World Vision: Director of Support and Infrastructure

World Vision is looking for a Director of Support and Infrastructure:

• Define the enterprise technology architecture and strategies, and set all associated policies, standards, and guidelines.
• Define technical evaluation criteria and participate in product selection for technology architecture domains.
• Ensure that proposed architectures are sound and aligned with corporate assets and competencies and provide guidance to ensure proper technical partner / vendor selections.
• Identify and understand trends in the IT landscape.

The Good
It’s a senior role for an organization focused on the protection of children, which most people would agree is a pretty noble goal.

The Bad
They’re large enough to think that PMP certification and ITIL are useful approaches in the management of IT, which may not be to everyone’s taste.

There’s not a ton of information on the work, process and technology. I’m guessing about the location for the job, and I’ll put in a similar guess for compensation: not exceptionally high. Honestly, if money is a key factor, I’m guessing that World Vision can’t compete, and to a certain extent, may not want to. That said, if this opportunity excites you, I suspect you’re better off talking to them than making assumptions.

YMMV
The location is out by 410/403 and the 401. That’s probably best for those of you in the West, or possibly the North, and certainly for those of you already highway-commuting.

Some of you are probably thinking that PMP and ITIL are good signs, I’m just not necessarily in agreement.

They’re self-identified as a Christian organization. Not everyone has a Christian background, and/or would be comfortable working for an organization that does. That said, I know someone who’s worked with them directly, and who would be happy to say that they’re a nice bunch of people, as you might expect.

In Summary
Seems tailor-made for a highway commuter (or someone already in the Northwest) looking to improve the world, rather than bring home the bacon, and willing to do so within a Christian organization.

b5media: Director of Technology

b5media, a local blogging powerhouse, is looking for a Director of Technology. Their approach is true to form, with a job posting and several blog entries on the subject:

• b5: “Saying a sad farewell to Aaron, hiring a Director of Technology“
• Joey deVilla: “b5media is looking for a new Director of Technology“
• Standout Jobs listing

This is their take on what they’re looking for:

More than anything we are looking for a mid-level to senior person who’s run major forward-facing (specifically consumer) web properties in the past. We need someone who understands development principles and how to push them forward. We want someone who wants to work in a startup, is passionate about blogging, and wants to see our already significant company grow even further. The person must be in or willing to be relocated to Toronto (on our dime, obviously) - and can even be in the US (yay for the reverse brain drain!).

End of the day, we hire smart people who like to have fun and really want to build great stuff that tens of millions of people are going to see. The challenges for this year are significant, but so is the opportunity. In fact, by this time next year, this individual will be leading a team of 15-20 folk building some of the most widely used tools in the blogging world.

The Good
It seems to me like b5media is well-positioned, growing, and in a young market where there is still a fair amount of room for growth.  It looks like the role is relatively senior, and you might be able to participate directly in the growth and definition of an interesting local technology company.  The location’s enjoyable, if getting there isn’t troublesome.

The postings have a lively, friendly feel; seems, at a distance, like it could be a fun place to work.

The Bad
There’s not really enough information in the postings to assess what technology one might be directing.  While they talk about “15-20 folk building some of the most widely-used tools in the blogging world”, their staff list doesn’t seem to show 15-20 “technology” people and if WordPress powers the back-end, it’s not clear what you’ll be building.

There’s not a lot of definition on the role and process, which may just be an indication of their size, and the fact that roles and processes don’t need much clarity, that it’s just a focus on getting the work done (although the role presumably has some responsibilities with regard to taking ownership of some aspects of getting the work done).

Ultimately, that lack of information continues across the board.  What’s the compensation?  What’s the work — what exactly will you be directing?

YMMV
Well, it’s a LAMP stack and WordPress.  Not everyone’s into LAMP.  Some of colleagues past and present dismiss PHP, and I’ve gotta say, it’s not my favorite language, but then again, it does power many of the web’s biggest properties, so there’s obviously something there.

Their location’s good and bad; Spadina and Queen is a fine place to hang around, get lunch, have some fun.  Depending on where you live, though it’s an awkward place to commute to.  The Spadina car and Queen car are both sluggish during rush hour, and it’s just far enough from the subway line to make walking a healthy, yet time-consuming exercise on a twice-daily basis.  It’s not incredibly far from the highways, but it’s far enough and on a slow-enough thoroughfare that getting from the Gardiner to Queen/Spadina is often irritatingly slow.

In Summary
It’s hard to say.  Could be a senior position at a rapidly-growing local technology company doing exciting things in a good location, or it could be you and a couple guys trying to keep a lot of wordpress instances happy, writing a few plugins, and wishing the Spadina car weren’t so packed.  At this point, the postings are more style than substance, and while it’s a good style, you’ll obviously have to spend some time talking to them to find out what it is that they’re really looking for, and whether or not that’s you.

