Trust Lead for IT

Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust is seeking a visionary, solution-focused Trust Lead for IT to join our Executive Leadership Team. In this pivotal role, you will have full autonomy to develop, own, and implement our overarching IT strategy, ensuring our technology elevates teaching and learning while keeping our day-to-day operations seamlessly resilient and secure.

As the strategic lead of our IT estate, you will bridge the gap between forward-thinking technical infrastructure and daily educational outcomes. You will have the freedom to shape our digital landscape—balancing the roll-out of innovative cloud environments and enterprise MDM solutions with the mission-critical duty of keeping our schools securely connected and operational every single day.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Execution: Design, author, and implement a comprehensive, trust-wide IT strategy aligned with our educational vision.
• Operational Excellence & Continuity: Guarantee that core IT infrastructure, network architectures, and cloud environments remain highly available, resilient, and fully operational to minimise downtime across all trust sites.
• IT Support: Oversee a multi-tiered IT Helpdesk to deliver prompt, proactive, and robust technical support to all staff and students, keeping day-to-day school operations seamless and efficient.
• Innovation & AI: Horizon-scan for emerging technologies (e.g., AI-driven adaptive learning, automated workflows) while establishing data-privacy guardrails.
• Procurement & Compliance: Lead strategic vendor negotiations and ensure absolute statutory compliance regarding GDPR, cybersecurity, and safeguarding content filtering.
• Data Systems: Streamline trust-wide data systems, manage secure information reporting, and leverage BI platforms to drive data-informed decision-making.

What We Are Looking For

• Proven Leadership: Experience managing or supervising a proactive IT support function, ideally across a multi-site or educational environment.
• Technical Expertise: Advanced knowledge of Microsoft 365 tenant environments, Entra ID, Windows/macOS deployment, and other cloud environments such as Google Workspace.
• Strategic Thinker: An influential communicator capable of translating technical challenges into business solutions and collaborating with senior leadership.
• Mobility: A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle are required.
• Values Driven: A deep commitment to the Trust’s core values of Excelling, Creating, and Caring, alongside robust integrity and a sharp attention to detail.

Lincolnshire Gateway Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In line with our safer recruitment practices and statutory guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education, all applicants must be willing to undergo an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Additional pre-employment checks will also be carried out including online/social media check, satisfactory references and any other appropriate checks necessary in order to assess the suitability to work with children.