Description
SUMMARY
Since 1941, Charlotte Country Day School (“Country Day”) has built upon a long legacy of firsts among the Charlotte region’s independent schools, introducing groundbreaking programs and progressive ideas. Country Day was the first school in Charlotte to offer an international studies program, and is still the only independent school in the region to have a separate campus for middle school students. Now serving over 1,700 students in JK-12, Country Day offers students and their families an unsurpassed opportunity to prepare for the future, grounded in tradition and shaped by generations of visionary leaders. Country Day holds a profound commitment to lifelong learning, hands-on learning, individualized attention, and a caring, inclusive community.
The arrival of a new head of school this year and forthcoming strategic roadmap has created an ideal moment for Country Day to step back, reflect, and reimagine the role technology can play in service of the school’s mission and student learning outcomes. The CIO will be a new position for the school, which has previously had separate departments for IT and educational technology leadership. This role will unify both IT and ed tech under a single division that strategically builds and defines Country Day’s technology ecosystem to elevate teaching, learning, and operations across the school. The CIO will directly supervise 5 direct reports including divisional ed tech coordinators and an IT systems manager, who in turn supervises the IT operations team of 9 other employees. The ideal candidate will offer a balance of hands-on and visionary leadership—someone capable of thinking both strategically and systematically, lending a curator’s mindset to refine and select the technologies and systems to best support student learning and operations at Country Day. The CIO will report to the assistant head of school and will serve as a key member of the leadership team. Country Day looks forward to welcoming the CIO to begin July 1, 2026, or earlier by mutual agreement.
12M & Ed Tech Recruiting is running the search on behalf of Charlotte Country Day School. Applications received by January 25 will receive priority review. For application instructions and the full job opportunity statement, please visit:
www.EdTechRecruiting.com/jobs/CCDS/technology
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Priority Deadline: January 25, 2026
Virtual Semifinal Round: Week of February 16
On-site Final Round: Early March
Decision Announced: March 16, 2026
Start Date: July 1, 2026 (or earlier by mutual agreement)
Reports To: Assistant Head of School
Classification: Full-time, Exempt
SPECIFIC DUTIES
Schoolwide Technology Strategy
- Oversee multiple functional units including IT infrastructure, data/systems, and educational technology and all operations and project coordination within those units.
- Run a technology department that supports academic innovation in a scalable and sustainable fashion while adhering to best practices for an enterprise environment.
- Collaborate with senior leadership and key stakeholders to align technology initiatives, policies, and services to the needs of each campus and various all-school departments.
- Inspire the technology team and the faculty community to model and support best practices in innovation, technology integration, and instructional design.
Educational Technology
- Evaluate emerging technologies and guide senior academic leaders on strategic and operational decisions involving instructional technology, hardware, software, and programs.
- Oversee the implementation of technology strategy and integration of the curricular arc into core disciplines and other parts of the school’s curriculum.
- Design, deliver, and oversee professional development and growth experiences for faculty and staff in areas of technology integration and instructional design.
- Develop and standardize schoolwide technology policies, including comprehensive best practices around the use of AI.
IT and Information Systems
- Identify and implement opportunities for connecting and consolidating data systems, to ensure datasets are current, reporting is reliable, and redundancies are minimized.
- Lead the periodic review of the school’s systems ecosystem and develop key performance metrics to evaluate capacity and return on investment.
- In partnership with the IT systems manager, lead decisions regarding hardware, software, systems, back-end infrastructure, and services to ensure cost-effectiveness; customer satisfaction; compliance; asset management; quality of service; and performance.
- Provide executive oversight for compliance, data governance, and cyber resilience, safeguarding the school’s digital assets and operational continuity.
Departmental Leadership
- Oversee the hiring, supervision, evaluation, and growth of all members of the technology department, which includes a team of 14.
- Implement technology governance, planning, policies, and procedures within a management framework that both department members and constituents support.
- Ensure that the department responds to end-user needs, provides a reliable IT backbone, designs and delivers excellent end-user training, and aligns procedures to all-school needs.
- In partnership with the CFO/COO, oversee the allocation and management of the technology budget, ensuring effective use of resources.
- Report directly to the assistant head of school and perform other duties as assigned.
Requirements
QUALIFICATIONS AND QUALITIES
Professional Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, with advanced coursework or degree preferable
- 7+ years of experience leading technology departments and supervising technology employees
- Experience in major areas of technology planning and administration, such as: enterprise systems design and implementation, instructional technology innovation, dataflow and data interoperability, project management, fiscal planning and oversight, and end-user training, preferably in an educational or nonprofit setting
- A track record of successfully leveraging technology to improve instruction and student learning outcomes
- Demonstrated success building consensus, facilitating critical discussions, and guiding institutions through transitions or new initiatives
Leadership and Personal Qualities
- A deep understanding of the diverse technology needs within a large, high-achieving, multidivisional, multi-campus independent school
- A passion and interest for managing all areas of technology—IT, data/systems, and instructional—even if prior experience in these areas are not equal
- A collaborative leadership presence that brings people together and instills confidence during times of transition
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal leadership skills to foster trust across a diverse team working across two campuses
- A steady, thoughtful approach to team development and organizational growth
- A systems-thinking orientation and curator’s mindset that align institutional mission with technological capacity
- A commitment to the mission, values, and culture of Country Day
- A blend of confidence and humility, paired with warmth, humor, and approachability
- An eagerness to engage in the life of an independent school community, including the flexibility for occasional evening and weekend involvement
TO APPLY
For more information please visit the following link, which contains the job opportunity statement and complete application instructions.
