Chief Information and Operations Officer
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Not listed
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- C level
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 12+ years
- Category
- Not specified
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, or a related field.
- At least 12 years of progressively responsible technology experience, including leadership in a CIOO, CTO, vice president, senior director, or comparable role.
- Significant experience leading and operating secure data environments where approved users access and analyze sensitive or regulated data under controlled conditions.
- Experience building and operating secure cloud platforms involving sensitive or regulated data, including FedRAMP-authorized or comparable NIST- or FISMA-aligned environments.
- Working knowledge of FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST, federal security requirements, and continuous-monitoring practices sufficient to lead internal technical and operational execution.
- Strong knowledge of cloud architecture, cybersecurity, software and platform development, data infrastructure, production operations, and disaster recovery.
- Product or platform experience that includes owning a roadmap, prioritizing user needs, building business cases, and planning the resources required to deliver improvements.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams across engineering, cloud operations, cybersecurity, data engineering, product or platform delivery, platform or user operations, and internal IT.
- Strong executive communication skills and the ability to explain technology priorities, risks, options, and tradeoffs to leadership, Board members, partners, and staff.
- A strong business-partner orientation, with the ability to connect technology decisions to organizational goals, customer value, contractual commitments, and business-development opportunities.
- Pragmatic judgment that balances security, cost, usability, reliability, customer needs, and organizational capacity.
- Demonstrated ability to make day-to-day operational decisions, improve service delivery and change management, and hold teams accountable.
- Willingness to remain hands-on in a small, mission-driven organization.
- Experience working with or serving federal or state government agencies, with an understanding of their stakeholder needs and operating environments.
- Ability to meet applicable U.S. citizenship or permanent residency requirements for federal security and access and to travel approximately 20% of the time.
- The strongest candidate combines secure data-enclave experience with strong business judgment, secure-platform product ownership, and hands-on operational leadership.
- This person can point to specific examples of improving service, prioritizing a platform roadmap, making tradeoffs among security, cost, user experience, and contractual commitments, and helping leade
- The ideal candidate has meaningful experience in FedRAMP or similarly regulated federal environments and can lead the technical and operational work required to support the organization's progression
- This leader is equally comfortable in a Board discussion and in the details of a production issue. The CIOO will set multi-year direction with the CEO and Board while also guiding technical administra
- The role suits a CIO, CTO, CISO, technology and operations leader, VP of Engineering, or senior technology director from a secure-data platform, FedRAMP-authorized software company, research environme
Full description
This is a remote position.
Location: Remote, U.S.-based. Washington, D.C. area strongly preferred, followed by other East Coast locations. Candidates outside the area may be considered selectively based on time-zone alignment and travel practicality. West Coast locations are not being considered. Approximately 20% travel.
Employment Type: Full-time, exempt
Work Authorization: Must meet applicable U.S. citizenship or permanent residency requirements for federal security and access
Role Focus: Technology strategy, secure data-enclave leadership, platform product-roadmap ownership, platform operations, secure cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and compliance, researcher services, business-development support, and hands-on operational leadership
Reporting: Reports to the CEO; serves on the senior leadership team and advises the Board of Directors and Technology Advisory Board
About the Role
BizFirst is assisting our client with the search for a Chief Information & Operations Officer (CIOO) who will lead technology strategy, the secure data platform and its operations, and the continued evolution of its secure research and data environment.
The CIOO will oversee platform architecture and development, cloud and production operations, cybersecurity and compliance, data infrastructure, researcher services, internal systems, and technology support. The role also owns the platform product roadmap and development planning, connecting user needs, delivery costs, organizational capacity, and growth opportunities.
This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role. The CIOO sets long-term technology direction while ensuring that the platform and other critical systems operate securely, reliably, efficiently, and responsively. The role is accountable not only for the technology itself, but also for how successfully researchers, government agencies, and partners are able to use the platform.
A critical first-year priority will be leading the organization's progression toward FedRAMP High through strong technical and operational execution.
As a member of the senior leadership team, the CIOO advises the CEO, Board of Directors, and Technology Advisory Board on technology strategy, investment, cybersecurity, operational readiness, risk, and platform priorities. The organization is small and mission-driven, so this leader combines executive judgment with a readiness to work hands-on when the situation calls for it.
Our client is a nonprofit that helps government agencies use administrative data to make better-informed public decisions. It builds data infrastructure, analytical tools, and data skills across the public sector, and it operates a FedRAMP-authorized research platform in AWS GovCloud that lets agencies securely link longitudinal data with other states and agencies. The platform supports more than 20 state agencies, several federal agencies, and approved researchers, and the organization's work is backed by leading national foundations.