BACKGROUND

Veterans and service members are at 50% higher risk of suicide than their peers who haven’t served. Since 2001, 120,000 veterans have died by suicide. Without change, by 2030, 55,000 more lives will be lost. The problem is clear: The systems in place aren’t working; the status quo is no longer acceptable.

We’re not your typical nonprofit. We’re the only national, veteran-founded-and-led nonprofit focused solely on military suicide prevention. We use data insights, best-in-class technology, commercial marketing best practices, and evidence-based services to find and serve veterans at acute risk for suicide. 

What started as three veterans answering a toll-free number in 2010 has grown into an innovative, agile, and data-driven tone-setter that’s leading change, building community and, most importantly, saving lives. Our vision is a nation where veterans and service members have no greater risk for suicide than any other American; our line in the sand is to reduce the military suicide rate by 40% by 2030, saving 2,400 lives per year. We work tirelessly to make it a reality and we’re growing rapidly (doubling staff, doubling revenue YoY) to meet increased demand and opportunities to save more lives. 

Learn more about our vision, theory of change, and our team by visiting https://stopsoldiersuicide.org/.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Do you want to fuel the life-saving work we do with American veterans and service members by leveraging the organization’s proprietary and novel data to save more lives faster? Are you a self starter that gets excited at the prospect of charting a new path? Do you thrive on visionary planning and strategic execution, all while working alongside a high-powered team that has experienced extraordinary success?

If the answer is yes, then we are looking for you to be our first Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Stop Soldier Suicide (SSS) and to join our dynamic team.

To accomplish the mission, it’s vital that we have an exceptional team. Mediocrity isn’t an option. Our headquarters is located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, but our focus is finding the right teammates to make our goal a reality. We’re open to remote work for candidates outside our geographic area, provided you are flexible in accommodating various time zone differences (EST or CST preferred).

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Information Officer will have complete ownership of the department and execution of organization-wide technology strategy and ensures its integration with the company’s business strategy and the delivery of all information and technology capabilities required to achieve business capability performance success. The CIO participates in and contributes to overall enterprise business model, operating model and business strategy development. The CIO brings a current knowledge and future vision of leveraging information and technology in business model design, business capability performance re-engineering, product and service development, and support for developing competitive advantage.

To succeed in this role, you should be hands-on, growth-focused, not afraid to take risks and thrive in a fast-paced environment. Successful candidates will model Stop Soldier Suicide’s True North competencies: Impact, Judgement, Innovation, Courage, Agility, and Inclusion.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Chief Information Officer shares our passion for saving the lives of veterans, thrives in a fast-paced environment, and will be entrusted with the following key responsibilities:

• Determine the operating model for information and technology to foster business-oriented and digital-ready culture, mindsets and practices.
• Provide strategic direction and oversight for the design, development, operation and support of technology systems and programs that fulfill the needs of the business, including enterprise architecture management, application management, security and risk management, and infrastructure and operations support management.
• Collaborate with executive leadership and business partners to define and execute the digital business strategy. Participates in and contributes to the assessment of external digital opportunities and threats, and internal technology capabilities required to achieve desired competitive positioning.
• Direct the design and implementation of technology operating model, organizational structure, and governance process. Uses influencing and negotiation skills to create synergies across the enterprise to enable cost-effective and innovative shared solutions in achievement of business goals.
• Ensure technology capabilities are delivered reliably, sustainably, cost effectively and securely. Ensures the technology contributions are delivered with agility based on changing business objectives, goals and strategies.
• Act as a trusted advisor to ensure all executive leaders can, with the CIO, make confident decisions about the application of information and technology within their units and across the enterprise.
• Develop and control annual operating and capital expenditure budget for technology to ensure the investment in technologies is consistent with the organization’s overall strategic objectives and is within plan.
• Enhance technology capabilities by leveraging a multitude of resources, both internally and externally. Direct the development of the technology sourcing strategy and provide executive oversight for strategic vendor and partner relationship management.
• Take authority, responsibility and accountability for exploiting the value of enterprise information assets.
• Support analytics and reporting on services, clients, operations, and markets.
• Oversee the creation of institutional-level dimensions and data models for research, clinical, and operations functions.
• Develop high-level conceptual data models highlighting core service objectives and data relationships.
• Use data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to adapt to changing business conditions, recommend and/or automate decisions and actions, and increase efficiencies and competencies.
• Participates and partners with the business leadership team to drive culture change in support of digital business transformation.
• Provides leadership, coaching and direction to the technology/data leadership team and staff.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

