Digital Transformation Technical Contractor at Achieving the Dream

Position Details:

Overview 

Achieving the Dream (ATD) helps colleges ensure all students—especially the most underserved—realize substantial value from their postsecondary experience, thereby strengthening their communities. We engage our network in whole-college transformation using a coaching model grounded in research, practice, and partnership. We accelerate innovation to improve equitable outcomes through data analysis, student-centered technology, and disciplined execution, all rooted in capacity-building for sustained success. 

The Digital Transformation Technical Contractor will play a critical role in this effort by supporting colleges to strengthen their data infrastructure, build capacity for digital transformation, and enable the use of integrated systems to drive student success. 

The Digital Transformation Technical Subject Matter Expert will help colleges strengthen data infrastructure, build capacity for digital transformation, and integrate systems that advance student success. This contractor will serve as part of an ATD coaching team that includes a leadership coach and a data coach and will collaborate closely with DataKind, ATD’s technical implementation partner for this effort. Together, they will help colleges align digital transformation, data governance, and student success strategies to achieve institutional goals. 

Scope of services:

Technical Services 

Cultivate trust and understanding by translating complex technical requirements, data concepts, and system capabilities into clear, actionable guidance for college leaders and staff. 

• Provide technical expertise to evaluate, design, and strengthen institutional data infrastructure, including integration of Student Information Systems (SIS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM)/early alert systems, and other student success technologies.
• Provide technical support in the creation, monitoring, and optimization of data pipelines, warehouses, and governance structures to ensure scalable, reliable, and secure access to data.
• Support data quality efforts through profiling, cleansing, deduplication, and validation of large datasets from multiple sources.
• Develop, or provide assistance in the development of, dashboards and reports that turn data into actionable insights, including descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics.
• Advise on governance frameworks, ownership/stewardship roles, naming conventions, and access controls to ensure compliance with FERPA and other data privacy regulations.
• Troubleshoot technical and integration issues, working in collaboration with college IT teams and ATD partners to deliver timely, sustainable solutions.

Capacity Building and Coaching support  

Partner with colleges to build institutional capacity for digital transformation through inclusive coaching, professional learning, and leadership alignment. 

• Guide digital transformation strategies aligned with institutional priorities and student success goals.
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to connect technology with equity-minded practices.
• Deliver training to strengthen data governance, literacy, and digital proficiency.
• Help colleges assess readiness, adoption capacity, and leadership commitment to transformation.
• Identify how data is collected, stored, and used to inform user-centered strategies.
• Align institutional efforts to advance outcomes in access, retention, progression, completion, and social mobility.
• Collaborate with ATD colleagues and partners to integrate systems and ensure long-term sustainability.
• Model active listening, collaborative problem-solving, and constructive feedback that moves leaders from dialogue to action..
• Stay current with emerging trends in educational technology, student-centered design, privacy, and accessibility standards; champion innovation and adaptability and respond proactively to evolving institutional needs.

Candidate Profile 

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong communication and coaching skills, comfortable discussing databases with IT teams and translating insights into strategy for senior leaders. 

Qualifications/Skills/ Experiences:

Core Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, data science, or related field.
• Experience with higher education systems (e.g., Banner, Peoplesoft, Jenzabar, Workday).
• Strong SQL skills and data quality improvement experience.
• Knowledge of FERPA, privacy regulations, and higher ed record structures.
• Experience with cloud-based solutions (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI).
• Understanding of governance frameworks, stewardship roles, and security controls.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in information systems, data science, or related field.
• Certifications in cloud services, SQL, or data governance.
• Familiarity with AI/ML applications for higher education analytics.
• Success leading digital transformation or capacity-building initiatives.

Professional Competencies:

Successful candidates will blend technical acumen with strong facilitation and communication skills, ensuring transformation strategies are both technically sound and actionable. 

• Technical fluency: Diagnose infrastructure challenges and recommend secure, scalable, and interoperable solutions.
• Analytical mindset: Identify data or system performance issues and develop efficient, innovative solutions.
• Equity-minded coaching: Partner with institutional leaders to foster inclusive, data-informed decision-making.
• Communication and storytelling: Translate complex technical concepts into accessible, compelling narratives that inspire action.
• Change leadership: Guide institutions through transformation by aligning people, processes, and technologies.
• Collaboration: Work effectively across teams and with vendors to support cohesive, institution-wide change.
• Adaptability: Stay current with technologies, privacy standards, and equity-centered practices.

Core Competencies: 

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions.  

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities.  

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements.  

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape. 

Physical Demands:  

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.  

Equal Opportunity Employer: 

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment. Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs.  All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.