Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600 schools and employing approximately 50,000 staff, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) works to build the capacity of schools to use information and technology, maintain network infrastructure, security standards, and support other departments to meet district goals. ITS provides innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of education for students, reduce the administrative burden on educators, facilitate parent interaction, increase community engagement, and support CPS’ mission of transparency by focusing on the ease and equity of access to information.

Job Summary:

The Enterprise Business Process Architect will lead the development and optimization of the District’s business processes for the CPS Information & Technology Services (ITS) Department. This position will play a critical role in driving organizational efficiency and effectiveness through the design and implementation of innovative business processes. Reporting to the Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architecture, the Enterprise Business Process Architect will work closely with stakeholders to understand and analyze current processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and design efficient and effective workflows that support our educational mission and strategic goals.

The Enterprise Business Process Architect will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Collaborate with school administrators, teachers, staff, and other stakeholders to understand current business processes and challenges within the district.
• Conduct thorough analysis of existing business processes, including documentation of workflows, pain points, and areas for improvement.
• Identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement within current workflows, and propose innovative solutions to address these issues.
• Facilitate workshops and meetings with stakeholders to gather requirements, define business objectives, and prioritize process improvement initiatives.
• Design and document future-state business processes, incorporating best practices and industry standards to reduce cost and enhance productivity.
• Develop process maps, diagrams, and documentation to communicate proposed changes and obtain buy-in from stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to streamline and automate manual tasks, reduce redundancies, and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of district operations.
• Partner with IT teams to evaluate technology solutions and tools that support business process automation and optimization.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the success of process improvement initiatives and track performance over time.
• Collaborate with IT, management, and operational teams to ensure proposed process changes are feasible, aligned with technology capabilities, and support business strategy.
• Lead the implementation of new business processes, including the development of detailed project plans and training materials, and apply change management strategies to ensure smooth adoption.
• Monitor and measure the effectiveness of new processes, making adjustments as needed to achieve desired outcomes.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, tools, and technologies that can further enhance business process efficiency and effectiveness.
• Other duties and work streams as assigned.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Enterprise Business Process Architect must possess the following qualifications:

Education and Certification Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field from an accredited college or university, required.
• Relevant certifications such as The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), Zachman Framework, Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DODAF), Control Objectives for Information Technologies (COBIT), or IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), preferred
• Six Sigma Green Belt or higher, preferred.

Experience Required:

• Minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience in progressively responsible ITS roles, including the following, is required:
• Experience performing definition and implementation of enterprise solutions using leading software and hardware platforms;
• Experience with backend integration to legacy applications and to SaaS
• Experience with vendor facilitation, management, and partnering
• Experience with IT Systems Architectures, IT management tools and techniques
• Experience in application systems and data design and deployment methodologies and techniques, or other architectural competencies, including security and infrastructure design and deployment.
• Integration experience in areas such as information, solution or technical architecture, application development, middleware, information analysis, database management or operations in a hybrid environment (i.e. Cloud, on-prem), preferred.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, including listening, consultative and negotiation skills, and the ability to facilitate or lead presentations articulating new ideas and concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
• High levels of technical skill and IT expertise, integrity, honesty, humility, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions
• Proven experience as a Business Process Architect or Business Analyst in the K-12 education sector.
• Experience with business process modeling techniques, such as BPMN or Lean Six Sigma.
• Familiarity with business process management (BPM) tools and software platforms.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Experience with change management methodologies and techniques.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment; capable of thinking strategically and acting pragmatically.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support organizational success.
• Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management, and organizational development; capable of estimating, cost / benefit analysis, ROI, needs analysis, project scheduling, evaluation techniques, and understanding sales, service, and RFP processes, etc.
• Expert-level knowledge of project management, including budget and resource management; ability to manage large-scale strategic and architectural initiatives.
• In-depth, up-to-date knowledge/understanding of the following:
• Business ecosystems, SaaS, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), ERP (i.e. SAP, Oracle), platform as a service (PaaS), APIs, Open data, Microservices, DevSecOps, Event-driven IT, Predictive analytics and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning), etc.
• Technology, trends, and techniques in the IT industry.
• All components of holistic enterprise architecture, as well as technology architecture theories, implementations, and technology solutions.
• Strategic planning techniques and principles.
• Proficient in architecture methodologies, standards, practices, governance, reference patterns.
• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps.
• Familiarity with information management practices, system development life cycle management, IT services management, agile and lean methodologies, infrastructure and operations, and EA and ITIL frameworks.
• Capable of following Company policies and practices while representing CPS in an ethical and professional manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, vendors, contractors, suppliers, students, and the Chicago community.

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. “Up-to-date” on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.