Director of Information Technology

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of Information Technology serves as AUIB’s senior institutional information leader and principal advisor on digital transformation, enterprise systems, academic technology, data governance, artificial intelligence, and technology-enabled institutional improvement.

The Director leads the University’s internal IT functions, including enterprise applications, academic applications, classroom technology support, end-user support, system integration, institutional data governance, and digital innovation. The portfolio includes Oracle Fusion Cloud, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Canvas and other academic and administrative platforms supporting students, faculty and staff.

A related-company technology provider operates significant portions of AUIB’s physical network infrastructure, data-center environment, and cybersecurity services. The Director remains accountable for institutional requirements, technology architecture, service levels, security governance, business continuity, risk escalation, and ensuring that outsourced services meet AUIB’s academic and administrative needs.

The Director will develop a forward-looking technology roadmap, identify and implement innovative solutions, establish responsible AI and data-governance frameworks, improve integration and reporting across systems, and ensure that technology investments produce measurable institutional value. The role requires a technically credible, strategically oriented and service-focused leader who can challenge vendors, guide implementation partners, lead organizational change, and translate academic and administrative needs into sustainable technology solutions.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Strategic Leadership, Governance, and Controls

• Technology Strategy and Roadmap: Develop and execute a multi-year institutional technology strategy covering enterprise applications, academic technology, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, integrations, digital services, end-user computing, and outsourced infrastructure and security services.
• Enterprise Architecture: Establish architecture principles and standards governing systems, integrations, identity, data, cloud services, security, interoperability and technology lifecycle decisions. Prevent fragmented, duplicative or unsupported technology adoption.
• Technology Governance and Portfolio Management: Lead a cross-functional technology-governance process to evaluate, prioritize and monitor technology initiatives based on institutional value, risk, cost, capacity and strategic alignment.
• Institutional Technology Advisory: Advise executive leadership and academic and administrative units on emerging technology, digital opportunities, technology risk, investment priorities and organizational readiness.

2. Enterprise Applications and Academic Technology

• Enterprise Applications Leadership: Direct the functional and technical governance, administration, integration, performance and continuous improvement of Oracle Fusion Cloud, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Canvas, CRM, admissions, student-service, HR, finance and other institutional applications.
• Academic Technology: Partner with the Provost, colleges, Registrar, Student Affairs and faculty to ensure that the LMS, classroom technologies, instructional tools, assessment systems and academic applications effectively support teaching, learning and student success.
• Application Product Management: Establish clear business ownership, product roadmaps, enhancement backlogs, release planning, testing, documentation and adoption measures for major systems.
• Systems Integration and Automation: Develop an integration and automation roadmap that reduces duplicate entry, manual reconciliation, spreadsheet dependency and inconsistent data across institutional systems.
• Business Process Improvement: Partner with functional leaders to redesign processes before automating them and ensure that technology supports appropriate controls, segregation of duties, service standards and user experience.
• Implementation Partner Management: Direct Oracle, SIS, LMS and other implementation and support partners; validate scope, requirements, architecture, deliverables, testing, knowledge transfer and post-implementation support. appropriate access controls, audit logs, encryption where needed, and secure data handling practices.

3. Data Governance, Analytics, AI and Digital Innovation

• The Director is expected to move AUIB beyond maintaining existing systems toward using technology to improve institutional performance, student experience and academic delivery.
• Innovation Pipeline: Establish a disciplined process for sourcing, piloting, evaluating and scaling new technologies. Require defined business cases, success measures, risk assessment, adoption plans and post-implementation review.
• Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Governance: Develop and implement a responsible AI framework covering approved use cases, data protection, academic integrity, vendor assessment, human oversight, intellectual property, security and acceptable use.
• Technology Scanning and Partnerships: Maintain awareness of emerging higher-education technologies and develop relationships with vendors, universities and implementation partners to identify relevant solutions for AUIB.

4. Procurement, Asset Management, and Vendor Oversight

• Solution Sourcing and Evaluation: Lead structured evaluation of software, cloud and technology-service solutions, including requirements definition, architecture fit, interoperability, security, data ownership, implementation capacity, TCO and vendor viability.
• Contract and Performance Management: Define technical requirements, deliverables, acceptance criteria, service levels, transition requirements, knowledge-transfer obligations and exit provisions for technology contracts.
• Contractor & Vendor Governance: Serve as AUIB’s principal relationship owner for technology services delivered by affiliated entities, ensuring appropriate documentation, service levels, cost transparency, escalation and accountability.

5. People Leadership and Capacity Building

• Team Leadership: Recruit, lead, mentor and evaluate a multidisciplinary team of enterprise application analysts, academic technology specialists, business analysts, service-desk personnel, classroom technology support staff and other technology professionals.
• Knowledge Transfer & Sustainability: Build internal capability through training, documentation, and cross-training—prioritizing development of local staff and long-term operational resilience.
• Culture & Service Orientation: Foster a high-performance, service-oriented environment emphasizing accountability, responsiveness, integrity, and continuous improvement.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, or Business Administration (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Preferred: Master’s degree (MBA/MS) and/or relevant certifications (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2, ITIL, COBIT, cloud or enterprise architecture, data governance, change management, CISM/CISSP, or vendor certifications relating to major enterprise platforms).

Experience

• Management: Minimum 7–10 years of progressively responsible IT experience, including 3–5 years in a leadership role (Director/Associate Director level).
• Enterprise Systems: Demonstrated leadership of a portfolio of enterprise and academic applications, such as ERP, HCM, SIS, LMS, CRM, admissions, reporting and integration platforms.
• Transformation Leadership: Demonstrated experience with digital transformation, business-process improvement, system integration, data governance, analytics, AI-enabled solutions or enterprise automation.
• Higher Education: Significant experience in higher education or similarly complex, multi-stakeholder environments strongly preferred.
• International/Regional: Experience working in the Middle East or comparable international contexts highly desirable.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Technical: Strong understanding of enterprise applications, systems integration, cloud and enterprise architecture, data governance, identity and access management, cybersecurity governance, service management and technology vendor oversight. The successful candidate must possess sufficient technical depth to evaluate proposed architectures and challenge internal and external specialists but is not expected to serve as the University’s principal network or cybersecurity engineer.
• Operational: Ability to manage IT operations in resource-constrained, logistics-heavy, and high-availability campus environments.
• Leadership & Change Management: Ability to drive change, implement disciplined controls, and communicate technical concepts to non-technical leadership.
• Communication: Professional fluency in English (written and verbal) required; Arabic is an asset.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Location: Based on AUIB campus in Baghdad, Iraq.
• Hours: Standard office hours with on-call availability for emergency outages, major incidents, and planned maintenance windows.
• Environment: Office-based with regular engagement across academic and administrative units, classrooms, service locations and technology facilities. Occasional inspection of data rooms, network facilities, housing technology environments and construction or fit-out projects may be required.

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