The Assistant Chief Information Officer (ACIO) serves as a strategic partner to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), transforming institutional priorities into actionable technology initiatives that deliver measurable results.
This role provides executive leadership for complex IT transformation programs, including enterprise system modernization, cloud and SaaS adoption, process improvement, organizational change management, and IT service management. Working collaboratively with campus leaders, project teams, and Information Technology Services (ITS) staff, the ACIO ensures that technology investments align with the college’s strategic goals while promoting innovation, operational excellence, and long-term sustainability.
This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced technology leader who thrives in complex environments, excels at leading organizational change, and is passionate about building modern, resilient, and customer-focused IT services that empower the Rhode Island College community.
Primary Purpose
The Assistant Chief Information Officer (ACIO) provides senior-level leadership for Information Technology Services (ITS), with primary responsibility for advancing the college’s IT transformation efforts. This role focuses on modernizing the college’s technology systems, processes, and operating practices to support evolving institutional needs.
Working in close partnership with the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the ACIO translates strategic priorities into actionable programs, drives progress across complex, multi-workstream initiatives, and ensures that organizational change is effectively implemented and sustained. The ACIO is accountable for the coordination, alignment, and execution of the transformation portfolio.
At the program level, the ACIO serves as the senior IT lead on major initiatives, partnering with the PMO Director to provide program leadership, governance, and delivery oversight.
Essential Duties
- Translate the CIO’s strategic vision into an actionable IT transformation roadmap, covering enterprise systems, infrastructure modernization, process redesign, and workforce capability, with clear sequencing, dependencies, and measurable milestones.
- Own the health and forward momentum of the IT transformation portfolio — tracking progress across workstreams, surfacing risks and decisions to the CIO, and ensuring the program remains coherent and on course.
- Assess legacy systems, processes, and technical debt across the IT environment; develop remediation and modernization pathways that align with institutional strategy and inform investment planning.
- Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, platforms, and delivery models — with particular emphasis on cloud and SaaS — developing business cases and options for CIO review and approval.
- Lead the IT transformation effort associated with enterprise system migrations, coordinating workstreams across ITS, managing organizational change, and driving readiness — while functional system ownership remains with the responsible operational leads.
- Lead the planning and organizational transition required to move the college from a primarily on-premises environment to a cloud and SaaS-based operating model, including the development of new skills, processes, and operating practices across ITS.
- Serve as the department’s primary change management authority — designing and executing stakeholder engagement plans, readiness assessments, and adoption programs that enable sustainable technology change across the college.
- Coach ITS leaders and project stakeholders in change management principles and practices, building change capability across the department as an enduring organizational competency.
- Partner with academic and administrative leaders to ensure technology changes are well-understood, actively supported, and adopted effectively across the institution.
- Represent IT at the program leadership level on complex enterprise initiatives, providing technology direction, risk perspective, and domain authority in program governance settings.
- Partner with the PMO Director to ensure transformation initiatives are structured with defined scope, governance, resource plans, and success metrics; serve as the technology authority on initiatives where the two roles co-lead delivery.
- Coordinate across ITS functional areas to ensure transformation workstreams are aligned, dependencies are managed, and individual efforts contribute to a coherent overall program.
- Identify workforce capability gaps related to transformation and modernization goals; recommend and support training, upskilling, and hiring strategies to the CIO.
- Contribute to the ITS budget process by developing technology investment justifications, cost models, and multi-year modernization plans for CIO review.
- Provide the CIO with structured, timely transformation program reporting, including status, risks, decisions required, and emerging issues.
- Lead the development and adoption of IT service management (ITSM) processes across ITS — including change management, release management, incident management, and problem management — establishing consistent standards and cross-departmental practices that improve service reliability and operational discipline.
- Drive continuous improvement of ITS operating models, optimizing how the department plans, prioritizes, and executes work to increase efficiency, reduce friction, and build greater organizational responsiveness and adaptability.
- Define and steward best practices for work management and project execution across ITS, including governance of the technology request and intake process, standards for how projects are scoped and run, and direct project management responsibility for select initiatives.
Occasional Duties
Perform other duties as assigned.
Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Demonstrated experience leading large-scale IT transformation programs in a complex, multi-stakeholder organization.
- Proven ability to lead technology change at the program level, coordinating across multiple workstreams, directors, and functional teams while maintaining momentum and accountability across the full transformation.
- Formal training or demonstrated expertise in change management methodologies (e.g., Prosci/ADKAR, Kotter, or equivalent); ability to design and execute adoption programs at scale, not simply communicate changes.
- Experience leading or contributing to enterprise system migrations — particularly ERP transitions — with an understanding of the organizational, process, and technical dimensions involved.
- Understanding of cloud and SaaS operating models, including what organizational changes result from a shift from on-premises infrastructure to cloud-delivered services
- Ability to lead and influence across peer relationships without direct authority, working effectively with functional owners.
- Proven ability to develop and maintain multi-year transformation roadmaps that translate strategic direction into, achievable plans.
- Strong technical acumen to engage credibly with ITS leaders and managers on architecture, integration, and platform decisions while maintaining a program-level perspective.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to prepare executive-ready program status reports, clearly present risks and recommendations, and communicate transformation rationale to non-technical audiences.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a track record of identifying and resolving cross-functional blockers in complex program environments.
- Experience contributing to technology investment planning and budget justification in support of transformation goals.
- High degree of professional integrity and commitment to information security and confidentiality.
Required Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, or a related field.
- Experience:Minimum eight years of progressive experience in information technology, with a minimum of five years in a senior leadership role with direct, hands-on accountability for leading IT transformation programs, enterprise system migrations, or large-scale technology change initiatives across a complex, multi-stakeholder organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, or a related field.
- Relevant certifications such as Prosci Change Practitioner, PMP, ITIL, or equivalent.
- Experience leading IT transformation in a higher education or similarly complex public sector environment.
- Hands-on experience leading or co-leading an ERP migration or major enterprise platform transition, particularly in environments moving from legacy on-premises systems to cloud or SaaS-based solutions.
- Demonstrated experience planning and executing a shift from on-premises infrastructure to cloud or hybrid environments, with an understanding of the operational and workforce changes that accompany such a transition.
Does this position have Direct Reports? Yes Environmental Conditions
This position requires occasional lifting, moving, and/or installation of moderately heavy equipment (such as computers) and other related information technology components.
Position Details
Full Time / Part Time
Full-time
Proposed Starting Salary Range
$140,000-$150,000
Work Schedule
Full-Time, 35 hours per week.
Monday – Friday
8:30AM – 4:30PM
May be required to work outside of normal business hours based on departmental needs.
Benefits
Full-time employees enjoy an array of benefits including:
- Health and Wellness – Medical, Dental & Vision
- Wellness Incentives and Rewards
- Paid time Off – Vacation, Sick & Holiday
- Retirement Benefits
- Disability and Insurance Benefits
- Education Benefits – Tuition waivers for RIC, CCRI & URI
For a complete listing, visit Employee Benefits.
Reports To (Title)
AVP for Information Technology Services / CIO
Academic or Calendar Year
Calendar
Position Status
Continuing
End of Temporary or Limited Position
Collective Bargaining Unit
Non-union
Posting Information
Number of Positions Available
1
Application Open Date
07/08/2026
EEO Statement
Rhode Island College is an equal opportunity employer. The institution does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability religion, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law. Rhode Island College is committed to maintain a workplace and educational environment that supports equal opportunity, professionalism and respectful engagement for all community members.
