Senior Director, IT Security

Company Description

About KIPP Texas Public Schools 

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 54 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 30,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose - college, career, and beyond - so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more fair world.

Founded in Houston in 1994 and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, we are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join a Team and Family with an unwavering commitment to creating classrooms, offices, and communities rooted in belongingness, academic success and joy. If you are passionate about joining a mission and values-driven community who wants every child to want to run to school, the KIPP Texas Team and Family is for you!

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools with nearly 16,500 educators and 190,000 students and alumni.

Job Description

KIPP Texas seeks a visionary and strategic Senior Director, IT Security, reporting to the Deputy Chief of Information Technology. This pivotal role involves establishing and leading the organization's comprehensive Information Technology Security function, architecting and implementing a robust security framework, and driving a continuous, proactive approach to safeguarding KIPP Texas against evolving internal and external cybersecurity threats. The Senior Director will collaborate closely with IT leadership to shape and execute the IT security vision and strategy, ensuring the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of a resilient and forward-thinking security architecture that protects our students, staff, and data.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Direction Setting

• Leads the strategic development and execution of IT security programs, ensuring the effective protection, integrity, and availability of all educational technologies to further KIPP Texas' mission and foster student success.

• Continuously tracks emerging cybersecurity landscapes and technological advancements in K-12 education, and strategically adapts by developing and implementing proactive security solutions.

• Ensures IT security systems and tools are functional and scalable to effectively secure and enable KIPP Texas' continued growth.

• Develops well-articulated business cases for investments in hardware, software, and cloud capabilities.

• Fosters a culture of continuous security improvement, actively identifying and implementing innovative ways to strengthen KIPP Texas' cybersecurity posture and enhance secure user practices.

• Actively promotes a strong IT security culture through ongoing awareness initiatives, while ensuring rigorous adherence to all internal and external audit requirements.

• Collaborates strategically with the Deputy Chief of Information Technology to ensure business and technological synergies are leveraged effectively across all IT functions to best serve the needs of KIPP Texas.

Service Delivery

• Oversees the management of IT security services including continuous monitoring, threat response and investigations, security awareness, security audits and security systems updates and maintenance.

• Oversees the strategic management of KIPP Texas' IT security framework and leads daily security operations, threat intelligence, and incident response.

• Develops and implements clear IT security standards, incorporating relevant metrics (educational SLAs/KPIs), comprehensive documentation, and effective user communication and training strategies.

• Implements service improvements based on incident analysis and root cause, focused on preventing recurrence and enhancing user experience.

• Conducts regular stakeholder meetings for continuous service improvement, aiming to empower teaching and learning within a safe and secure environment.

Functional Management

• Holds responsibility for strategic financial planning, prudent expense management, and effective staff management within the IT service delivery functional area, aligning resource allocation with the educational priorities of KIPP Texas.

• Analyzes business needs, evaluates and recommends technical solutions, overseas sourcing decisions and scalable vendor management process to align IT Security with business needs.

• Analyzes the evolving technology needs of KIPP Texas and evaluates and recommends technical solutions that directly support IT Security needs.

• Establishes and manages clear procedures to ensure effective support coordination and seamless escalation between IT functions and resources across IT teams, minimizing disruption to educational activities.

• Provides tailored training for new employees on security awareness and best practices for working with KIPP Texas technology, information and data.

Staff and Leadership Development

• Develop and implement workforce plans optimizing current and future IT security effectiveness for KIPP Texas' educational priorities.

• Manage SMART goals and performance reviews for IT support staff, directly supporting student achievement and operational efficiency.

• Provide leadership, targeted training, and ongoing development opportunities to cultivate a team with specialized skills in supporting technology for teaching, learning, and administration.

• Contributes to organization-level goals for talent development and growth.

• Work within KIPP Texas policies and adhere to relevant educational data privacy and technology use regulations and policies.

Qualifications

Skills

• Proven ability to effectively communicate with, influence, and manage diverse stakeholders across the educational ecosystem (including senior leadership, school principals, teachers, staff, and potentially parents), building consensus and aligning security initiatives with organizational and academic objectives.

• Extensive experience and a strong understanding of technical cybersecurity domains including, but not limited to, network security, endpoint protection, data loss prevention (DLP), identity and access management (IAM), security operations (SecOps), incident response, and vulnerability management.

• Demonstrated expertise in securing cloud environments and applications, particularly within platforms commonly used in education (e.g., Google Workspace for Education, Microsoft 365 for Education, AWS, Azure). This includes understanding cloud security best practices, compliance, and risk mitigation strategies.

• Deep knowledge of cybersecurity risk management frameworks and a proven ability to apply them within a public school district context. Strong understanding of relevant educational data privacy regulations (e.g., FERPA, COPPA) and compliance requirements.

• Proven ability to lead and coordinate effective incident response efforts, develop clear communication strategies during security incidents, and manage cybersecurity crises with minimal disruption to educational operations.

• Ability to develop and lead comprehensive security awareness and training programs tailored for diverse educational audiences (students, faculty, staff), fostering a strong security culture across the organization.

• Experience in developing, implementing, and enforcing IT security policies, procedures, and guidelines that align with industry best practices and specific educational regulations.

• A strong team-oriented and collaborative mindset with a demonstrated commitment to knowledge sharing and a service-oriented approach to safeguarding the educational mission of the agency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a closely related field, OR a minimum of 8+ years of progressively responsible experience in IT leadership, including significant experience within an educational environment.

• Demonstrated experience (5+ years preferred) in a leadership role managing and developing high-performing information technology security teams within a complex organization, ideally within K-12 education.

• Proven success leading and implementing large-scale technology transformation initiatives and major IT projects within an educational context, with a focus on enhancing security posture.

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Business Administration or a related field preferred.

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification required.

• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification is a plus.

• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification is a plus.

• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certification or demonstrated experience with IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices in an educational setting is a plus.

Additional Information

What We Bring to the Table

• The starting point for the salary range for this position is $110,000 - $115,000 commensurate upon experience and internal-equity.

• Competitive vacation and flexible paid time off (PTO) policies.

• Paid family leave.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans with varying coverage for employees and their families, inclusive of virtual physician visits. High deductible health plan with HSA also offered.

• Employee assistance programs. 

• Participates in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS).

• 457 Roth retirement plan option with KIPP matching contribution up to $1,200 a year.  403b plans also supported.

• KIPP also offers the following employee-paid benefits: legal plans, LifeLock identity protection, life insurance and disability insurance.

• Flexible spending account or high-yield HSA.

Physical Requirements

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Considerable time spent at a desk using a computer/laptop.

• Attending conferences or training sessions. 

Work Environment

• Reports to school site and/or regional central office Monday-Friday.

• Typical school environment with frequent interruptions.

Travel Requirements

• Regular travel across KIPP Texas regions for school visits, in person meetings, trainings, and conferences.

KIPP provides equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.