Enterprise Project Manager / Interim Director

Phone/Skype Hire. Onsite from day 1

Candidate MUST be a SC, NC, GA resident and willing to relocate to SC prior to starting the role at their own expense

Location: Columbia, SC

Duration: 12+ months

The Division of IT requires an experienced leader to provide immediate organizational stabilization and transformational leadership during a period of significant departmental change. The department is currently experiencing organizational, operational, and cultural challenges that require decisive leadership, objective assessment, and rapid implementation of corrective actions before recruiting a permanent Director.

The interim assignment is intended to serve as a transformational leadership role focused on rebuilding organizational culture, aligning resources with institutional priorities, improving operational effectiveness, and implementing sustainable management practices. The successful candidate will be empowered to make organizational decisions necessary to position the department for long-term success and ensure a smooth transition to permanent leadership.

Interim Director will lead a comprehensive organizational transformation initiative that includes:

• Stabilizing departmental operations while maintaining continuity of critical IT services and customer engagement
• Conducting an inventory of current research technology infrastructure, services, operational procedures, active/anticipated projects, and budget needs/requests
• Establishing or aligning operational procedures with divisional standards and practices for customer engagement, including leveraging the service desk ticketing system for managing support requests, client communications, task/project tracking, reporting analytics
• Establishing governance, communication, and decision-making processes that support long-term success
• Documenting organizational recommendations, strategic priorities, lifecycle budgets, professional development needs, and transition plans for the incoming permanent Director
• Recruiting, mentoring, and preparing team members where appropriate to support long-term organizational success

Success will be measured by demonstrable improvements in organizational culture, employee accountability, operational performance, customer satisfaction, governance maturity, and departmental readiness for permanent executive leadership.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership for all departmental operations, research technology infrastructure, and related services.

Supervise managers, professional, and student staff.

Establish performance expectations and monitor organizational outcomes.

Make timely operational and resource allocation decisions.

Lead organizational change initiatives and culture transformation efforts.

Evaluate organizational effectiveness and recommend structural improvements.

Develop and monitor departmental priorities and performance metrics in collaboration with executive leadership.

Coordinate departmental budgets and strategic resource allocation in collaboration with executive leadership.

Ensure compliance with university policies, security standards, audit requirements, and regulatory obligations.

Remove organizational obstacles that inhibit productivity, innovation, and collaboration.

Provide executive-level reports and recommendations to executive leadership.

Develop succession planning and transition documentation for permanent leadership.

Skills Needed

• 8+ years of experience leading organizational transformation, change management, and service delivery optimization
• 8+ years of experience leading large, complex technology projects
• 8+ years of experience with personnel management, coaching, and performance accountability
• Experience with research cyberinfrastructure, high-performance computing, high-speed storage and networking technologies.
• Experience implementing governance and operational maturity frameworks
• Experience managing organizational change in higher education

REQUIRED EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS:

Requires a completed bachelor's degree

PREFERRED EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS:

1. Master's degree in science, technology, or a related field.

2. ITIL

3. Cloud Infrastructure (AWS/Azure)

4. AI Inftrastructure (AWS/Azure/Google)

5. Carpentries Instructor

6. Training on HPC Technologies (Slurm, Infiniband)