What Does an IT Director Do?
A director of information technology (IT) is a senior executive responsible for managing an organization’s technological infrastructure and ensuring its alignment with business objectives. IT directors develop, implement, and maintain IT systems, networks, software, and hardware for the organization, and ensure that they meet the needs of staff and customers. As well as managing the IT budget, developing IT policies and procedures, and hiring and training IT staff, the IT director may also be responsible for overseeing the development of IT policies.
Their role is to ensure that technology solutions are incorporated into the organization’s overall operations and strategy. Moreover, the IT director ensures compliance with relevant law and regulations regarding the organization’s technology systems.
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National Average Salary
IT director salaries vary by experience, industry, organization size, and geography. To explore salary ranges by local market, please visit our sister site zengig.com.
The average U.S. salary for a IT Director is:
$168,900
IT Director Job Descriptions
Crafting the perfect job description may be the key to finding an exceptional IT director. To help you with your recruiting search, our team has put together some examples from past openings.
Example 1
[Your company name] is looking to hire an experienced information technology director for our company. You will be expected to supervise your team members and technical projects, manage business activities by working with information engineers, develop office budgets, and identify new market opportunities. If you enjoy working in a position of leadership and have IT experience, this job could be a good fit for you. Contact us to apply today.
Typical duties and responsibilities
- Assessing technology necessities and making changes to improve
- Heading up and implementing both long and short term IT goals
- Creating and implementing new software and hardware deployments
- Protecting the company from external viral threats
- Creating and implementing IT department budgets
- Supervising team members
Education and experience
- B.S. degree in computer science, information technology, programming, or another related field
- Minimum 10 years of experience working in IT, with 5 years in advanced or management positions
Required skills and qualifications
- Thorough understanding of computer systems, networks, security, telecommunications, databases, and storage systems
- Strong leadership and interpersonal skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Strong problem-solving skills
- Strong organizational skills to prioritize tasks and projects
- Coding language knowledge
- IT security skills
Preferred qualifications
- M.S. or MBA in information systems a plus
- Prior IT certifications
Example 2
This position focuses primarily on the business relationship with the client and leveraging technical resources to improve their operational efficiencies. Client satisfaction, contract renewals, and uncovering additional sales opportunities fall under the realm of the vCIO.
Responsibilities
Providing IT leadership and planning for a diverse group of clients as well as being the internal champion for each client within CompassMSP through the following:
- Conducting regular status and business review meetings for each client to understand short and long term business goals
- Creating, presenting, and implementing annual technology roadmaps, budgets, and reports for each client
- Communicating potential risks related to cyber-security, network security, and industry specific compliance
- Identifying new opportunities to use technology to streamline business processes
- Overseeing internal support and engineering resources to ensure successful delivery of services to clients
- Educating clients on current technology trends relevant to their specific industry
- Providing technical guidance, counsel, and direction for all individuals on team, as needed, to resolve technical issues
Who you are
You are a strategic thinker with excellent communication skills and a strong technical background. You work best in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment. You are able to work well both independently or with a team of experts. You enjoy the challenge of solving practical problems while handling a number of variables. You confidently present your ideas to high level executives and can share your expertise in non-technical language.
