About this role
City University of New York (CUNY) – Assistant Director of IT Portfolio Governance (IT CSM 4) - Provisional
GENERAL DUTIES I.T. Computer Systems Managers manage and direct an Information Technology area at a College or University level. They set policies and procedures, direct technical staff, and maintain responsibility for administrative as well as technical issues within their assigned area(s) of responsibility. They may manage major and/or large, complex information systems activities and/or manage a unit or group.
This job is in CUNY's Classified Managerial Service. The full specification is available on our web site at http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/ohrm/hros/classification/ccsjobs.html
CONTRACT TITLE Computer Systems Manager
FLSA Exempt
CAMPUS SPECIFIC INFORMATION The Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS) at the City University of New York (CUNY) supports the IT and telecommunications needs of CUNY's 26 colleges. CIS supports enterprise IT and applications, identifies and develops new technologies that advance the University's core mission, operates and maintains the University's network, the enterprise Data Center, and the CUNY Service Desk. Additionally, CIS manages the processes that safeguard the University’s IT assets and maintains the security posture by operating the CUNY Security Operations Center (SOC), develops disaster recovery plans for business continuity, and supports the CUNYfirst Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that integrates student administration, financial management, and human resources operations across CUNY’s 26 colleges. Lastly, CIS provides strategic and operational IT leadership to all CUNY campuses.
Reporting to the Senior Director of Project Management, the Assistant Director of IT Portfolio Governance supports the CIS Project Management Office (PMO) and oversees the project intake and governance process, ensuring requests are evaluated for completeness, business and technical alignment, organizational readiness, resource requirements, risks, dependencies, and alignment with established governance standards. The Assistant Director works closely with CIS leadership, technical teams, Central Office stakeholders, campus partners, project managers, and University requestors to strengthen project submissions and support informed portfolio decision. Additionally, they and support portfolio planning by maintaining visibility into the technology project pipeline, analyzing portfolio demand and readiness, identifying resource and scheduling considerations, and providing governance data and recommendations to PMO and CIS leadership. The position contributes to improved portfolio transparency, forecasting, prioritization, resource planning, and executive decision-making.
key duties include, but are not limited to the following:
Leads the IT project intake and portfolio governance process, ensuring proposed technology initiatives are evaluated consistently against established governance standards, strategic priorities, technical requirements, and organizational readiness criteria.
Evaluates project requests for business objectives, scope, technical components, stakeholders, risks, dependencies, resource requirements, anticipated timelines, and delivery considerations to support governance and portfolio decisions.
Guides project sponsors and requestors in strengthening project submissions, resolving documentation or readiness gaps, and preparing initiatives for governance review.
Manages technology initiatives through the governance lifecycle, including intake, assessment, readiness review, prioritization, governance decision, sequencing, and transition to project execution.
Partners with CIS leadership, technical teams, project managers, business units, campus representatives, and subject matter experts to validate project requirements, dependencies, resource needs, and implementation readiness.
Supports portfolio prioritization and sequencing by analyzing project readiness, strategic alignment, dependencies, organizational capacity, resource constraints, and competing technology demands.
Develops and maintains portfolio dashboards, pipeline reports, governance metrics, project readiness indicators, decision records, and other management information used by PMO and CIS leadership.
Supports portfolio forecasting and resource planning by identifying anticipated project demand, potential scheduling conflicts, resource constraints, cross-project dependencies, and emerging portfolio risks.
Prepares portfolio analyses, governance recommendations, executive briefings, project summaries, agendas, and decision materials for governance committees, portfolio reviews, and senior leadership discussions.
Establishes and maintains governance procedures, templates, intake criteria, documentation standards, decision frameworks, and portfolio management practices to promote consistency, transparency, and accountability.
Monitors portfolio and governance data quality and ensures project information, governance decisions, statuses, dependencies, and related documentation are accurately maintained in applicable systems of record.
Identifies opportunities to improve and automate project intake, governance, portfolio reporting, and related PMO processes to improve efficiency, visibility, and organizational decision-making.
NOTES:
Until further notice, this position is eligible for a hybrid work schedule.
An appointment to this Competitive title/position in the Classified Civil Service Title Series will be made with a Provisional status. Employees in provisional status must pass a competitive civil service examination and be appointed from a civil service list to remain in the title/position.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS Six (6) years of progressively responsible full-time paid information systems technology experience,at least eighteen (18) months of which shall have been in an administrative or managerial capacity in the areas of computer applications programming, systems programming, information systems development, data telecommunications, data base administration or a closely related area. Education at an accredited college or university may be substituted for the general information systems technology experience at the rate of one (1) year of college for six (6) months of experience. In addition, a master’s degree in computer science or a closely related field from an accredited college or university may be substituted for an additional year of the general information systems technology experience. However, all candidates must possess the eighteen (18) months of administrative or managerial experience described above. Experience in an administrative capacity must include, but is not limited to, responsibilities such as: monitoring an IT budget; reviewing and approving IT procurement and invoice payments; reviewing and approving contracts with vendors; monitoring and approving IT projects; setting standards and best practices; risk evaluation (e.g., security, reputational, operational); organizational development; chairing or participating in IT Governance and Advisory committees; and/or overseeing vendor relationship management. Experience in a managerial capacity must include, but is not limited to, responsibilities such as: strategic planning for an office/division; creating and implementing policies; setting standards and best practices; defining and documenting project scope; root cause analysis with recommendations; collaborating with other managers and executives to define future state of IT program; and/or forecasting. The following types of experience are not acceptable: superficial use of preprogrammed software without complex programming, design, implementation or management of the product; use of a word processing package; use of a hand-held calculator; data entry; operation of data processing hardware or consoles.
OTHER QUALIFICATIONS Preferred:
Five (5) or more years of progressively responsible experience in IT project management, portfolio management, project governance, program management, or related technology management functions.
Demonstrated experience supporting or managing IT project intake, governance, portfolio planning, prioritization, and project lifecycle processes.
Knowledge of project and portfolio management methodologies and delivery frameworks, including Waterfall, Agile, and hybrid approaches.
Experience evaluating technology initiatives involving enterprise applications, infrastructure, cloud services, cybersecurity, systems integration, ERP platforms, or digital transformation.
Demonstrated ability to analyze project demand, risks, dependencies, resource re