Director of Systems and Programming

Position Overview

SoftDev Incorporated is seeking an experienced Director of Systems and Programming to provide strategic, operational, and technical leadership for the Florida Department of Health’s Women, Infants, and Children Information Technology (WIT) team and the FL-WiSE/Electronic Benefits Transfer data system.

This senior leadership position will oversee enterprise application development, infrastructure, system integration, cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence services, vendor management, and technology operations supporting Florida’s WIC program. The Director will lead multidisciplinary technical personnel, direct the full systems development life cycle, establish technology strategies and governance practices, and serve as the senior technical and operational point of contact for supported systems.

The ideal candidate combines hands-on Oracle development expertise with extensive experience leading complex, high-availability public-sector information systems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide daily leadership, technical direction, work prioritization, and senior-level escalation support for the WIT team and its supported systems.
• Lead and coordinate the work of the Product Manager, Development Supervisor, Project Manager, and Network Systems Administrator. Assign priorities, resolve cross-functional dependencies, provide coaching and performance feedback, and support workforce planning.
• Direct the full systems development life cycle for FL-WiSE, EBT interfaces, Florida ACCESS interfaces, IBM Cloud and artificial intelligence services, office-automation solutions, and other WIC applications.
• Serve as the senior technical and operational point of contact from project initiation through implementation, customer acceptance, transition to operations, and ongoing support.
• Develop and maintain technology strategies, roadmaps, governance procedures, technical standards, staffing plans, project plans, risk and issue logs, and performance reports.
• Monitor the availability, performance, security, capacity, and integration of applications, databases, servers, networks, identity services, cloud or hosted services, end-user technologies, and external interfaces. Direct troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and technical problem resolution.
• Oversee requirements analysis, solution architecture, application development, testing, quality assurance, configuration management, change and release management, implementation, documentation, and operational-readiness activities.
• Coordinate cybersecurity, data privacy, access control, vulnerability remediation, incident response, backup, disaster recovery, continuity of operations, audit response, and compliance activities.
• Evaluate and recommend hardware, software, cloud services, artificial intelligence capabilities, commercial off-the-shelf products, and other technologies.
• Lead the technical development, review, and performance monitoring of procurements, contracts, grants, vendor deliverables, service-level commitments, software licenses, and technology budgets.
• Support vendor negotiations and monitor vendor performance against contractual and technical requirements.
• Build effective working relationships with Department leadership, program units, the Office of Information Technology, local agencies, federal and state partners, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Communicate technology status, risks, decisions, issues, and recommendations clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Identify and implement process improvements and establish performance measures for system reliability, service quality, project delivery, customer support, and team effectiveness.
• Maintain complete, accurate, and current technical, operational, project, procurement, policy, and management documentation.
• Comply with all Florida Department of Health data-security and confidentiality policies and procedures.

Minimum Qualifications

Candidates must meet all the following requirements:

• At least eight years of recent systems analysis and application-development experience using Oracle 12c SQL/PLSQL, API libraries, HTML, ASPX, VB.Net, JavaScript, Toad for Oracle, Visual Studio, and Microsoft Team Foundation Server or Azure DevOps.
• Demonstrated Oracle PL/SQL development experience.
• At least six years of current experience with cellular communication protocols, including SMS, MMS, GSM, and ASCII standards, applicable restrictions and federal policies, and the development of text- and voice-enabled applications using APIs.
• At least two years of experience with IBM Cloud services, including Watsonx and the development of Watson-based chat assistants.
• At least eight years of experience leading or supporting enterprise information systems involving systems analysis, application development, infrastructure, networking, database administration, system integration, operations, and end-user support.
• At least five years of experience managing, supervising, coaching, or mentoring technical staff and coordinating work across application development, product management, project management, and network or systems administration.
• At least five years of experience directing the complete systems development life cycle.
• At least five years of experience with strategic technology planning, policy development, risk management, security and privacy controls, disaster recovery or continuity planning, and regulatory compliance.
• At least five years of experience managing vendors, technical contracts, procurement activities, service-level expectations, budgets, resource planning, and technology initiatives.
• At least five years of experience supporting high-availability, transaction-based systems and integrated technical environments.
• At least five years of experience communicating complex technology matters to executives, program managers, business subject-matter experts, vendors, auditors, and technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Knowledge of public-sector information technology governance and experience applying statutory requirements, administrative rules, security standards, and organizational policies to technology operations and system changes.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Advanced Oracle SQL and PL/SQL development and troubleshooting skills.
• Strong understanding of enterprise application architecture, databases, networks, identity and access management, application servers, cloud services, APIs, and external system interfaces.
• Knowledge of IBM Cloud, Watsonx, conversational artificial intelligence, and chatbot development.
• Knowledge of cellular messaging and communication technologies, including SMS, MMS, GSM, ASCII, text, and voice APIs.
• Strong technical leadership, staff-management, coaching, and workforce-planning capabilities.
• Expertise in Agile and traditional systems-development methodologies.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity, privacy, vulnerability management, incident response, disaster recovery, and continuity-of-operations practices.
• Experience managing technology vendors, contracts, budgets, licenses, procurements, and service-level agreements.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and resolve complex technical and operational issues.
• Strong analytical, strategic-planning, documentation, and process-improvement skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to translate complex technical matters into clear business impacts and recommendations.
• Ability to handle confidential or sensitive information appropriately.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting WIC, public-health, human-services, benefits-delivery, or other public-sector information systems.
• Experience with Electronic Benefits Transfer systems or high-volume benefits-processing platforms.
• Experience integrating state systems with federal, local, financial, or third-party platforms.
• Experience supporting mission-critical systems subject to stringent availability, security, privacy, and audit requirements.
• Experience developing technology roadmaps, governance frameworks, operational standards, and performance metrics.
• Relevant technical, cybersecurity, cloud, IT service-management, or project-management certifications.

Performance Expectations

The selected candidate will be expected to:

• Deliver all assigned services and documentation accurately and within established timeframes.
• Maintain the availability, security, reliability, and performance of supported systems.
• Provide timely technical leadership and escalation support.
• Maintain current technology plans, risk and issue logs, performance reports, and operational documentation.
• Communicate risks, incidents, dependencies, and recommendations promptly.
• Maintain full compliance with Department data-security, confidentiality, privacy, and operational requirements.
• Support effective coordination among technical teams, program leadership, vendors, and external partners.

Work Environment and Travel

The assigned worksite is the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of WIC Program Services in Tallahassee, Florida. Occasional travel may be required and must be approved in advance by the Department Contract Manager.

How to Apply

Qualified candidates should submit a resume that clearly identifies the duration and scope of their experience for each minimum qualification. Resumes should specifically describe experience with:

1. Oracle SQL/PLSQL and the required application-development technologies;
2. Cellular messaging protocols and text- or voice-enabled APIs;
3. IBM Cloud, Watsonx, and Watson-based chat assistants;
4. Enterprise information systems and high-availability transactional environments;
5. Technical personnel and cross-functional team leadership;
6. Full systems development life-cycle management;
7. Cybersecurity, privacy, risk management, and continuity planning; and
8. Technology vendors, contracts, procurements, budgets, and service-level commitments.

SoftDev Incorporated is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.