Education and experience
- 10+ years of experience in server hardware and network infrastructure including design and implementation
- 3-5 years management experience including preparation of IT strategic roadmaps and budgeting
- 5-10 years of experience with Microsoft Operating Systems and Applications
- Previous project management experience
- Prior experience in a Managed Service Provider or IT Consulting environment preferred
- Exceptional attention to detail and highly organized
- Able to work on and coordinate multiple tasks simultaneously
- Require a valid driver’s license
Physical demands
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear
- The employee is occasionally required to walk, climb stairs, or balance, as well as stoop, kneel, and crouch
- The employee may need to lift and/or move up to 80 pounds
- Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, and ability to adjust focus including spending long amounts of time in front of a computer screen
- In the performance of the duties of this job the employee, on occasion is required to travel, drive a motor vehicle, communicate using telephone and e-mail
Example 3
Specific responsibilities include
- Maximize the performance and success of each IT Team Member and of the IT Team as a whole
- Proactively manage the IT environment
- Lead IT Projects so that projects are completed on time and on budget, with quality solutions that meet the needs of internal and external customers
- Maximize the value that existing applications provide to the organization
- Lead Implementation of New Technologies
- Ensure that our IT environment is reliable and secure, and that company data is protected
- Ensure that the IT Team provides excellent customer service to the rest of the company
- Drive continuous improvement in data and reporting through the establishment of report owners and data owners, and by ensuring that reporting SMEs meet and share reporting best practices at least once per quarter
- Ensure that team has the ability to execute on its objective in the event of team member absences or team turnover
Requirements
- Bachelors degree in a technical related field from an accredited university/college and/or significant work experience
- Minimum 5 years success working in the information technology field and 3 to 5 years supervisory experience in a progressive team environment required
- Demonstrated success leading technologies associated with enterprise applications including ERP and WMS
- NetSuite, Oracle, Manhattan ILS,, and Linux experience, preferred
Example 4
Key responsibilities
- Developing and overseeing SMART goals for hardware, software, and storage
- Ensuring strategic capacity planning
- Managing the IT department, including overseeing hiring of new employees
- Managing any employee concerns and issues
- Determining business requirements for IT systems
- Identifying and eliminating security vulnerabilities with strategic solutions that increase data security
- Directing and supporting the implementation of new software and hardware
- Identifying and recommending new technology solutions
- Managing the organization’s help desk (internal, external, or both)
- Coordinating IT activities to ensure data availability and network services with as little downtime as necessary
- Overseeing departmental finances, including budgeting and forecasting
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in IT, computer science, or a related field
- A minimum of 10 years of experience in IT and 5-7 years in a management/leadership position
- Knowledge of industry-standard computer hardware and software systems especially in Cloud computing
- Experience with network administration and high availability
- Experience managing on-premises servers, storage area networks (SAN), and network-attached storage (NAS) devices
Candidate Certifications to Look For
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). This certification requires candidates to pass an oral or written exam. Recertification is required every 3 years.
- AMA Certified Professional in Management. This certification only requires candidates to pass an oral or written exam. Recertification is required every 3 years.
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). This certification requires a secondary degree along with 23 hours of project management education. Candidates must pass a 150 question exam within the 3-hour time limit. 15 earned PDUs are required every 3 years to maintain certification.
- Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). This certification requires at least 5 years of experience in IT Governance or Management. Candidates must pass the oral or written exam. Certification holders must earn at least 20 CPE hours annually and 120 CPE over the course of 3 years in order to remain certified.
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). This certification requires that candidates have passed the CISM exam within the last 5 years. They must also have relevant full-time work experience. Recertification is not required.
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). This certification requires a secondary degree, 21 contact hours of training in agile practices, and 8 months of agile project experience within the past 5 years. An additional 12 months of general project experience within the past 5 years is also required. Candidates must pass an oral or written exam. Recertification is required every 3 hours.
Sample Interview Questions
- Why did you go into the IT field?
- In what areas of information technology do you specialize, and how have these skills evolved over time?
- How did you overcome obstacles to achieve a successful outcome on a particularly challenging project you led or worked on?
- Which resources do you use for research and education, and what do you do to stay up to date with new, emerging technologies?
- What are your recommendations for managing an organization’s technology infrastructure, from planning to implementation and ongoing maintenance?
- In what ways does your organization’s technology support its overall strategy and operations and align with its business goals?
- Is it possible to manage resources and budgets effectively when competing technology initiatives and requests come from different departments and stakeholders?
- How have you improved system performance, enhanced security, or reduced costs as an IT Director?
- What strategies do you use to foster a positive and productive workplace for your IT staff?
- What steps do you take to mitigate potential risks and vulnerabilities to your organization’s technology systems?
