Digital Harbor Foundation

Important Note: The individual hired for this role must reside in the United States during the term of employment. Applicants to this role must currently have the ability to legally hold employment in the United States; Digital Harbor is unable to provide Visa sponsorship for this position.

Overview

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) leads Digital Harbor Foundation's internal information technology function. The role holds end-to-end accountability for the organization's technology stack, IT service delivery, data governance, and information security program, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the organization’s IT infrastructure and data. The CIO sets IT strategy and manages technology investment while also owning security policy, risk management, and incident response. The role balances the need for strong cybersecurity and data practices with the operational realities of a mission-driven nonprofit – limited budgets, lean IT staff, reliance on cloud and third-party vendors, and an obligation to safeguard sensitive information necessary for program delivery.

The CIO reports to the Chief Executive Officer, serves on the executive team, and directly manages the Director of Technical Systems, who oversees the day-to-day operations of Digital Harbor’s IT infrastructure and first-line IT support requests. This role sits within the Impact Studio, Digital Harbor Foundation's cross-cutting team encompassing IT, Finance, Operations/HR, Development/Communications, and Programs. Unlike project-specific staff, the Impact Studio works across all the organization's projects, giving the CIO unique visibility into and influence over how IT and security practices are applied consistently across the full portfolio of programs and initiatives.

Digital Harbor Foundation is dedicated to digital equity for everyone, increasing diversity in the technology sector, and advancing technology innovation for the public good. Driven by our sincere belief that access to opportunity is a basic right, we take bold yet practical actions to support making a better future now. Through a portfolio of projects focused on developing leadership within communities, we support those closest to challenges to take deliberate actions based on a design thinking approach, backed by data analysis, grounded in a practice of collective impact, and driven by a commitment to racial equity.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Information Security, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in information technology and/or information security, including at least 3 years at a senior leadership level with accountability for an organization-wide IT or security program.
• Demonstrated experience owning an enterprise technology stack, including cloud productivity platforms, CRM or donor management systems, public cloud infrastructure, identity and access management, and endpoint/device management.
• Experience overseeing data privacy, governance, and compliance requirements within a nonprofit environment.
• Experience maturing an organization’s cybersecurity posture, including experience building and implementing standards, overseeing risk management functions, leading incident response, and communicating risk to non-technical executives and Board members.
• Working knowledge of appropriate security frameworks and how to apply them at a scale appropriate to a nonprofit's size and resources.
• Experience implementing and administering an IT service management or ticketing platform and operating a support function against defined service level agreements.
• Experience supervising technical staff and managing external vendors or managed service providers.
• [Preferred] Prior experience in the nonprofit, education, or public sector preferred, with familiarity with grant compliance and funder data requirements.
• [Preferred] Experience in a fiscal sponsorship environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent written and verbal communication, with strong interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Ability to translate technical and security risk into plain-language guidance for non-technical staff, executives, and Board members.
• Sound judgment in risk-based decision-making under resource constraints.
• Ability to think strategically and make recommendations that take into account competing needs and priorities.
• Strong knowledge of IT best practices, policies, and regulations.
• Understanding of current technology trends and a desire for continuous learning.
• Great project management skills, including organization, planning, time management, and prioritization.
• Ability to balance multiple projects in a growing and evolving environment.
• Ability to effectively collaborate on informal and formal projects with various departments within the organization, and with a positive disposition.
• A customer service orientation, and the ability to hold an IT function accountable to it.
• Strong orientation toward details

C-Level Executive Attributes

This is a senior leadership role at the Digital Harbor Foundation. We have found that effective leaders within the organization consistently:

• Think strategically and play a strong role in shaping a vision for the Foundation's future.
• Develop a plan for how their functional area will support that strategic vision.
• Rally their employees around the strategic vision.
• Prepare their teams to execute on the tasks that help achieve the Foundation's goals.
• Persuade, influence, and inspire C-suite colleagues, direct reports, managers, and employees.
• Guide their departments through changes while minimizing the negative impact of disruptions.
• Draw on deep expertise in the functional areas they oversee.
• Effectively delegate management duties.
• Assess their direct reports against key metrics to ensure quality performance and improvement.
• Effectively communicate to a range of managerial and staff employees in various settings.
• Emulate the traits and behaviors valued by the Foundation's leadership.

Role and Responsibilities

IT Infrastructure & Technology Stack Oversight

• Hold overall accountability for Digital Harbor Foundation's technology stack, including productivity and collaboration platforms (Google Workspace, Microsoft Office 365, Slack, and Zoom), development operations platforms (Salesforce and Donorbox), finance and HR systems, project and task management, cloud infrastructure (with existing infrastructure in AWS), web properties, and the employee device fleet.
• Own the architecture and standards for the stack: which systems the organization uses, how they integrate, where authoritative data lives, and how new tools are evaluated, approved, and retired.
• Manage the Director of Technical Systems in the day-to-day administration, configuration, and maintenance of these platforms, retaining final approval on standards, exceptions, and material configuration changes.
• Lead technology selection and procurement, including scoping requirements, vendor evaluation, security and privacy review, contract and licensing negotiation, and renewal decisions.
• Own the organization's identity architecture, including the multi-year rollout of single sign-on and federated identity across all critical services, and the licensing and sequencing decisions that rollout requires.
• Ensure the standard technology stack is deployed consistently for new fiscally sponsored projects and that data and platforms transition cleanly and completely when projects spin out.
• Work with the Director of Technical Systems to oversee the device fleet, including provisioning and retrieval of organization-owned devices.
• Ensure technology systems and platforms are documented, with clear ownership for each system and SOPs for critical processes.

IT Support and Ticketing System Administration

• Provide high-satisfaction first-line IT support to all employees and contractors.
• Serve as owner and senior administrator of Digital Harbor Foundation's ticketing system (BoldDesk), and support associated internal training needs. Note:
  • First-line IT support response is currently provided by the Director of Technical Systems using BoldDesk as a ticket management platform.
  • Several other verticals within the organization use BoldDesk to manage various work requests (e.g., Operations, Human Resources, and Finance).
• Work with the Director of Technical Systems to establish and maintain service level agreements by request type for the technology function.
  • Define, monitor, and report service metrics for IT-related tickets.
• Use ticket data to identify recurring failures, training gaps, and systemic issues, and drive root-cause remediation and documentation for self-service.
• Ensure appropriate access controls and audit logging within the ticketing system, recognizing that tickets frequently contain sensitive account, personnel, and security information.

Technology Strategy and Governance

• Develop and own a multi-year technology strategy and roadmap aligned with Digital Harbor Foundation's mission, fiscal sponsorship model, risk tolerance, and available resources.