Compensation Range: $75,600.00 - $92,400.00
Position Summary:
The Principal IT Campus Support Specialist serves as the primary, onsite IT resource for Vanderbilt University’s New York Campus, delivering hands‑on technical support to faculty, staff, students, and campus partners. This role is accountable for the reliable day‑to‑day operation of end‑user computing, classroom and instructional technologies, and select local infrastructure components. Operating with a high level of autonomy, the Principal Specialist applies advanced professional judgment to independently resolve routine, non-routine, and complex issues, ensure instructional and administrative continuity, and coordinate escalations with centralized IT teams when appropriate.
The Principal Specialist models service excellence while proactively identifying risks, service gaps, and improvement opportunities affecting the New York Campus. This position plays a critical role in aligning local execution with university IT standards, enhancing service maturity, and delivering a consistent, high‑quality campus IT experience with limited supervision.
About the Work Unit:
Vanderbilt University Information Technology is a human-centric organization that advances our university by delivering innovative solutions and frictionless experiences through collaboration.
Key Functions and Expected Performance:
Comprehensive Campus Support and Incident Resolution (30%)
Operates as the zone lead for Vanderbilt’s New York Campus, setting day-to-day priorities and ensuring coverage for routine and non-routine support needs.
Provides hands-on support across routine, non-routine, and complex technical issues, including hardware, software, peripherals, mobile devices, and standard enterprise applications.
Independently assesses ticket, request, and/or issue severity, determines appropriate resolution paths, and balances urgency, user impact, and service quality.
Documents solutions and identifies recurring issues or opportunities for user education, operational refinement, or service improvement.
Classroom, Instructional, and Event Technology Support (25%)
Delivers full spectrum support for classroom, instructional, and event technologies, ranging from routine daily classroom readiness to complex, high visibility academic and administrative events.
Performs onsite setup, testing, troubleshooting, and live support for lectures, hybrid instruction, meetings, and special events.
Leads response efforts for non-routine or complex event issues, including technology failures, last minute changes, or multi-system coordination.
Monitors equipment condition and usage patterns, recommending lifecycle replacements or enhancements to improve reliability and supportability.
Stakeholder Engagement and Service Experience (20%)
Builds trusted relationships with faculty, staff, students, and campus leadership through consistent, responsive, and professional engagement.
Communicates clearly during routine requests, service disruptions, and complex incidents, setting expectations and providing timely updates.
Proactively keeps the Executive Director informed of operational conditions, emerging issues, risks, and significant IT‑related developments at the New York Campus.
Represents Customer Engagement and VUIT values while serving as the primary local IT presence at the New York campus.
Local Network and Infrastructure Support (15%)
Performs routine and non-routine hands-on support for local network components, including switches, access points, patch panels, cabling, and network rooms.
Troubleshoots connectivity issues of varying complexity, validating physical connections, hardware status, and environmental conditions before escalating to central teams.
Coordinates resolution of complex infrastructure issues by documenting findings, partnering with enterprise teams, and following through to closure.
Identifies and reports trends, risks, or facility related concerns that may impact network stability.
Documentation, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement (10%)
Maintains and enhances documentation for routine procedures and complex problem resolution to support operational continuity.
Analyzes incident trends across all complexity levels to recommend service improvements or standardization opportunities.
Ensures adherence to university IT policies, security standards, and operational best practices.
On-Site Requirement:
This position primarily operates during standard business hours but requires flexibility to support occasional afterhours and weekend events, incident response, or urgent campus needs, particularly in support of academic programs and high‑visibility activities at Vanderbilt’s New York Campus. The employee is expected to adjust their work schedule accordingly to accommodate these requirements, ensuring appropriate coverage while maintaining reasonable work‑life balance in coordination with their supervisor. There may be instances where the employee works more than the standard 40 hours work week and will be compensated accordingly.
Travel:
Occasional travel may be required; accommodations will be provided as appropriate.
Supervisory Relationships:
This position may include direct supervisory responsibility for student workers. The role reports administratively and functionally to the Executive Director for Customer Engagement.
Education and Certifications:
High school diploma or GED is necessary
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience is strongly preferred
Industry certifications such as CompTIA A+, Network+, AVIXA CTS, or similar preferred
Experience and Skills:
6-8 years of relevant, progressive experience is necessary
Advanced experience supporting Windows, macOS, mobile platforms, and enterprise applications is necessary
Proven expertise supporting classroom AV and instructional technologies in live academic environments is necessary
Strong working knowledge of networking fundamentals, infrastructure troubleshooting, and escalation coordination is necessary
Demonstrated experience mentoring or guiding junior staff, peers, or student employees is necessary
Exceptional communication, judgment, and stakeholder management skills are necessary
Demonstrated commitment to customer service, documentation quality, and continuous improvement is necessary
Demonstrated commitment to VUIT’s Guiding Principles is necessary
Information Technology’s Guiding Principles:
Trust and Respect- VUIT cultivates a community built on trust, mutual respect, and inclusivity, where all members feel valued and supported. We prioritize honesty, dignity, empathy, and a willingness to listen and understand.
Professionalism- VUIT strives to maintain a culture of maturity, accountability, and integrity to best represent the University and self. Have a sense of humility and poise in your work and daily interactions.
Collaborate- VUIT commits to being inclusive in solution design where we value sharing within and partnering across the university. We are intentional about including our colleagues and preventing silos.
Bias-to-Action- VUIT is seen as a changemaker by exhibiting a decisive, self-starter, take-action approach with a willingness to make decisions without excessive deliberation. Personal initiative is recognized as a key part of the creative process.
Communicate- Communication (written, verbal and non-verbal), within and outside VUIT, is open, thoughtful, welcoming, clear, proactive, concise yet complete, always honest, and delivered kindly.
Innovate- VUIT pledges to be bold and challenge the status quo by inspiring a culture of creativity that promotes growth and advancement for the university.
Celebrate Each Other- We are intentional in showing appreciation for the work of others by valuing and acknowledging meaningful contributions at all levels of the organization.
Optimize- VUIT will practice continuous and thoughtful optimization of our solutions and services to increase our human and technological capacity. Capacity drives innovation.