Bridgepoint Health: Director IS & CTO

Ray Berndtson is helping Bridgepoint Health look for a Director of IS and CTO:

The primary responsibility of the Director Information Services and CTO will be to lead the Technical Services, Applications Specialists and Helpdesk team. In addition, the Director Information Services and CTO will be responsible for advising the VP Information Services and CIO and the Information Services Steering Committee on initiatives that have strategic and operational impact to Bridgepoint Health with respect to information technology, process improvement, and adherence to IT standards and best practices. The Director Information Services and CTO will be required to participate on the Steering Council, attend external stakeholder committees and represent the organization.

Bridgepoint describes themselves this way:

Bridgepoint Health is a University of Toronto community affiliated teaching organization committed to being Canada’s Leader for the treatment of Complex Chronic Disease. This bold vision is particularly important today, with 16 million Canadians living with chronic conditions.

The Good
Well, it’s a Director/CTO role, so it’s obviously quite senior. And it’s for health-care, which some people have a soft spot for, at least in comparison to marketing companies, financial companies, and so forth.

The Bad
Well, to be honest, the role sounds a little dull, but that’s probably just a sign that I’m not ready to be a director and/or a CTO at this point, at least not for a company like Bridgepoint. You could play buzzword bingo with: stakeholders, adherence, best practices, process improvements, steering council. Sounds like the usual large-system dysfunction (systemantics), although there’s nothing strictly wrong with the concepts therein.

Also, there’s very little sense about what the work would be, just the role — what projects are underway, is this mostly about managing desktops and networks, or building software, or both, that sort of thing.

Basically: manage people (guide, leadership, conduct review), chair meetings, attend meetings and report up the chain. Again, nothing strictly wrong with this list, it just doesn’t leap off the page, and has a slightly dilbert-eseque feel, rather than focusing on specific, concrete goals of the organization. Process for process sake.

More information about the compensation is probably important for such a senior position. More information about Bridgepoint and the work they do, and the work in which you’d be involved would be nice, although there is some of that information in the posting.

YMMV
Bridgepoint is by the old Don Jail — Gerrard and Broadview. That’s a pretty great location for me, for people in the east end and probably even those who drive, but for someone uptown or west-end, could be awkward.  They describe their location this way:

Bridgepoint’s location offers the best of both worlds. Situated on east  Toronto’s picturesque Riverdale Park (at Broadview Ave. and Gerrard St.), the healthcare facility is easily accessible by public transit, and is minutes away from downtown. The surrounding neighbourhood, encompassing Greektown and  Chinatown East, boasts excellent shopping and dining destinations. An exciting redevelopment project will see our site fully transformed, including a brand new state-of-the-art hospital.

Summary
Basically, if you think you’re in, or looking for, technical upper management, this might be interesting, particularly if you’re in the east end of Toronto.

Update: Some minor edits this morning to clarify concerns; nothing dramatic, so I didn’t bother with strikeout.

Destiny Solutions: Director of Software Development

Destiny Solutions is looking for a Director of Software Development to:

Take ownership of our implementation, customization, maintenance and new product development. You will report directly to the President, on initiatives to fulfill our client’s complex requirements while continuing to develop and hone our methodologies. Your ability to effectively communicate with and lead our delivery team will contribute to our continued success and growth.

Destiny describes themselves as follows (abbreviated):

Destiny Solutions is a leading provider of enterprise level applications for Educational institutions. Our primary product, Destiny OneCE, is designed to unite staff, instructors and students in one seamless process by providing a web based integrated business solution to streamline administration and operations. Our client list includes the continuing education divisions of Duke University, University of Toronto, Stanford University, University of California, Santa Cruz extension.

The Good
It’s a product company, the location’s not a bad one, and the role is pretty senior. There’s a fair amount of information about the company and the product.

Neutral and Mixed
The technology list is not horrible, although it’s also not exceptional. JSP and Struts rate mentions, so there’s probably no modern web framework, let alone Ajax. Tomcat and Hibernate are pluses for me, although I’m slightly surprised that there’s no mention of Spring. The role probably doesn’t involve a great deal of detailed technical work (like coding).

The Bad
As with Decisioning, Destiny mentions both PMP and Agile in the same breath, which makes me wonder somewhat about their approach to agile, although I don’t consider the two completely incompatible. Likewise, I’m not entirely sure that Microsoft Project fits into my normal agile toolset, but without knowing what they have in mind, I’m not going to pass judgement.

There’s very little sense of the compensation. I’m not personally very fond of the company name.

Summary
Located at Yonge and Eglinton, the location is likely to appeal first and foremost to those in midtown, uptown and out-of-town homes, although a reverse-commute to Yonge/Eglinton is not totally out-of-the-question for those in the downtown, or east and west.

Candidates should probably look into their take on process and probe a little further on the technology stack and the team, and definitely learn more about the compensation.

This seems like a good fit for someone in mid-town or up-town looking to find a director-level position in a product company.