Director of DSHS Technology Coordination

Job Description: 

The Systems Analyst VII, serves as Director of DSHS Technology Coordination and reports directly to the Deputy Commissioner of Operations. This position oversees the coordination of IT services between DSHS and HHSC IT, advocating for DSHS IT needs, and ensuring strategic alignment between business objectives and technology solutions. This role coordinates IT activities agency-wide, collaborating with leadership and key stakeholders to deliver timely and effective IT services to DSHS. This role serves as the primary program point of contact for coordinating IT-related discussions, ensuring business stakeholders are engaged and informed, and the primary business liaison to understand the business and operational impacts of IT incidents, outages, and maintenance activities and to communicate program concerns, urgency, and operational constraints during service disruptions.    

This role demands exceptional communication, leadership, and interpersonal abilities to foster productive relationships with program staff, IT personnel, and stakeholders. The position requires a comprehensive understanding of business operations and technology solutions, facilitating cross-functional alignment to achieve desired results. This position may manage the work of others. It operates with minimal supervision and grants considerable discretion for exercising initiative and independent judgment.   

Essential Job Functions (EJFs): 

EJF 1: Strategic Leadership & Alignment (30%)  

• Oversee the identification and articulation of program business needs, program goals, and operational priorities as ideas that require technical support.  

• Leads the conversion of an idea into an intake, ensuring correct timing, prioritization, funding, and all program side approvals. 

• Verifies application roadmaps with business alignment by gathering, validating, and communicating needed enhancements, application limitations, changes, ideas, funding availability and timelines. 

• Support program executive leadership by providing context and business justification that informs technology-related decisions and investments. 

• Establishes program-side governance to operationalize activities, ideas, and other requests. 

• Ensures program leadership is informed, engaged in and accountable for business-side decisions, including prioritization, trade-offs, and change readiness. 

 EJF 2: Relationship Management & Advocacy (30%)  

• Represents DSHS program interests in meetings, work groups, and external forums by articulating program priorities, operational needs, and business impacts. Advocates for program priorities, service expectations, and urgency, including escalation of business-impacting issues and risks. 

• Serves as the primary program point of contact for coordinating IT-related discussions, ensuring business stakeholders are engaged and informed. 

• Builds and maintains trusted relationships with programs and leadership to understand program goals, challenges, timelines, and strategic direction. Coordinates internally across program teams to resolve issues, enable prioritization, resolve interdependencies, and accelerate decision-making. 

 EFJ 3: Project Oversight & Delivery (20%)  

• Provides oversight to ensure project scope aligns with program objectives, statutory requirements, operational needs, and business priorities. Act as a Product Owner when needed. Leads coordination with program stakeholders to define business requirements, user stories, and success/acceptance criteria. Ensures business stakeholders are available for inputs, reviews, and decisions. 

• Attends project meetings to monitor progress from a business perspective, identify impacts to operations, and business-related impacts, risks or issues due to the delays in project milestones.  

• Support resolution of project issues by facilitating business decisions, including scope adjustments, priority changes, and acceptance of risk.  

• Coordinates readiness activities (e.g., training, change management, interagency dependencies, MOUs etc.)  

 EJF 4: Daily Operations & Issue Resolution (10%) 

• Serves as the primary business liaison to understand the business and operational impacts of IT incidents, outages, and maintenance activities and to communicate program concerns, urgency, and operational constraints during service disruptions. 

• Ensures program leadership is informed of service issues, expected impacts, and recovery timelines, translates technical information into business-relevant terms. Coordinates alternate workarounds for business continuity, coordinates communications about service disruptions to end users. 

• Supports prioritization of issue resolution by providing business-side input on criticality, timing, and service expectations. 

• Identifies opportunities to revise business processes, data retention/archival/deletion methodologies, business priorities, or service expectations based on evolving program needs and service performance. 

• May oversee or manage the work of others, including hiring, time and leave, and performance management. 

EJF 5: Procurement, Budget & Policy Input (5%)  

• Leads development of business justifications for technology-related procurements and capital requests based on program needs, statutory drivers, and operational priorities. 

• Coordinates with program leadership, DSHS Budget, and IT to support budget planning, funding requests, and prioritization decisions. 

• Monitors and reviews technology expenditures from a business-impact perspective, ensuring spending aligns with approved priorities and expected outcomes. 

• Provides input on changes to funding priorities based on evolving program needs, risks, or legislative direction. Ensures program leadership is accountable for accepting business trade-offs, timing decisions, and funding constraints. 

• Coordinates with programs and leadership on legislative items, such as legislative appropriation requests, exceptional item requests, bill analysis, and IT cost analysis.  

 EJF 6: Other Duties (5%)  

• Support disaster response and continuity of operations as needed.  

• Assist in hiring, training, and evaluating staff performance as appropriate.  

• Participate in agency-wide initiatives and special projects.  

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): 

Knowledge of public health informatics, large-scale IT operations, and industry trends; business and management principles, project management, change management, and budgetary processes. 

Skill in systems analysis, technical documentation, strategic planning, and fiscal oversight; stakeholder engagement, problem-solving, and consensus-building. 

Ability to translate business needs into technical solutions and roadmaps; exercise sound judgment, make critical decisions, and manage competing priorities; analyze complex IT/business needs and develop creative, workable solutions; build trust and facilitate collaboration between IT and business areas; prepare and present analyses, recommendations, and visual documentation to leadership, stakeholders, and non-technical audiences; oversee and/or supervise the work of others.  

Registrations, Licensure Requirements or Certifications: 

N/A    

Additional Information: 

This position does not allow teleworking. 

Salary Information, Pre-Employment Checks, and Work Eligibility:

The salary offered will follow DSHS starting salary guidelines. Any employment offer is contingent upon available budgeted funds.

Depending on the program area and position requirements, applicants selected for hire may be required to pass background and other due diligence checks.

DSHS uses E-Verify. You must bring your I-9 documentation with you on your first day of work.