Working at the Vermont Community Foundation

For more than 35 years, the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) has served Vermonters and their families through philanthropy and building stronger communities. Our mission—Better Together: inspiring giving and bringing together people and resources to make a difference in Vermont—provides the bedrock for our workplace culture. Our employees are passionate about making a difference every day. We approach our work with curiosity, respect, hard work, and integrity and believe strongly that we will not accomplish our goals unless we commit to equity and diversity. When you join our team, your work will matter.

Position Overview

The VCF is on a growth trajectory, and this position plays a critical and necessary role in stewarding our growth in technology and data. We have nearly completed an organization-wide reconfiguration to bring our accounting, grantmaking, fund management, and donor portal into a unified platform. With this transformation, the Director of ITS will have primary ownership of the new tech platform comprising Salesforce and Sage Intacct (plus several ancillary software systems). Leveraging this new tech stack to help increase our impact in Vermont, as well as growing our donor base, is a key piece of our long-term business plan, and this role is central to our success.  

The Director of ITS is responsible for overseeing all areas of IT, straddling both tactical and strategic responsibilities. Initially, most of the focus will be on stewarding the post-go-live processes. Concurrently, this role will play an important role in managing the relationship with our external IT provider, who currently handles network administration and security activities. 

As a leadership position in the VCF, the director’s role requires critical thinking skills and a growth mindset. The director sits on VCF’s leadership team, will join the executive team meetings on a regular basis, and is a strong role model for VCF’s mission and core values. Leveraging data and data analytics is essential to VCF’s future strategy, and the Director of ITS plays an essential role in our success.

Primary Responsibilities

Leadership, Learning, and Innovation:

• Manage strategic technology priorities on an annual basis. 
• With the VP of Operations, design a long-term technology roadmap for VCF that builds room for innovation, creative thinking, and opportunities to leverage tools and systems to help meet VCF’s long-term business plan. 
• Make recommendations for improvements/platforms that would benefit VCF’s business planning.
• Continuously seek to improve processes, products, services, and software through data analysis.
• Manage the preparation and implementation of database migrations and data conversions as needed.
• Manage the IT budget, with the VP of Operations.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends and best practices in tech, data and business analysis, and cybersecurity.
• Work with the VP of Operations to ensure effective planning for IT and cybersecurity threats to VCF data. Help to monitor appropriate elements of the Enterprise Risk Management plan.
• Note: This role may be managing staff.  

Project Management: 

• Serve as project manager for database platforms, including Sage Intacct (finance), Salesforce (CRM, donor portal and grants management), and ancillary software packages with data flow integrations. 
• Work closely with external vendors to manage software updates, troubleshoot tickets, and resolve data issues as needed.
• Assist in evaluating training needs across the organization.
• Work with appropriate external technical support to ensure smooth data migrations. 
• Engage staff to understand how data-driven strategies can improve efficiency and add customer value.
• Work with data sets to improve products, hardware, tools, software, services, and processes.
• Communicate clearly on project priorities, using project management tools to monitor progress. 
• Develop and maintain queries and build dashboards.
• Manage external technical consultancy relationships as needed for projects. 

Relationship with IT Vendor(s):

• In collaboration with the VP of Operations, work with key vendors to ensure VCF’s tech stack issues are addressed and resolved. 
• Maintain security permissions and system upgrade schedules.
• Ensure network administration tasks and activities are carried out efficiently and effectively, in-house or externally.
• Manage all IT vendor relationships.
• Oversee asset management of technology resources, working with external providers to configure laptops as needed.
• Oversee cybersecurity and governance activities.

Key Competencies

The VCF’s culture inspires and empowers employees to do their best work every day, and we are committed to creating a safe, inclusive, and positive workplace. In keeping with our core values, we seek team players who value collaboration, diverse perspectives, and community. The ideal candidate will demonstrate competence in the following areas:

• Demonstrated curiosity, integrity, respect, and initiative.
• Research skills and ability to organize large volumes of information to communicate clearly across the organization.
• Experience leading cross-departmental projects and collaborating effectively across teams.
• Ability to exercise discretion and demonstrate good judgment with sensitive and confidential information.
• Ability to communicate VCF mission and long-term business plan effectively.
• Critical thinking and effective problem-solving skills.
• Proven ability to interact respectfully and effectively with diverse staff and external consultants.
• Strong communication skills.
• Ability to prioritize, organize, and manage multiple competing assignments, projects, and responsibilities.
• Enthusiasm for the best interests of Vermont and Vermonters, including a commitment to working toward equity, justice, inclusion, and belonging for all Vermonters.
• Proficiency in Microsoft platform and database management tools.
• Strong project management skills, including estimating, managing scope, and appropriate prioritization from inception through completion.
• Ability to work comfortably in a fast-paced environment and under deadline pressure.
• Ability to acquire, organize, and correctly analyze large amounts of data.
• Knowledge of data management with experience in data collection, maintenance, and analysis.
• Deep knowledge of CRM, portal products, Power BI, and SharePoint products; familiarity with financial systems a plus.
• Able to create and execute efficient queries, exports, reports, and imports for all departments.
• Demonstrated flexibility to shift priorities as business needs dictate and a strong technical aptitude to communicate effectively with IT resources.
• Extremely well-developed organizational, time management, and analytical skills.
• Work with business subject experts to capture and document all necessary system requirements.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and judgment.
• Professional demeanor and excellent presentation skills.
• A thoughtful team player who can work independently.
• Demonstrated initiative, resourcefulness, and independent decision-making.

Education Required

• A systems-oriented IT professional with a B.S. in computer science or technical-related field preferred. Equivalent experience and education. 
• A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience working with different software systems
• Experience working in community foundations a plus