Deputy Director of IT
23 hours ago
Cambridge
The Perse School The Perse School, founded in 1615, is one of the country’s leading co-educational independent day schools and a charitable company educating around 1,750 children aged 3-18 with over 450 staff. The school provides an exceptional education which is both traditional and innovative, ambitious and caring, understanding and structured, industrious and fun. Located in Cambridge, it comprises three schools: the Pelican (3-7), the Prep (7-11) and the Upper (11-18), with a partner school in Singapore (The Perse School Singapore), which opened in January 2025 and is independently owned and operated. The school is in the UK top 30 of The Times Independent Schools Exam Results league table for A-level, with over 30 students regularly receiving Oxbridge offers. The school is consistently oversubscribed and in strong financial health with an annual turnover of around £40 million. In addition to the day-to-day curricular and extra-curricular activities of the schools, The Perse provides public benefit to local and international communities, working with over 20 local state schools and Christel House Schools overseas to raise educational attainment. The IT Department The IT Department is a key support function within the School, providing reliable, responsive and forward-looking technology services across the Perse. Although the department is based at the Upper School, it supports staff and pupils across the Upper, Prep and Pelican Schools. The department has a broad and varied remit, encompassing traditional IT infrastructure such as networks, servers, devices and Wi-Fi, alongside the continued development of cloud services, digital platforms and cyber security. Safeguarding is central to our work, with filtering and monitoring forming an important part of our day-to-day responsibilities. Artificial intelligence is an exciting and rapidly developing area for both the department and the wider School. We are actively exploring how AI can be used safely, effectively and responsibly to enhance working practices, support teaching and learning, and improve the services we provide. Introduction The Deputy Director of IT is a newly enhanced role, replacing the current IT Manager position, and has been designed to work closely alongside the Director of IT to provide greater strategic focus within the School’s IT function. While the role carries significant leadership and strategic responsibility, it remains a highly hands-on technical position. The successful candidate will be expected to work across all levels of IT service delivery, from contributing to infrastructure, systems and cyber security projects through to supporting end users and assisting with helpdesk activities when required. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively with both IT specialists and non-specialist colleagues, pupils and stakeholders will be essential, ensuring that technical information is understood, issues are resolved efficiently, and technology is seen as an enabling service across the School. This role is well suited to an individual who enjoys remaining closely connected to day-to-day technical operations while helping shape the School’s longer-term technology strategy. Job Purpose To support the Director of IT in the strategic leadership, operational management and development of IT services across the Perse School. The Deputy Director of IT’s role will include: • Lead day-to-day IT operations across the three schools, • Deputise for the Director of IT when required, • Provide senior technical and managerial leadership to the IT team, • Drive service excellence, technical standards, cyber resilience and continuous improvement The role combines operational leadership, senior technical oversight, hands-on involvement in the delivery and support of IT services, and an increasing strategic contribution to the development of technology across the School. In the absence of the Director of IT, the Deputy Director of IT will assume responsibility for the operational leadership of the department, when required, representation at relevant internal meetings, including the Senior Bursary Team and the Executive Leadership Team meetings and urgent strategic and security decision-making. Line Management The Deputy Director of IT will directly line-manage the Systems and Network Engineer, IT Support Engineer, Senior IT Helpdesk Technician and the IT Technician. Key Responsibilities Operational Leadership • Lead the day-to-day operation of IT services, • Ensure service reliability and performance, • Act as operational escalation point for complex technical and service issues., • Oversee the IT helpdesk, • Ensure IT documentation and asset registers are accurate and maintained Strategic Delivery & Development • Support the Director of IT in developing and implementing the School’s IT strategy, • Translate strategic objectives into structured operational roadmaps and project plans, • In collaboration with the Network Manager, provide leadership and a point of escalation for IT projects, including infrastructure upgrades, system migrations and platform developments, • Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend adoption where aligned to School priorities, • Contribute to long-term digital development across teaching & learning and support staff functions, • It is expected that the Deputy Director of IT will attend the IT Strategy Group and meet with the Director of Digital Learning regularly. Infrastructure, Systems & Security Working alongside the Network Manager, oversee the performance, resilience and security of all core systems, which include: • Servers and virtual environments, • Microsoft 365 and cloud platforms, • Network infrastructure (switching, Wi-Fi, firewall, filtering), • Telephony and communications systems Working alongside the Network Manager, oversee cyber security governance, which includes: • Security monitoring and patch management, • Backup integrity and disaster recovery readiness, • Alignment with best practice standards Contribute to the Critical Incident Manual with a focus on cyber security incident planning and business continuity planning. Financial Oversight & Procurement Support • Support the Director of IT in budget planning and monitoring., • Provide technical evaluation of procurement decisions., • Assist in preparing costed project proposals. Line Management & Team Development • Oversee performance management, objective setting and appraisal processes, • Support recruitment, induction and professional development within the team, • Promote high standards of technical discipline and documentation, • Foster a collaborative and proactive team ethos., • Work with academic leadership across the three schools to ensure IT effectively supports the curriculum. Job Specific Terms and Conditions Working Hours This post is full time for 37.5 hours a week Monday to Friday with a half hour lunch break (unpaid), and full year. Start and end times may vary in order to enable an effective response to School events and will be at the direction of the ICT Director. There is a need to be flexible about hours in order to carry out these duties and responsibilities effectively. There may be times when planned out of hours work will be required to complete specific projects, additional cover for specific events or public exam set up. This work will be under the direction of the Director of ICT, and time off in lieu will be given as appropriate. The post is primarily based in the Upper School but there will be a requirement to move between sites when necessary. Salary The starting salary will be £65,000 per annum, depending on qualifications and experience. To see the full job description and to apply, please visit - The Perse School Careers | Deputy Director of IT