Working closely with Senior Leadership of Client Services, the Senior Manager of Client Services plans and manages the execution of the technology vision and provides leadership for the development and implementation of enterprise-wide academic and administrative technology solutions that support the mission of Pepperdine University.

This position oversees the Specialized Services teams: Application Management, Audiovisual Technologies, and Operators. The role ensures these teams provide proactive community solutions, deliver excellent customer service, and promote innovative, data-driven, and forward-thinking strategies.

Duties

• LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION: Provides strong leadership to multiple areas of IT Client Services (CS); develops vendor relationships; sets departmental goals and objectives, reviews the goals and objectives of multiple areas, and aligns teams and projects with the strategic goals of Client Services, Information Technology (IT), and the University; creates a cohesive and synchronized support infrastructure; empowers supervisors to monitor and develop their staff; empowers staff to take ownership of duties, projects, and problems; to work collaboratively in flexible teams with strong camaraderie; to provide excellent, compassionate customer service; to gather and analyze metrics for team and area success; to work with high integrity to maintain the trust of the University community; to manage time, information, and resources responsibly for excellent stewardship and productivity; develops and applies a rigorous project governance model to prioritize projects, service offerings, and work duties focused on outcomes and stewardship; creates a culture of data-driven decision-making where staff regularly logs trouble tickets or individual work output, and management regularly reviews this data and other sources for continual service improvement; enforces a "Three Things" approach for all employees to either be (1) conducting work duties; (2) contributing to special team, area, or IT projects; or (3) improving knowledge and skills through professional development; holds teams, individuals, and IT partner vendors accountable for following procedures/practices and representing the University well through word and deed; provides high-quality services at optimal cost to colleagues. Manages associated expenses within the scope of departmental budget. Reviews and submits regular, timely, and complete paperwork and processes, such as status reports, bi-weekly or monthly timesheets, assessments for mid-year and annual reviews, and other routine IT and University practices.
• COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS: Promotes professionalism across the division to ensure that each staff member represents Pepperdine and IT in a professional manner when collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. Develops and maintains strong partnerships with University departments and leadership, with community members and constituents, as well as with external vendors and service providers, to improve IT outcomes and to assure current and future operational and strategic success. Routinely meets and communicates with colleagues and stakeholders to assess project status and promote a solutions-oriented mindset; works closely with departmental staff of key stakeholder groups to understand needs, align services, and ensure smooth operations for services and technologies; through the lifecycle of projects and tasks, will address challenges, explore opportunities, and shepherd teams to operate and communicate effectively and efficiently; promotes continual improvement across the organization through collaborations within IT Client Services, other areas of Information Technology, and other stakeholder groups of the University; attends monthly meetings with CS leadership with a constant eye on areas of opportunity or continual improvement across the organization.
• PLANNING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Actively pursues new projects to improve operations and services; schedules and conducts needs analysis, recommends projects, creates RFPs, leads vendor selection, including negotiation of terms, and leads projects through all phases; develops "best practices" frameworks for project managers to complete projects within the IT project portfolio selected by CS senior leadership. The practices will include, but not be limited to: setting project standards for small, medium, and large projects; verifying that appropriate project documents exist for major CS projects and work with project leaders to complete necessary documents; identifying shared location for all CS project documents; verifying use of Project Management software for major IT initiatives; leads an ongoing cycle of knowledge, assessment, and improvement in order to maintain the Project Management Office's (PMO) alignment with Client Services' strategic goals. Interfaces between IT project managers and the IT division senior team to facilitate the alignment of IT projects with the University's strategic goals. Conducts quarterly meetings for training and evaluation of CS staff usage of tools, systems, procedures, and project standards. Plays a neutral role in deciding which projects are to be done, but plays a leading role in providing project-related metrics to CS senior leadership.
• RESEARCH, ANALYSIS, AND REPORTING: Solicits, reviews, and analyzes stakeholder feedback to determine areas of need, redundancy, or opportunities for improvement; leads efforts to benchmark division effectiveness, and coordinates the use of metrics for more effective support and services throughout the IT division. Establishes and maintains success metrics for each project. Duties in this area will include, but not be limited to: confirming the critical metrics for each area of Client Services; helping create systems or processes to simplify recording data on staff; helping create systems or processes to simplify and speed up reporting of metrics/outcomes for each area of Client Services; identifying existing (or creating new) metrics for analyzing CS areas; produces appropriate weekly and monthly reports on team status, challenges, and successes; produces appropriate quarterly and annual reports on overall team success and IT's contribution to the University mission; meets with CS senior leadership and provides qualitative and quantitative inputs on project status; staff participation; staff availability; and use of tools, templates, and methods as related to IT's portfolio of projects. Researches current and emerging technologies and project management methodologies for potential application at the institution.
• COLLABORATION: Provides backup support and assistance to other team members. Collaborates with co-workers and University colleagues on departmental, division-wide, and institutional projects. Shares process information and makes informal recommendations on how to improve processes and overall job execution within the team/department.
• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Attends training sessions, vendor presentations, user group meetings, conferences, and seminars. Engages regularly in individual professional development related activities to remain current with industry technology trends and work processes.
• COMMITTEES AND BEYOND JOB DUTIES: Volunteers to undertake tasks that stretch the employee's capabilities. Serves on various committees within the Information Technology division. Participates in external University committees. Performs other related duties as assigned.
• UNIVERSITY MISSION: Understands and supports the Christian mission of the University. Upholds the University mission through team, location, atmosphere, and work performed.

