Director, Business Alignment - ITS

Job Title

Director of Business Alignment, Information Technology Services (ITS) – The University at Albany.

Position Summary: The Director of Business Alignment leads the ITS Business Alignment unit in developing and maintaining strong relationships and strategic partnerships with University divisions, schools, and colleges, ensuring ITS engagement and support align with University priorities across teaching and learning, research, athletics, advancement, communications and marketing, and administrative functions.

Primary Responsibilities

• Business Relationship Management
  • Shape, support, and enforce IT policy for the university and align strategic direction with university-wide priorities.
  • Ensure ITS involvement and leadership throughout planning and implementation of technology at the university.
  • Build and enhance ITS’ strategic partnership with business areas by leading collaborative efforts to develop and maintain a shared vision and roadmap for ITS involvement.
  • Lead and coordinate ITS readiness, preparatory activities, and execution of business relationship meetings with various levels of university leadership.
  • Develop managers to be effective business partners that capture, shape, and guide all campus IT needs through ITS work‑management processes.
  • Build and maintain high‑level familiarity with each Division’s strategic objectives and the role of technology in enabling and supporting those objectives.
  • Take lead role in messaging the University’s IT governance, guiding principles, policies, and procedures.
  • Maintain a continual state of readiness for reporting and show‑back to executive leaders.
• Demand Management
  • Recognize and record business needs and opportunities in a timely fashion.
  • Ensure ITS engages efficiently with customers to capture and shape fully formed requests that articulate value and are ready for review.
  • Confirm executive sponsorship for requests before initiating projects.
  • Oversee process development and improvement for demand management.
  • Update portfolio prioritizations with executive sponsors prior to advancing new projects to initiation.
• Project and Project Portfolio Management
  • Establish and maintain overall accountability for ITS project delivery and portfolio outcomes.
  • Provide strategic leadership for the university’s IT project portfolio, setting governance expectations, decision criteria, and performance measures.
  • Lead, through the Project Portfolio Manager, the end‑to‑end portfolio lifecycle, ensuring consistent business cases, scoping, and transparent decision documentation.
  • Oversee portfolio resource allocation and capacity planning in partnership with ITS delivery leaders.
  • Ensure timely, accurate portfolio reporting (status, schedule, budget, benefits, risks, dependencies) and deliver executive‑level communications.
  • Direct portfolio‑level risk, issue, and dependency management with appropriate escalation paths.
  • Sponsor continuous improvement of project and portfolio management practices, standards, and tools.
• Business Analysis
  • Establish and maintain accountability for business analysis capabilities and outcomes.
  • Provide strategic leadership for business analysis as a discipline, defining expectations and standards for requirements gathering.
  • Drive high‑quality deliverables such as discovery, facilitation, process mapping, and documentation of functional and non‑functional requirements.
  • Integrate business analysis activities into demand management and project initiation.
  • Champion continuous improvement of business analysis practices, templates, and tools, and develop staff capabilities.
• Staff Supervision
  • Lead and manage direct reports, providing guidance, support, and performance feedback.
  • Foster a positive and productive work environment.
  • Deliver performance management feedback and goals timely.
  • Allocate approximately 5% of time to other reasonable duties as assigned.

Functional and Supervisory Relationships

• Reports to: Chief Information Officer (CIO).
• Supervises: Administrative and Business Services Manager (2), Educational Technology Services Manager, Research Technology Services Manager, Reporting and Analytics Manager, Communications and Collaboration Manager, Project Portfolio Manager, and Business Analysis Manager.
• May supervise additional positions and functions as assigned.

Job Requirements

• Strong trust and discretion required, with access to sensitive and confidential information.
• Excellent relationship management skills, including stakeholder engagement, negotiation, influence, and political savvy.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including active listening and persuasive communication.
• Competency in portfolio and prioritization management.
• Competency in process design, optimization, and change leadership.
• Ability to use AI‑enabled tools to improve research, analysis, writing, workflow, or decision‑making while exercising sound judgment.
• Exceptional ability to organize work, prioritize tasks, and manage multiple and changing priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to develop inclusive and equitable relationships within a diverse campus community.
• Demonstrated ability to support diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and belonging relative to the role.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in IT project portfolio management and/or IT business relationship management.
• Experience supervising direct report employees.
• Demonstrated record of success leading cross‑functional teams and managing complex project portfolios.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in client account management or other executive sales role.
• Experience supervising management‑level, direct‑report employees.
• Master’s or doctoral degree from an accredited institution.
• Experience working in higher education.
• Experience working in a unionized environment.

Working Environment

• Typical office environment.
• Report to campus in person; not eligible for telecommuting.

Professional Rank and Salary Range

Director, MP3, $165,000.

Special Notes

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. The University at Albany is not an E‑Verify employer.

The UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY IS AN EO/AA/IRCA/ADA EMPLOYER.

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