Director of Enterprise Systems & AI Solutions

Ascension Fed; Tallahassee (FL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascension Fed seeks a Director of Systems and Programming to lead the WIC IT team in Florida, directing the full systems development life cycle and overseeing IBM Cloud and AI services. You will manage senior staff, coordinate cross-functional teams, and ensure security, privacy, and regulatory compliance across enterprise systems.

The role requires strong strategic planning, vendor management, and executive communication to deliver reliable, compliant technology solutions for public-sector

Qualifications

• At least eight years leading or supporting enterprise information systems.
• Five+ years managing technical personnel across multiple disciplines.
• Five+ years directing full SDLC including requirements, design, development, and deployment.
• Five+ years in strategic technology planning, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
• Five+ years vendor management, contracts, budgets, and SLAs.
• Experience supporting high-availability, transaction-based systems and cloud/ hosted services.
• Experience communicating complex tech to executives and stakeholders.
• Knowledge of public-sector IT governance and statutory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Provide daily leadership and senior escalation support for IT team and systems.
• Lead Product Manager, Development Supervisor, Project Manager, and Network Systems Administrator.
• Manage priorities, coach staff, and support workforce planning.
• Direct full SDLC for Florida WIC systems and IBM Cloud/AI services.
• Serve as senior tech and ops contact from initiation to operations.
• Develop and maintain technology strategies, roadmaps, and governance.
• Monitor availability, performance, security, capacity, and integration.
• Direct troubleshooting, release management, documentation, and readiness activities.
• Coordinate cybersecurity, data privacy, access control, and incident response.
• Evaluate hardware/software, cloud services, and new technologies for improvements.
• Support procurements, contracts, licenses, and budgets.
• Build relationships with leadership, agencies, partners, and vendors.
• Communicate status, risks, and recommendations to diverse audiences.
• Identify process improvements and establish performance measures.

Skills

Leadership

Senior-level coordination

Systems development life cycle

Risk management

Security and privacy controls

Disaster recovery planning

Regulatory compliance

Vendor and contract management

Cloud and hosted services

Architecture and integration

Executive communication

Policy development

IT governance

Budget and resource planning

Tools

IBM Cloud

Watson AI

Job description

• At least six years of current experience with cellular communication protocols, including SMS, MMS, GSM, and ASCII standards, as well as applicable federal policies and API-based text and voice applications.
• At least two years of experience with IBM Cloud services, including watsonx and Watson-based virtual assistants.
• At least eight years of experience leading or supporting enterprise information systems, including systems analysis, application development, infrastructure, networking, database administration, systems integration, operations, and end-user support.
• At least five years of experience managing, supervising, coaching, or mentoring technical personnel 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, including requirements gathering, solution design, development, testing, quality assurance, change and release management, implementation, documentation, customer acceptance, and ongoing operations.
• At least five years of experience in strategic technology planning, policy development, risk management, security and privacy controls, disaster recovery, continuity planning, and regulatory compliance.
• At least five years of experience managing technology vendors, contracts, procurement activities, service-level expectations, budgets, resources, and technology initiatives.
• At least five years of experience supporting high-availability, transaction-based systems and integrated technology environments involving databases, application servers, identity and access management, networks, cloud or hosted services, and external interfaces.
• 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 IT governance and experience applying statutory requirements, administrative rules, security standards, and organizational policies to technology operations and system changes.

Key Responsibilities

The Director of Systems and Programming will:

• Provide daily leadership, technical direction, workload prioritization, and senior-level escalation support for the WIC Information Technology team and its supported systems.
• Lead and coordinate the Product Manager, Development Supervisor, Project Manager, and Network Systems Administrator.
• Manage priorities, resolve cross-functional dependencies, provide coaching and performance feedback, and support workforce planning.
• Direct the full systems development life cycle for FL-WiSE, Electronic Benefits Transfer interfaces, Florida ACCESS interfaces, IBM Cloud and artificial intelligence services, office automation solutions, and other supported WIC technologies.
• Serve as the senior technical and operational point of contact throughout project initiation, implementation, customer acceptance, transition to operations, and ongoing support.
• Develop and maintain technology strategies, roadmaps, governance procedures, standards, staffing plans, project plans, risk and issue logs, priorities, 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, corrective actions, solution architecture, development, testing, quality assurance, change and release management, configuration management, documentation, and operational-readiness activities.
• Coordinate cybersecurity, data privacy, access control, vulnerability remediation, incident response, backups, 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 that improve reliability, security, efficiency, service delivery, or cost-effectiveness.
• Support the development, review, and negotiation of technology procurements, contracts, grants, licenses, vendor deliverables, service-level commitments, and budgets.
• Build productive relationships with Department leadership, program offices, technology teams, local agencies, federal and state partners, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Clearly communicate technology status, decisions, risks, and recommendations to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Identify and implement process improvements and establish performance measures for service quality, system performance, project delivery, customer support, and team effectiveness.
• Maintain complete and accurate technical, operational, project, procurement, policy, and management documentation.
• Comply with all applicable Department data-security and confidentiality policies and procedures.
• Provide monthly Director of Systems and Programming services and associated reporting in accordance with the statement of work.