Information Technology Manager (Virtual CIO)

Commitment: Minimum of 6 month commitment is requested

Position Summary:

A "Virtual CIO" is currently needed to develop, implement, and support CEN's utilization of information technology necessary to achieve its overall mission. This position offers a range of unique opportunities and the possibility of increased responsibilities due to a need for IT solutions that support the collaborative, virtual nature of our organization.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Advise the Director, Board and other working groups on technical issues either through first-hand knowledge of the Lead and team members, or knowing where to find solutions.

The following are key areas of immediate focus:

  • Build and manage a team of volunteers
  • Ensure system maintenance tasks, such as backups, are performed routinely
  • Support existing tools, such as Google Docs
  • Implement a test environment for our Joomla-based website
  • Prioritize and manage implementation of additional add-ins and extensions our Joomla-based website

As team resources expand, we anticipate additional areas of responsibility:

  • Provide strategic direction to the IT aspects of the website
  • Develop and maintain the organization’s technology road map, including the creation of a dynamic online community for supporters and collaborators
  • Help build an IT development team which will focus on software development issues
  • Potentially expand current Virtual Private Server to a Virtual Private Network
  • Testing of future improvements

Successful execution of these initiatives will require the IT Manager to:

  • Understand the organization’s requirements
  • Sketch out an approach
  • Assess team and organizational members' abilities
  • Put together a plan with deadlines, benchmarks, and action items
  • Perform the role of the Team Manager:
    • Work with Director to define quarterly and annual team objectives and milestones
    • Meet regularly with team to assign and manage tasks
    • Build a cohesive, high functioning virtual team by defining and implementing team norms and processes
    • Identify staffing weaknesses and work with the volunteer management team to address these shortcomings
    • Identify staffing needs and work with volunteer management team to define recruiting needs.
    • Interview and onboard new team members

Please note: Although a Team Manager might help implement some operational tasks, their primary focus should be to build and manage the team

KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) Needed:

  • A minimum of 5 years IT architectural experience with a broad understanding of a range of IT topics, including but not limited to a range of Open Source technologies
  • Creative and visionary
  • Grasp (and acceptance) of the limitations of working with a non-profit with limited resources
  • Proven ability to build and manage a team, including many who are located remotely

You must be able to commit to a minimum average of 15 hours a month. This is a "virtual" team opportunity which may be performed from home or another location.

Community Empowerment Network's (CEN’s) operations are nearly entirely driven by the efforts of volunteers (the only exception is our Field Manager in Santarém, Brazil, who is paid under contract). We are a small organization and so lines of responsibility sometimes overlap, but this provides a terrific opportunity for volunteers to take on a variety of responsibilities and to expand their skills. See How Our Teams Work for more information.

Check our website at zclientdev.com to learn more about us!

If you are interested, please send your resume and cover note to our  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .