Associate Director of Technology

Third Plateau is an impact consultancy partnering with philanthropy, nonprofits, and communities to build the infrastructure of change. We are one of Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators!

 

OUR APPROACH
Third Plateau is built on a simple premise: creating lasting social good requires more than good intentions. Society’s most complex challenges are deeply rooted, interconnected, and resistant to quick fixes.

Philanthropists, foundations, and nonprofit leaders know this and are up for the challenge, bringing their passions and ambitions day in and day out. To realize that potential, they’re looking for a partner who brings the experience to design great strategies and the capacity to see them through. Third Plateau was built exactly for this work. Interested applicants are encouraged to learn more about our approach and our company values. 

The Associate Director of Technology is a technical leader who bridges strategy and execution. This role is responsible for translating the firm’s technology strategy, as established by the Vice President of Technology, into implementation roadmaps and scalable, secure, and effective systems and processes for a 120-person organization, and for independently executing those plans. Reporting to the Vice President of Technology, the Associate Director leads enterprise systems administration and integrations, IT support and troubleshooting, and firmwide technology learning and AI adoption.  

 

Essential duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Implement and maintain practical cybersecurity controls, access standards, data retention and destruction practices, and other technology safeguards across the firm.
• Partner with the Vice President of Technology to develop technology policies and governance standards, then translate them into clear processes, technical configurations, employee guidance, and training.
• Monitor technology risks, industry practices, and vendor recommendations; validate technical implementation and follow through rather than relying solely on third-party assurances.
• Support incident response, business continuity, vendor risk, and other technology-related governance activities while balancing firmwide standards with legitimate employee, client, and project requirements. 

• Administer and continuously improve the firm’s SharePoint environment, intranet, collaboration spaces, and related knowledge-management technologies.
• Design and maintain appropriate permission and information-sharing structures for internal teams, client collaboration, and vendor partnerships, applying sound judgment to confidential and sensitive information.
• Build and maintain system documentation, knowledge base articles, training materials, and other self-service resources that help employees use technology effectively.
• Partner with business and content owners to improve information findability, ownership, consistency, and usability while accommodating legitimate differences in team and client workflows. 

• Translate the firm’s technology strategy into implementation roadmaps with clear milestones, dependencies, and sequencing, and drive execution independently without day-to-day supervision.
• Monitor the enterprise technology portfolio for usage, ownership, cost, risk, interoperability, supportability, and business value; identify opportunities to improve, consolidate, replace, or retire systems, preparing cost analyses and vendor and resource recommendations for decision by the Vice President of Technology.
• Design, implement, and troubleshoot system integrations, automations, APIs, authentication methods, and data flows across enterprise and division-specific applications.
• Establish and maintain technical standards, system ownership models, data hygiene practices, and foundational data governance controls that support a cohesive and scalable technology environment.
• Evaluate new system and integration requests for technical feasibility, security, maintainability, scalability, and downstream impact; recommend practical solutions that address validated business and user needs while supporting legitimate division, client, and project requirements. 

• Partner with colleagues to identify and evaluate emerging technologies and technology-enabled process improvements based on defined business and user needs.
• Design and execute controlled pilots with clear objectives, guardrails, feedback loops, and measures of success; use findings to refine solutions before broader implementation.
• Lead the technical rollout and adoption of new systems and significant technology changes, including testing, documentation, training, change support, and evaluation of emerging capabilities such as artificial intelligence.
• Shape department practice by establishing standards, sharing knowledge, and coaching colleagues on effective technology use. 

 

Applications will be accepted through November 30, 2026, at 5:00 PM PST. Review of applications will begin after the posting closes, and only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.