MARICOPA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT (MCCCD)
Job Opening: Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Salary: $142,000 - $184,600/annually, DOE
Full job posting and apply online: https://www.maricopa.edu/about/careers/full-time-staff
Job ID 322174; Keyword “Chief Technology Officer”
Open until filled - First review of resumes will be the week of January 5, 2026
10 Colleges. Unlimited Opportunities.
The Maricopa County Community College District is one of the largest community college systems in the nation. Home to 10 individually accredited community colleges and 31 satellite locations, we proudly serve students in every corner of the Valley. Each day, our dedicated faculty, staff, and administrators, live out our vision—creating excellence in education for a better world.
We believe our employees are our most valuable asset. Our 10 colleges and District Office support nearly 10,000 jobs and careers throughout Greater Phoenix.
Benefits…You Bet!
Explore the wide range of benefits and perks available to eligible employees at MCCCD:
Affordable and Comprehensive Benefits Package:
- Nationwide Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage
- Paid Time Off: Vacation, Sick Leave, and Personal Time
- 20 Paid Observed Holidays
- Company-paid Life Insurance, AD&D, and Short-Term Disability plans, with the option to purchase supplemental coverage
- Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) Pension, including Long Term Disability and Retiree Health Insurance with 100% employer-matching contributions
- Optional Retirement Plans: 403(b), 457(b), Roth 403(b), Roth 457(b)
- Tuition Reimbursement for employees and dependents
- Annual Professional Development Funding
- Flexible Work Schedules
Employee Health & Wellness Programs:
- District-Wide Wellness Program with Workshops and Webinars
- Monthly Health & Wellness Calendar and Newsletter
- Virta Diabetes Reversal Program, Support Groups, and Diabetes Empowerment Education Programs
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Sight-On-Site Eye Care Services
- Mobile On-Site Mammography Screenings
- Pre-Retirement Planning Events
- Qualifying Employer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (potential loan forgiveness for federal Direct Loans after meeting repayment requirements and working full-time for an eligible employer)
Purpose
The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) serves as a strategic technical leader within the Maricopa County Community College District’s Information Technology Services (ITS) division, advancing the district’s mission of academic excellence, innovation, and community impact through secure, modern, and reliable technology infrastructure. Reporting to the CIO, this executive partner helps shape the long-term technology strategy and vision for the district by recommending and implementing enterprise infrastructure modernization and investment decisions that ensure scalability, resilience, and alignment with institutional goals. The CTO is instrumental in leading on-premise and cloud initiatives, which will increase network resilience and elevate service delivery across MCCCD.
Abbreviated Responsibilities
Operational Stewardship (25%)
This role leads a high-performing infrastructure and operations organization. The CTO fosters alignment of district-wide technology initiatives across the colleges.
- Strategic Technology Leadership: Develops and executes a comprehensive technology transformation strategy aligned with the enterprise’s long-term objectives, ensuring modernization, standardization, and sustainability across all technology domains.
- Operational Excellence: Establishes modern IT service management practices, operational frameworks, and performance standards that elevate reliability, security, and customer experience.
Enterprise Engineering (25%)
This function provides executive oversight and operational leadership for MCCCD’s enterprise infrastructure ecosystem, including IT operations, network, server, storage, and cloud environments. The CTO ensures reliable, secure, and scalable systems that serve as the foundation for academic and administrative success. By applying engineering best practices, automation, and performance analytics, the CTO drives operational excellence, service reliability, and continuous improvement across all infrastructure domains.
- Enterprise Architecture & Modernization: Redesigns and rebuilds the core technology stack, including infrastructure, cloud architectures, enterprise applications, data platforms, and integration frameworks.
- Oversees the design, implementation, and maintenance of high-availability and high-performance enterprise networks across the district.
Team/Project Leadership (25%)
This role cultivates a culture of collaboration, accountability, and professional excellence. The CTO drives talent development, succession planning, and staff empowerment while ensuring performance expectations and team cohesion. Through strong mentorship and cross-functional engagement, the CTO strengthens organizational capability.
