Associate Director, Identity and Access Management

Classification & Regular Hours

Hours per Week: 35

Salary Grade: 18

The base salary will be $90,460 - $129,090 per annum. Starting salary will be aligned with the successful candidate’s experience, skills, and demonstrated qualifications.

About Western

Since 1878, Western University has been committed to serving our communities through the pursuit of academic excellence and by providing students, faculty, and community members with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social, and cultural growth. We seek excellent students, faculty, and staff to join us in what has become known as the "Western Experience" - an opportunity to contribute to a better world through the development of new knowledge, new abilities, new connections, and new ways to make a difference.

About Us

The Department of Western Technology Services (WTS) is a central division committed to providing high-quality, cost-effective technology solutions and services to the campus community in support of the teaching and research missions of the University. WTS works collaboratively with other IT groups within Western’s faculties and support units to supply centrally supported technology solutions and services.

The mission of the Identity and Access Management (IAM) team is to implement and operate modern, enterprise-class IAM solutions and policies that ensure the right individuals have the right access to the right resources at the right time, enabling university collaboration, productivity, and security through best practices and innovative technology.

Responsibilities

The Associate Director, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is accountable for the strategic direction, modernization, and operational effectiveness of Western University's enterprise IAM program. The role provides institution-wide leadership and oversight of IAM strategy, architecture, governance, and service delivery, ensuring that identity services support the University's academic, research, administrative, and security priorities. The role develops and advances Western’s IAM roadmap, translating institutional priorities, business requirements, security needs and regulatory obligations into secure, scalable and sustainable identity solutions, standards and practices.

The Associate Director provides strategic, technical, and operational leadership for Western's IAM environment, including identity lifecycle management, authentication, authorization, access governance, provisioning, and integration. The role is accountable for the development and execution of the University's IAM modernization roadmap, including the management of IAM professionals, operational and project budgets, and resources required to deliver institutional priorities. Working collaboratively with technology teams, business owners, and institutional stakeholders, the Associate Director ensures IAM capabilities are secure, scalable, sustainable, and aligned with Western's strategic objectives. The role is also responsible for advancing innovative identity management approaches, including the development of architectures and governance frameworks that distinguish between human and non-human identities, such as autonomous AI agents, ensuring appropriate authentication, authorization, accountability, and oversight.

Qualifications

Education:

• University bachelor’s degree in an Information Technology, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Certified Identity and Access Manager designation completed or in progress
• Advanced professional certifications in IAM, cybersecurity, or enterprise architecture would be an asset
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification completed or in progress preferred

Experience:

• 10 years of progressively responsible experience in IT, IT administration, or risk management, including significant Identity and Access Management-related experience
• 5 years of demonstrated experience directly managing IT professionals and leading large-scale technology projects, including responsibility for staff development, performance management, resource allocation, and project delivery
• Experience with IAM technologies and concepts (authentication, authorization and access management)
• Experience collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders in Identity and Access Management domain
• Experience in E2E solution and process design for privileged access management (PAM & PIM)
• Experience in designing Identity Governance solutions in respects to User Access Review (UAR) and Role-based Access Control in large and complex organizations
• Experience in all aspects of identity, credential and access management for human and machine users with an exposure to variety of IDM models
• Experience developing enterprise IAM strategies, target architectures, and multi-year modernization roadmaps in a large and complex organization
• Experience leading modernization of identity lifecycle, authentication, provisioning, authorization, or access-governance capabilities across multiple enterprise systems
• Experience resolving highly complex, non-conforming IAM challenges with no clear precedent
• Experience in strategic planning, implementation and operationalization preferred
• Experience representing the organization in professional or industry forums preferred
• Experience mentoring and developing cross-functional teams in a high-performing environment preferred
• Experience leading change management and communications for major IAM initiatives preferred

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Knowledge of infrastructure, network and security architecture
• Demonstrated knowledge of emerging identity and access management technologies and approaches, including non-human identity management, machine identities, and agentic AI, with the ability to develop innovative architectures, security frameworks, and governance models to address evolving institutional requirements
• Strong knowledge of enterprise IAM technologies and architectures, including identity governance and administration, Microsoft Entra ID and Active Directory, authentication, federation, provisioning, and access governance platforms
• Ability to use enterprise Identity Governance and Administration platforms such as midPoint, SailPoint, Saviynt, or comparable technologies would be an asset
• Knowledge of ITIL principles and practices, security practices and principles, privacy practices and principles
• Knowledge of Identity and Access Management practices and principles
• Excellent communication skills including developing presentations and technical writing of architecture and design documents
• Ability to lead and enable a large talented, diverse, and cross-functional team
• Demonstrated ability in effective communication and collaborating in a high performing team environment
• Ability to prioritize between leading, managing, and doing such that strategic value and output are both maximized
• Demonstrated ability to maintain high security/privacy controls when dealing with sensitive information
• Knowledge of quality control principles
• Excellent negotiation, group facilitation, and team building skills
• Confidence and ability to lead discussions with clear goals, deliverables, documented agreements and follow up actions
• Demonstrated ability to affect change and support new directions for technology services on campus
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate and motivate team collaboration
• Ability to establish a higher standard of performance excellence in key areas of responsibility, thus serving as a model for performance in this role
• Able to establish and foster excellent relationships with external partners and technology knowledge centres
• Able to introduce innovations and significant improvements to processes and outcomes of work
• Ability to manage large enterprise projects
• Ability to implement corrective actions based on the immediate context of a situation, follow-up questions, and solicited input
• Ability to successfully manage meetings with customers and colleagues
• Ability to take initiative to gather data that help identify and differentiate the symptoms and root causes of defined problems
• Ability and willingness to stay abreast of technological developments
• Demonstrated commitment to ongoing learning and professional development
• Critical thinking and discernment to assess and scope areas for improvement and an ability to offer creative solutions
• Ability to follow project management best practices as defined by the unit

Western Values Diversity

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Western is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, members of racialized groups/visible minorities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation, and persons of any gender identity or gender expression.

Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodations for interviews or other meetings, please contact Human Resources or phone 519-661-2194.

Please Note:

This position is an existing vacancy. This position is fully in-person, on-site. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those chosen for an interview will be contacted.