We’re looking for individuals who are committed to the mission, vision, and values of Stop Soldier Suicide. In addition, the Chief Information Officer should possess the following key attributes:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree from an accredited institution in a quantitative or technical field (computer science, information science or related field, etc). Relevant work experience will be considered in lieu of a degree. 
• 10 years of overall technology experience with 5 years in a leadership capacity managing a team.
• 5 years of experience in related, industry-leading, large, cross-functional teams or enterprise-wide programs, influencing senior-level management and key stakeholders effectively across the organization and within complex contexts.
• Experience leading several enterprise-scale digital transformation initiatives from start to finish, including but not limited to: organizational structure optimization, policy development, legislation and compliance, data and access governance, cloud migration and hosting and infrastructure planning.
• Experience or demonstrated capability in leading large, complex and or transformational initiatives in dynamic environments and taking advantage of digital opportunities to innovate business models and enable the digitalization of the business is a plus.
• Relevant professional certifications are desired (such as Certified Data Management Professional-CDMP, or Data Governance and Stewardship Professional-DGSP, IT Management and Leadership Professional, Certified IT Manager, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to make thoughtful, time-sensitive decisions with incomplete information.
• Strong metrics orientation with a proven methodology to set achievable goals, regularly measure productivity/progress, and adjust in real-time.
• Decisive, diverse, and dynamic leader with high emotional intelligence and a results-driven bias toward action.
• Excellent spoken and written communication, interpersonal, relationship-building skills; Ability to engage and influence an audience.

OBJECTIVES AND KEY RESULTS (OKRs)

This individual is responsible for meeting the following Objectives and Key Results during the first 90 days:

• Understand the organization’s digital business goals
• Understand stakeholder expectations
• Assess digital capabilities and gaps across the organization
• Present CEO with a draft information and technology strategy. The draft strategy should include, but not be limited to, approaches for short-term and long-term achievements on the following key priorities:
  
  • Creation and continuous improvement of the data lake (GovCloud)
  • Implementation of serverless analytics solutions
  • Creation of a Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB)
  • Creation or improvement of data governance policies and practices
  • Improvements to Information Systems Security policies, practices and tools 

CORE COMPETENCIES (OUR TRUE NORTH)

Teammates are evaluated on and expected to model Stop Soldier Suicide’s True North competencies: Impact, Judgement, Innovation, Courage, Agility, and Inclusion.

Impact: Consistently delivers quality results; demonstrates a passion for winning, strong work ethic, a bias for action, and commitment to achieving life-saving work with integrity, honesty, and in accordance with our values.

Judgment: Makes data-based decisions with decisiveness, balancing short-term and long-term considerations and ensuring decisions advance the SSS mission.

Innovation: Identifies and champions new ideas, continuous improvements, and transformative solutions that enable us to better achieve our mission of serving service members and veterans.

Courage: Communicates with candor and transparency and demonstrates the confidence to make tough decisions, take smart risks, and question actions that are inconsistent with our values. 

Agility: Continuously learns and adapts to obstacles, setbacks, or uncertainty with tenacity and resolve; embraces change and challenges as opportunities to learn new skills and grow.

Inclusion: Win as one by demonstrating unwavering respect for teammates, freely sharing information, collaborating with and supporting your colleagues, and leveraging differences that make us stronger. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The majority of the work required is performed in an office environment with the flexibility to be fully remote. The team member must be able to effectively maneuver within the office area and perform essential functions necessary to perform the job duties and meet the OKRs described above. 

SALARY AND BENEFITS

This is a full-time, exempt position. Salary is commensurate with experience. Stop Soldier Suicide offers a benefits package for full-time teammates that includes personal time off, parental leave, military leave (as applicable), medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, short and long-term disability benefits, Employee Assistance Program, and a matching retirement plan.

RECRUITING PROCESS

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. A recruiter will be in touch to discuss next steps.

Stop Soldier Suicide is committed to nondiscriminatory employment practices that are fully compliant with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including making reasonable accommodations for its disabled employees as set forth in the Americans with Disabilities Act.