Req #: 231317

Department: UW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Appointing Department Web Address: https://itconnect.uw.edu/uwit

Posting Date: 02/21/2024

Closing Info: Open Until Filled

Salary: $6,617 - $9,000 per month

Shift: First Shift

Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230119_a11y.pdf)

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state, and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world. By being deeply invested in our work, showing compassion in our interactions, and embodying the spirit of a team player, each member contributes to a thriving community. UW is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff; your experiences, perspectives, and unique identities will be honored at the University of Washington. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable, and welcoming.

UW Information Technology (UW-IT) is the central information technology organization for the University of Washington, responsible for strategic planning, oversight, and direction of the UW’s IT infrastructure, resources, and services. UW-IT provides critical technology support to all three campuses, UW Medicine, and research operations around the world, partnering with the UW community to enable innovation, learning, discovery, and service."

UW-IT’s Customer Experience (CX) division is a full-service organization providing 24x7x365 support to UW faculty, staff, and students. Working within the ITIL service management framework, we are the liaisons between UW-IT and the University, representing UW-IT and advocating on behalf of our customers. CX operates the Service Center assisting the UW community; monitors and troubleshoots University systems and applications; and collaborates with UW partners to develop strategic customer solutions.

The CX Program Operations Specialist position is responsible for responding to a broad range of requests assigned to the Communications Solutions and Customer Relationship Management (CSCRM) group within CX. Acting as a liaison between UW-IT and UW Campus Partners, this position develops and fosters relationships with identified university departments, researchers, and affiliates to understand their business intricacies in relation to their IT requirements. Possessing significant knowledge in Information Technologies is essential to effectively consult with customers regarding their business technology needs pertaining to teaching, learning, and research. Additionally, this role involves comprehending our partners' business objectives, aiding in project prioritization and management, ensuring alignment of projects with technology that optimizes return on investment, and shaping IT strategies to support overarching business objectives. Oversight of vendor performance for quality and timeliness, provision of technical expertise, and autonomous decision-making in communications with customers, process partners, and vendors are integral aspects of this position. Furthermore, it entails staying abreast of emerging technology trends and advocating for their integration within UW-IT. Collaborating with IT professionals and leaders across university units, as well as working closely with UW-IT subject matter experts, is key to operational excellence and the customer experience.

Working in the ITIL IT Service Management (ITSM) framework and using ServiceNow, this position will coordinate customer-driven technology projects, collaborating with external building construction vendors and technology service providers as well as UW Facilities Project Delivery Group and UW Real Estate, the customer’s department, and multiple units within UW-IT divisions. This position assists with keeping resources on task and stakeholders involved and informed. Moreover, this role involves attending construction meetings to advocate for UW-IT's requirements and schedule, and subsequently relaying pertinent information from these meetings to the UW-IT resources assigned to the project during weekly Network Project Coordination meetings. This position will work in the ServiceNow application to manage projects, fulfill customer requests, track incidents affecting services/customers, and utilize/maintain related documentation within the knowledgebase.

Projects undertaken will typically involve complex networking, infrastructure, distributed systems services, and research computing services. This position will work closely with several divisions across UW-IT.

UW-IT’s Infrastructure Networks & Communications Technologies unit, including Communications Infrastructure, Network Design & Architecture, Network Implementation, Network Operations Engineering, Network Project Management, Telecom Architecture & Engineering, and Wireless Design & Architecture teams responsible for the technology network infrastructure, Wired Network Service, Wi-Fi Wireless Service, and various telephony service offerings. UW-IT’s Research Computing division, including Cloud & Data Solutions, Cyberinfrastructure, and Data Center Strategy & Operations teams which offer research-related services via an on-campus high performance computing platform, including the Hyak service, which is part of an integrated, scalable, scientific super-computing infrastructure offering researchers a high-performance network. UW-IT’s Strategy & Business Operations division, including the Communications & Engagement unit to provide project information for UW publications, and the Finance & Business Operations unit with regards to the Accounting, Budget & Finance, Procurement, Warehouse & Logistics, and Workspaces & Facilities teams. Internally within UW-IT’s Customer Experience division, including Customer Analytics, Network & System Operations, and the Technology Service Center to rely information for monitoring, front-line support, and business efforts.

The main scope of activities for this position ranges from participating in meetings (construction, customer, and project), understanding and communicating project information (requirements, timelines, and objectives) to teams and stakeholders, preparing customer agreements and statements of work obtaining essential information from UW-IT teams and electronic signatures from customers, coordinating resources to ensure the project stays on track and within budget, monitoring progress of activities (identifying delays/issues and implementing corrective measures to keep UW-IT’s work on schedule within the project), producing reports as needed, addressing challenges/obstacles as they arise working closely with stakeholders to find viable solutions and minimize project disruptions, maintaining detailed records of project activities to ensure compliance with UW standards and regulations, facilitating communication and collaboration between various stakeholders involved in the project as well as fostering positive relationships and promoting transparency throughout the process, tracking project costs and billing as needed throughout the project timeline, conducting a project post-mortem with involved UW-IT resources to ensure all project work is completed and billed accurately as well as recording the findings and taking action as deemed necessary, and finally, after service delivery ensuring the customer moves from the project phase to business as usual notifying support teams of the transition. The Program Operations Specialist may also participate as a member of related service teams and/or on internal projects and Communities of Practices. Additionally, this position may serve as a Service Manager, Practice Manager, or as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in various opportunities as they arise.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, information management, or related field or experience.

• Minimum of four years of experience performing progressively more complex and high-profile tasks in a computing and networking program operations environment

• Ability to successfully work independently, and use judgment appropriately when communicating, documenting, and interacting with process partners and customers

• Strong problem-solving skills

• Demonstrated excellent written/oral communication skills, technical documentation skills, user liaison skills, and personal interaction abilities. DESIRED:

• Experience in a research university or large enterprise

• Experience working in a service-oriented organization. ITIL Foundations training is a plus.

• Ability to manage a diverse range of activities and multiple technical projects simultaneously, exercise independent judgment in resolving problems, prioritize workload, communicate with management and team members regarding status of projects, and ask for help when needed.

• A broad understanding of modern networking standards, transport technologies, the OSI model Layers 1, 2, and 3, data cable plant infrastructure issues, and wired/wireless in large enterprise environments. Initiative to learn technologies and services provided in the UW-IT environment.

• Proficiency in communicating with individuals across varying levels of technological expertise.Communication abilities when engaging with stakeholders, technical personnel, and management throughout project discovery, onboarding, priority establishment, and status updates.Advanced knowledge and experience working in word processing applications, spreadsheets, and cloud editors associated with updating web pages. Microsoft and Google products are used within the environment.Time management, analytical, and planning skillsDemonstrated ability to learn quickly, apply new technologies, and take initiativeExperience managing IT projects during construction is a plus CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT Hybrid, open office environment Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.