*This position is open statewide and can be remote anywhere in the state of Texas with occasional travel to the office as required.*

The Information Technology (IT) Director of Lab and Infectious Disease (LIDS) reports to the Director of IT Public Health Applications. This position leads the IT organization supporting the LIDS programs at HHSC, such as the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, State Immunization Tracking System, HIV Programs, and a variety of other systems relating to infectious disease. The scope of this IT team includes the full range of software development lifecycle activities, including Operational Management, project management, contract management and some budget management.

The team is comprised of about 35 staff supporting a dozen +applications. This position performs management activities including providing direction and guidance to team members, establishing priorities, and driving the execution of strategic and tactical roadmaps established by IT and program leadership. This position also oversees the day-to-day operations of staff to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of IT systems and services.

The successful candidate should be able to work with minimal supervision. This position has significant opportunity for initiative and independent judgment. This position plans, assigns, and supervises the work of others.

Essential Job Functions:
Operational Excellence: Oversees support of critical agency software applications. Plans, creates, implements, and monitors IT operational policies, procedures, and guidelines to ensure consistency and compliance with relevant software development and security standards as well as legislative mandates. Establishes service level agreements for key systems and services provided by the Lab & Infectious Diseases Applications team. Defines and implements key process indicators (KPI's) to measure the effectiveness of team processes, systems, and service levels. Benchmarks best practices for capabilities, processes, and systems both internally and with other agencies/entities. Incorporates benchmarking knowledge gained in roadmaps and continuous improvement action plans. Plans, directs, and oversees the daily tasks and activities of staff. Ensures staff have defined training and development plans. Provides employee guidance and mentoring. Communicates job requirements and manages employee performance. (25%)

Operational Excellence: Ensures systems remain up. Drives the tracking of application downtime for LIDS applications. Defines and drives application availability improvement action plans partnering with other teams and/or organizations including but not limited to the Department of Information Resources (DIR) and vendors. Goal is a year over year improvement in critical application availability and a reduction of Application Development team hours spent in major incident management (MIM) related work. (10%)

Value Delivery: Works with IT Governance and the Project Management Office (PMO) to ensure LIDS Applications IT projects are systematically managed using defined project management processes and tools. Ensures compliance of team owned projects with all relevant frameworks including but not limited to the Texas Project Delivery Framework. Provides oversight and guidance to team members managing projects to ensure successful project outcomes occur on time and on budget. Ensures projects the team executes have a clearly defined business value and deliverables. (25%)

Operational Efficiency: Defines and executes actions plans to address any opportunities identified by KPI's with a goal of year over year improvement in cost, quality, and/or IT service provided. Oversees relevant IT contracts and ensures contract terms are met. Drives corrective actions and continuous improvement with vendors with a goal of year over year improvement in vendor service provided, quality, and/or cost. Drives improvements in all phases of the software development lifecycle used by the LIDS Applications team. Works closely with the Director of IT Applications, Director of Data Center Services (DCS), DIR, and the Chief of Technology Office (CTO) to define strategic roadmaps to manage application infrastructure currency and reduce the effort and cost required to support applications more efficiently. (20%)

Operational Efficiency/Cost: Reviews the LIDS Applications department budget and contracts to identify and drive opportunities for cost avoidance and/or savings. (10%)

High Performance Culture: Ensures team is trained on and uses structured problem solving and risk assessing/management tools and techniques such as 8-Disciplines, 5-Whys, and Failure Mode Effects Analysis. The goal of using structured problem solving is to create a high-performance workforce that can accurately and efficiently arrive at root causes and permanent corrective actions where required. Other duties, as assigned. (10%)

Knowledge Skills Abilities:

Knowledge of management principles.

Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and regulations relevant to program areas and information technology.

Knowledge of principles and practices of public administration and management.

Knowledge of multiple software development lifecycle methodologies including agile.

Knowledge of change management and incident management processes.

Knowledge of project management processes and tools.

Knowledge of software testing and release processes and tools (including automation).

Knowledge of strategic planning, budget management, and human resource management.

Knowledge of leadership principles and how to effectively interact with various leadership styles.

Skill in establishing plans and setting objectives and goals that support an overall business strategy.

Skill in written communication and public speaking.

Skill in managing multiple priorities.

Skill in structured problem-solving techniques (e.g. 5-Why Analysis, Affinity, 8-Disciplines, etc.)

Skill in identifying problems, evaluating alternatives, and implementing solutions.

Skill in working collaboratively and cooperatively with diverse groups.

Ability to think creatively and support creative thinking in others.

Ability to establish goals and objectives for an organization.

Ability to plan, assign, and evaluate the work of others.

Ability to effectively manage and motivate staff.

Ability to establish effective working relationships with staff at all levels of an organization, agencies, providers, stakeholders, and elected officials.

Ability to develop and implement effective customer service systems.

Ability to manage contracts and vendor relationships.

Ability to develop effective operating procedures and improve processes.

Ability to organize and present information effectively verbally and in writing.

Ability to lead in an environment of change.

Ability to build strong and collaborative teams.

Ability to convey complex technical information simply and concisely.

Registration or Licensure Requirements:

Initial Selection Criteria:
4-year college degree or equivalent experience. Masters degree preferred.
10 years’ experience as an IT Manager or IT application Lead.

Preferred:
Agile experience highly desirable.
ITIL/ITSM experience will be an advantage.

Additional Information:
*This position is open statewide and can be remote anywhere in the state of Texas with occasional travel to the office as required.*

Requisition ID: 535080

MOS Code:
Note: There may be no military occupation(s) that relate to the initial selection criteria and registration or licensure requirements for this position. All active-duty military, reservists, guardsmen, and veterans are encouraged to apply if qualified to fill this position. For more information see the Texas State Auditor’s Military Crosswalk at http://www.hr.sao.state.tx.us/Compensation/JobDescriptions.aspx.

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