IT Application Development (Senior Specialist)
State of Washington
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Job summary
The State of Washington is seeking a Senior Specialist in IT Application Development to lead the design, development and maintenance of mission critical child welfare and financial systems. You will guide technical decisions, ensure secure integrations, and support case management, provider payments and regulatory reporting.
Based in Olympia with flexible/hybrid work, you will mentor teammates, optimize nightly batch processing and drive modernization of legacy platforms while collaborating with
Qualifications
- Eleven or more years solving complex problems as a developer for large-scale apps.
- Experience designing, developing or maintaining mission critical business functions.
- Strong knowledge of Microsoft tech stack (Windows, Visual Studio, IIS, .NET).
- Experience with SQL Server, SQL Reporting Services and T‑SQL.
- Ability to analyze requirements and deliver technical solutions for gov't‑level systems.
Responsibilities
- Lead design, development and maintenance of mission critical child welfare systems.
- Analyze requirements and develop technical solutions for case management and payments.
- Troubleshoot defects and support nightly batch processing and audits.
- Create technical documentation and support modernization efforts.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
Our vision is to ensure that “Washington state’s children and youth grow up safe and healthy—thriving physically, emotionally and educationally, nurtured by family and community.
Our vision is to ensure that “Washington state’s children and youth grow up safe and healthy—thriving physically, emotionally and educationally, nurtured by family and community.
IT Application Development (Senior Specialist)
Olympia, WA, Thurston County (Flexible/Hybrid)
August 23rd, 2026
$99,300.00 - $133,608.00 Annually
The DCYF Application Development team is seeking a skilled system applications developer to help design, develop, maintain, enhance, and support mission‑critical child welfare systems that enable case management, intake, provider management, financial processing, reporting, and regulatory compliance activities across Washington State. These systems support thousands of internal and external users and are essential to the agency’s mission of protecting children and strengthening families.
This senior technical role supports and modernizes DCYF’s mission‑critical child welfare and financial systems. The position provides expert technical leadership in the development, maintenance, troubleshooting, and improvement of applications and integrations that support case management, provider payments, financial transactions, federal reporting, and statewide operations. Working closely with business and technical teams, this role helps ensure reliable technology and services that support child safety, permanency, and well‑being.
- Support and maintain mission‑critical child welfare applications such as FamLink and ProFam.
- Analyze business requirements and develop technical solutions.
- Troubleshoot and resolve production defects.
- Support enterprise batch processing systems.
- Monitor and troubleshoot nightly processing activities.
- Participate in disaster recovery and recovery testing activities.
- Develop and maintain complex SQL queries and stored procedures.
- Support data conversion, migration, and reconciliation efforts.
- Analyze legacy business processes and integrations.
- Assist modernization efforts involving legacy systems.
- Assess and analyze business and system requirements to design application integration solutions with principles of component reusability and security.
- Support audits, compliance reviews, and operational reporting.
- Assist business areas with troubleshooting and issue resolution.
- Create and maintain technical documentation.
- Lead knowledge‑sharing activities.
Eleven (11) years of progressively more complex problem solving as a developer designing, developing or maintaining large‑scale applications with mission critical business functions using Java with Jakarta Structs farmwork and JSP, .NET C#, SQL Server, SQL Reporting Services, Transact SQL, Web based programming, and supporting tools. Expert knowledge of application development principles, concepts, technologies, current industry standards and the Microsoft technology stack including Windows, Visual Studio, IIS, .NET C#, SQL, TFS, SharePoint, etc.
Associate’s degree or higher with a focus on computer science or closely allied field AND Nine years of progressively more complex problem solving as a developer designing, developing or maintaining large‑scale applications with mission critical business functions using Java with Jakarta Structs farmwork and JSP, .NET C#, SQL Server, SQL Reporting Services, Transact SQL, Web based programming, and supporting tools.
Bachelor's degree or higher in computer science or closely allied field AND Seven years of progressively more complex problem solving as a developer designing, developing or maintaining large‑scale applications with mission critical business functions using Java with Jakarta Structs farmwork and JSP, .NET C#, SQL Server, SQL Reporting Services, Transact SQL, