Technical Lead / Grant Services Specialist V

THIS IS A NON-CIVIL SERVICE POSITION

CITY OF BALTIMORE, MAYOR'S OFFICE OF DIGITAL SERVICES

Technical Lead - Grant Services Specialist V

OPENING DATE: April 12, 2024

CLOSING DATE: June 28, 2024, at 12:00 Midnight

The City of Baltimore has created Digital Services, a team tasked with simplifying and increasing access to City services through technology. Accessibility, equity, and efficiency will be central tenets of the team's mission and its principal approaches will be human-centered design and agile digital product development. COVID-19 highlighted and, in some cases, widened inequities related to digital access while demonstrating the need for government to be agile and responsive, and this team is being established to address those issues head on.

The Digital Services team represents a new approach to building digital products for the City and will stand on the shoulders of leaders in the space such as 18f and the U.S. Digital Service at the Federal level and peer local digital service teams like those in New York City and San Francisco.

Come help set the standard for what accessible, equity-focused, and inclusive digital services looks like! By having a clear vision of equity and inclusion in our digital services, your work will reverberate to the wider Baltimore tech community.

The Digital Services team currently reports to the City Administrator.

About the Role

The Technical Lead will be the team's full-stack web developer and go-to technology specialist. This position will report to the Director of Digital Services. This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

• Establish and socialize solution architecture, including new technologies and integrations with existing systems, across teams and to a variety of stakeholders

• With the team's UX designers, implement front-ends with end-users (residents and/or City employees) and be comfortable talking about your products without using jargon

• Serve as the team's full-stack web developer; build any needed in-house digital services using modern tools and approaches, including open source, cloud infrastructure, containerization for deployment, etc.

• Create and implement maintenance and support plans for any in-house products and services

• Ensure team's work complies with application security controls established by Baltimore City Information & Technology (BCIT) and adopts cybersecurity best practices

• Evaluate work quality of deliverables provided by vendors, including level of effort estimates, code review, test coverage, and acceptance criteria

• Champion modern software practices on topics such as DevOps, agile project management, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), security, testing, and automation and support adoption throughout City government

• Build trust and partnerships by working alongside agency partners

About You

At a minimum, you have:

• Five (5) years of experience building web applications including front-end (user interface) and back-end (database and architecture) design, testing, and deployment

• Ability to demonstrate code complies with cybersecurity policies and best practices

• Deep empathy and understanding of equity and inclusiveness, particularly as these show up in technology

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills

• Well-versed in Drupal development

• Experience working closely with UI/UX designers

• Experience with Google Analytics setup for products

• Proficiency in programming languages (e.g., Java, JavaScript, and CSS)

The following are desirable experiences or traits, but we don't expect you to have all of them! If you can demonstrate you're capable of fulfilling the role as described above, please apply!

• A portfolio of user-centered digital products and web applications

• Comfort in high-pressure, fast-paced environments and an entrepreneurial spirit

• Function well in ambiguity

• High comfort and familiarity with web development best practices, including agile development, user-centered design, open-source development, automated testing and deployment, and working with cloud platforms.

• Experience developing and implementing modern tech stacks, preferably experience integrating with Microsoft O365 and Azure suite and legacy IT environments

• Flexibility in terms of technology and focused on outcomes for residents, not using a particular technology as a solution looking for a problem

• Ability to contribute to data analysis, analytics, and visualization as needed

• Knowledge of Python and SQL

About the status of GSS positions in Baltimore government:

This GSS position is financed through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds provided to the City of Baltimore through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. The funds associated with this position must be fully utilized by the end of December 2024 - meaning this GSS position is funded until that time. This GSS position is entitled to medical coverage and eligible to accrue sick and vacation leave.

Salary: $110,000 - $130,000

Baltimore City Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer