Tech Lead, Thirty Million Words Center
The University of Chicago

Department
BSD SUR - OHNS: Thirty Million Words

About the Department
The TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago develops, tests, and implements evidence-based interventions designed to promote very young children's cognitive and social-emotional development. TMW Center interventions are designed to be embedded into existing health, education, and social service systems working at scale in a given community in order to meet families where they already are. The TMW Center has a robust research and development strategy that includes further development and testing of TMW interventions; harnessing technology to support behavior change, intervention engagement, and analysis; and furthering strategies to engage parents in the TMW Center's interventions across the health, early learning, and social service sectors.

Job Summary
The Tech Lead leads all aspects of the TMW Center's technology development to drive innovative, scalable interventions, including a wearable device and accompanying software. The position oversees all technical teams, including data science, app development, hardware, infrastructure, and production support.

Responsibilities

• Leads all aspects of technology innovation to deliver the TMW Center's product objectives.
  
• Works with TMW Center leadership to set priorities for technology teams and drive strategic initiatives, balancing short-term and long-term goals.
  
• Develops and manages toward organizational priorities and an ambitious roadmap to ensure success across grant deliverables and partner commitments.
  
• Provides strong leadership and guidance to the technology teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning.
  
• Oversees the development and implementation of scalable and secure systems and infrastructure.
  
• Manages strategic vendors, including hardware advisors and contract app development teams.
  
• Oversees data security, management, and governance.
  
• Supervises and advises data science engineers to build and refine a representative test dataset and algorithms to track conversational turns.
  
• Scopes roles for and hires additional team members as needed.
  
• Manages programming staff through subordinates, usually other managers and professional staff. Establishes performance goals, allocates resources, directs training, and assesses policies for direct subordinates.
  
• Develops functional business plans and contributes to the development of overall programming strategy.
  
• Plans the application development life cycle process, including design, programming, debugging, beta general releases, and production support.
  
• Recommends the development of technical designs and technical documentation.
  
• Performs other related work as needed.
  

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Advanced degree in computer science or computer engineering.
  

Experience:

• Prior experience as a Startup Tech Lead or Chief Technology Officer.
  
• 5 or more years of direct people management experience, with a strong emphasis on individual and team development, including at least 3 years in an executive-level position.
  
• 5 or more years of experience in software development and data science projects as an individual contributor.
  
• Prior experience delivering SaaS product deployments.
  

Preferred Competencies

• Proven track record of delivering AI centric tools and services.
  
• Ability to influence and motivate stakeholders and peers to achieve goals and deliver results.
  
• Ability to gain an in-depth understanding of machine learning systems and make meaningful contributions to decisions about product features, data modeling, software architecture, etc.
  
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, including presentation, written, and verbal.
  
• Experience setting performance objectives, motivating, and managing cross-functional, semi-distributed teams.
  
• Ability to think critically and manage resources to achieve objectives in a fast-paced and fluid work environment.
  
• Ability to translate and articulate complex problems into easily understood solutions and functional requirements.
  
• High degree of personal accountability and impeccable attention to detail and follow through.
  

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
  
• Cover Letter (required)
  

When applying, the document(s) MUSTbe uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
Information Technology

Role Impact
People Manager

Scheduled Weekly Hours
40

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type
Salary

FLSA Status
Exempt

Pay Range
$175,000.00 - $230,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.
In addition to the base pay posted above, this position may be eligible for N/A

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Staff Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

We seek a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages a diversity of perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at:http://securityreport.uchicago.edu.Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

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