology trends, with the ability to evaluate appropriate organizational applications.

Education Technology & Compliance

• Experience supporting K-12 school districts or education organizations strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of student data privacy requirements and technology compliance frameworks, including FERPA, COPPA, SOPIPA, state student data privacy laws and accessibility standards such as WCAG.
• Experience managing district technology reviews, security questionnaires, procurement requirements and integrations such as single sign-on, rostering and learning management systems is preferred.
• Experience leading security compliance readiness, audits, and the organizational change needed to achieve and maintain certification.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic thinker who balances long-term vision with operational execution and leads effectively through change.
• Strong product mindset with a focus on user experience, customer outcomes and measurable impact.
• Exceptional communicator who translates complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences, executive leadership and the Board of Directors.