- Team Leadership & Culture: Plans, organizes, assigns, supervises, reviews, and evaluates the work of staff; identifies training needs and promotes professional growth; holds team members accountable for execution and deliverables; leads recruiting, onboarding, and retention strategies; mentors staff on technical best practices, career progression, and cross-functional engagement
- Project Oversight: Prioritizes, oversees, and delivers major infrastructure programs and initiatives; ensures projects are on time, within scope, and within budget, with a focus on organizational impact and measurable results; collaborates with and receives support from PMO leadership
Stakeholder Engagement and Governance (10%)
The CTO will participate in the defined shared governance practices within MCCCD by advising on technology planning and service delivery. Partnering with college technical teams, the CTO will recommend infrastructure priorities within governance forums and foster transparent communication. The CTO cultivates trust, drives stakeholder alignment, and ensures IT initiatives are communicated clearly and executed effectively across MCCCD.
- Serves as the primary operational IT liaison between ITS and college technical teams, college IT leaders, and college administrative leaders.
- Represents infrastructure priorities in districtwide IT governance committees and task forces.
Budget and Vendor Management (10%)
The CTO oversees the fiscal and contractual dimensions of infrastructure operations, ensuring responsible stewardship of district resources. This includes budget planning, forecasting, procurement, and vendor relationship management. The CTO ensures MCCCD’s infrastructure investments deliver maximum value and strategic alignment with institutional priorities by optimizing cost efficiency, negotiating favorable agreements, and evaluating total cost of ownership.
- Develops and manages a multi-million dollar infrastructure budget, including forecasting, procurement, and cost optimization.
- Leads vendor and contract negotiations for hardware, applicable software, and service providers.
Risk and Compliance Management (5%)
The CTO ensures MCCCD’s infrastructure environment adheres to rigorous security, compliance, and reliability standards. In close partnership with the CISO, the CTO enforces policies, coordinates remediation efforts, and safeguards district technology assets through proactive risk management, vulnerability management, and disaster recovery planning.
- Partners with the CISO to implement and maintain infrastructure security policies, tools, and practices.
- Ensures compliance with federal, state, and district IT security standards and regulatory requirements.
Minimum Qualifications
Master’s Degree from a regionally accredited institution in education or a field related to the area of assignment and four (4) years of progressively responsible management and/or leadership experience in the field of assignment that includes two (2) years of supervisory experience.
OR
An equivalent combination of education, experience, and/or relevant industry certifications sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job, such as those listed above, unless otherwise subject to any other requirements set forth in law or regulation, may be considered.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience leading large-scale technology modernization or infrastructure strategy initiatives within a complex, multi-site organization.
- Experience establishing and leading technical teams–fostering a culture of accountability, inclusion, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Experience creating professional allies and leveraging relationships with senior leaders in order to advance district priorities.
- Experience managing multimillion-dollar infrastructure budgets and complex vendor ecosystems, including negotiating high-value agreements, evaluating total cost of ownership, and driving cost optimization, shared services, and reinvestment strategies that enhance institutional value and operational efficiency.
- Experience overseeing enterprise infrastructure operations—network, server, storage, and cloud—in environments requiring high availability, performance, and security.
- Experience applying ITIL, NIST, or ISO frameworks to optimize service delivery, automation, monitoring, and disaster recovery.
- Experience overseeing infrastructure risk management, compliance, and security governance, including collaborating with information security leadership to ensure adherence to regulatory standards.
- Experience producing executive-level reports, presentations, and communications that reflect organizational priorities and strategic direction.
Legalease
MCCCD will not discriminate, nor tolerate discrimination in employment or education, against any applicant, employee, or student because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status (including document abuse), age, disability, veteran status or genetic information.
ITS does not sponsor individuals for any type of work visas.
