Who we are

New Visions for Public Schools develops and implements scalable approaches to achieving equitable outcomes for students in New York City’s public schools. We currently support nearly 350 public schools that serve over 180,000 students with the goal of improving student outcomes via increased graduation rates and post-secondary readiness among some of the most at-risk and deserving populations in New York.

The Technology Unit is integral to ongoing operations at New Visions, and the Support and Systems Team is a vital part of that, providing direct support to all of our colleagues at the main office, as well as remote support to the New Visions Charter High School network. We believe deeply in the core values and mission of New Visions for Public Schools, and seek to support it by focusing on delivering timely, thoughtful, and proactive solutions. The Support and Systems team works closely with all members of our unit, and engages our New Visions colleagues to address technology needs, affect improvements and repairs, and act as thought partners with the rest of the organization.

We are looking for a Technology Services Specialist who is enthusiastic about finding effective solutions, curious about opportunities to improve existing systems, and energized by working within a team which values transparency, integrity, and effort. You’ll need to be ready to wear many hats, but your key role will be to provide support for many ongoing service-related projects and responsibilities, including the onboarding and offboarding of accounts and devices, assessing and implementing changes to technology services and hardware, maintaining critical asset inventories, and providing supplementary support for our Technology Support Specialist.

Who you are

• You are genuinely enthusiastic about serving and supporting your colleagues, whose work makes a tangible impact on the outcomes and opportunities of young people.
• You are empathic and team-oriented, recognizing that we are stronger as a team than we are as individuals, both at the unit level and an organization as a whole.
• You are an excellent communicator, both written and verbal, able to communicate the reasoning behind key decision-points on things like technical purchases, standards alignment, or software recommendations to colleagues of all technical skill levels, perspectives, and priorities.
• You are methodical and detail-oriented, skilled in managing multiple ongoing responsibilities to a high level of granularity.
• You are curious, resourceful, and creative in your approach, able to think beyond existing systems and help develop improvements.
• You are driven to excel in your role and as a member of the team, and as such are comfortable working both individually and with others towards the goal of providing excellent support for our colleagues.
• You are a continual learner, eager to continuously expand your skill set and knowledge base.

What you’ll do

• Plan, assess, implement and maintain changes to technology services
  • Investigate potential additions/changes to our service catalog, whether hardware, software or services
  • Contribute to impact assessments, including supporting the change management process
  • Implement pilot and testing programs of potential service changes, and directly contribute to rollout, including service configuration and training for all stakeholders
  • Assist in the continued automation and strategic interconnection of systems, services and data, including custom system creation via scripting
  • Assist in regular inventory audits, including hardware, software, and accounts
  • Participate in regular reviews of Technology Standard Operating Protocols, including the development of new documentation when necessary

• Complete onboarding and offboarding activities for our New Visions and New Visions Charter High School colleagues
  • Ensure all accounts, services, and related hardware are provisioned in a timely manner to ensure our colleagues can hit the ground running
  • Maintain the security of organization assets and data by timely and effective deprovisioning of services and hardware

• Drive technology procurement
  • Conduct end-to-end procurement, from sourcing vendors to securing approvals, tracking purchases through delivery, deployment and payment processing
  • Create and maintain catalog of services, standard purchases, and necessary exceptions
  • Manage software licenses and service contract renewals to ensure service continuity
  • Follow and maintain the procurement processes, adapting and documenting changes and providing recommendations for improvement

• Manage Technology Assets
  • Track software licensing, usage, and deployments
  • Manage device inventory assignments, tracking peripheral usage, purchases
  • Track device expirations and facilitate hardware refreshes

• Provide a backup and escalation path for our Technology Support Specialist
  • Provide supplemental support coverage during daily support hours, including ticket routing and initial troubleshooting
  • Assist in load-balancing as necessary to ensure that NVPS & NVCHS staff are provided a high degree of timely, enthusiastic support
  • Facilitate the troubleshooting, repair, installation, and replacement of hardware and software on an as-needed basis

• Plan and implement training for New Visions staff
  • Participate in/provide regular security best-practices training
  • Identify subjects for internal training, and assist in the development of training materials
  • Coordinate with other members of the Technology Unit to facilitate training for our colleagues

• Support the ongoing operations and improvement of the New Visions Technology Unit
• Coordinate with other members of the New Visions Technology Team on joint projects as necessary
• Engage in regular team meetings to offer perspective, expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm to the group

Required Skills and Experience

• Associate's degree and 5 years desktop support or related service desk experience
• Strong understanding of both Mac & PC operating system as well as experience troubleshooting in both
• At least 1 year asset management, software licence management and procurement experience

Preferred Skill Set and Knowledge Base

• Support experience with G Suite, Google Apps
• Experience with education-sector platforms (HMH, PowerSchool, CAASS)
• Service desk ticketing system, Zendesk preferred
• Experience with ITIL or other Service Management frameworks
• Experience with endpoint management platforms, such as Jamf and Kaseya

New Visions for Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer.