State, County Entities Recruiting for Tech Leader, Admin Positions

Two linchpin state and local governments are seeking to fill vital IT positions — one of them a C-level post.

The California Department of Aging (CDA), in a recruitment posted Thursday, is seeking a chief information officer, Enterprise Technology Branch (ETB). This is a Career Executive Assignment position; and it and the office are based in Sacramento but full-time telework may be available. The new CIO position will “provide executive leadership and manage all of CDA’s IT operations,” Connie Nakano, CDA’s assistant director, communications, told Techwire.

The CIO works under the general direction of CDA’s deputy director, Division of Administrative Services, and is a member of the department’s senior leadership team. As such, the successful candidate will take part in “program planning; policy formulation, evaluation, and implementation; organizational coordination and control; and fiscal and personnel management,” according to the job posting. He or she will be charged with “facilitating the implementation of an enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for the aging network”; ensuring interoperability with other systems; standing up public dashboards on aging data; helping to create contact centers, “including call services and websites, for access to aging and disability information and services”; and making sure CDA’s IT systems are in compliance with federal and state statutory and regulatory requirements.

Knowledge and abilities required include knowledge of state government including “the organization and practices of the Legislature and the Executive Branch; principles, practices, and trends of public administration, organization, and management; [and] techniques of organizing and motivating groups.” At least seven years’ experience is required in a “combination of risk management, information security, and information technology jobs” with at least five years in a senior leadership role. The position also requires excellent written and verbal communication skills; and the “ability to communicate information security and risk-related concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences at various hierarchical levels, ranging from board members to technical specialists.”

The CIO’s duties include 45 percent being responsible for the leadership of the CDA Enterprise Technology Branch and the effective and “efficient development, implementation, maintenance, and operations of all CDA automation systems”; being responsible for leading development of CDA’s new CRM system, bringing all aging service providers (state and local) “under one, unified system; working collaboratively across the department to create user-friendly public dashboards,” according to the duty statement, accessible via the job posting. There’s also 25 percent responding to requests from the California Department of Technology (CDT), the California Health and Human Services Agency Information Officer (CHHS-AIO) and the Department of Finance, regarding IT functions of the CDA and ETB; 15 percent collaborating with CDT, CHHS-AIO, CHHS Center for Digital Insights and Innovation, and the Governor’s Office for Digital Innovation on promoting “data sharing and interoperability among state systems, greater transparency of state-level data ...”; 10 percent preparing briefings and reports and making presentations to CHHS, the Governor’s Office, the Legislature and others; and 5 percent joining special committees on behalf of the Directorate, pertaining to the modernization of the aging network and development of new tools, systems and apps to support this modernization.

The position has a monthly salary range of $10,831 to $12,903, and the application deadline is Nov. 15.

The county of Santa Clara is seeking an application administrator to work in the San Jose metropolitan area. The successful candidate will work “under general supervision, to provide direct application support for the, implementation, testing, updating, and maintenance of packaged and (Software as a Service) SaaS solutions,” according to the job posting. He or she will also “... analyze user, system and application needs, and evaluate alternative approaches to determine the best configuration of the solution to meet the needs of the organization.”

Typical tasks include:

• Providing application support and troubleshooting app issues and system errors
• Leading evaluation of new module releases and upgrades for packaged and/or SaaS solutions
• Coordinating app upgrades and changes for packaged and/or SaaS solutions
• Identifying, prioritizing and recommending alternate solutions and risk mitigation strategies
• Creating app templates and add-ons
• Participating in testing processes including scripts, recording test results, end-user testing and maintaining test environments
• May be assigned as a disaster service worker, as required
  

A knowledge of “various information technology platforms and operating systems” is needed, as is knowledge of “design, implementation, testing, updating, maintenance, evaluation, and analysis of system configuration, system setup, and application tables”; and workflows. The ability to use a “variety of information technology platforms and operating systems”; and to “analyze business requirements and identify possible solutions”; and to “engage with stakeholders and understand and respond to their needs in rapidly changing environments” is also required. Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college in computer science, information technology, science, or a related field; or a bachelor’s degree and two years’ experience “in the functional area(s) being supported using the tools and systems, and having the department program knowledge.”

The position has a monthly salary range of $8,206 to $9,975, and the application deadline is Sunday.