The above information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Skills and Qualifications

Required

• Associate's or bachelor's degree in related technical/business areas or equivalent work experience.
• Three (3) to (5) five years of relevant technical and business experience; business experience should include assignments in one or more business and technical processes.
• Experience in supervising and building relationships with people at a variety of levels.
• Demonstrated ability to launch and deliver a single IT project on time and within budget.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrates a working knowledge of common hardware and software products used in higher education.
• Demonstrates excellent problem solving/troubleshooting skills.
• Advanced knowledge of working with computers and applications in a networked environment.
• Excellent time management and autonomous productivity.
• Proven organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Proficiency in using Google Workspace, Microsoft Office, virtual meeting software.

Preferred

• Master's degree in related technical/business areas or equivalent work experience.
• Five (5) or more years of relevant technical and business experience; business experience should include assignments in one or more business and technical processes.
• Experience with project management.
• Ability to manage multiple projects for numerous clients simultaneously.
• Experience teaching in higher education.
• Experience with multiple types of audiovisual systems, networking principles, application management best practices, and executing a strategic vision.
• Experience managing multiple teams.
• Decision-making skills and ability to work under pressure.
• Experience in following emerging trends in technology.
• Familiarity with Asana, Zoom, help desk ticketing software, and data science tools.

This is a Regular, Exempt, 40 hour per week position.

Expected Pay Range: $84,000 - $88,000 per year

The above pay range reflects what Pepperdine University reasonably expects to pay for this position at time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on relevant factors such as work experience, market conditions, education/training, and skill level. In addition to base pay, Pepperdine offers a robust and highly competitive benefits package.

Pepperdine is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of any status or condition protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Qualified individuals should be able to show respect for workplace differences, and have the ability to work effectively with individuals from different backgrounds.

Offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of a criminal, education, and employment screening. The University conducts such screenings in compliance with applicable laws and with the objectives of evaluating risk and supporting a safe environment for students, faculty, staff, and guests; safeguarding key University assets including people, property, information, and the University’s reputation; and providing comprehensive job-related information to University leaders to enable them to make prudent hiring decisions. Individuals will be required to disclose any criminal convictions on a designated form after receiving a conditional offer of employment; failure to disclose accurate information may result in withdrawal of the offer or termination of employment. Qualified individuals with criminal histories will be considered for employment in compliance with applicable laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance.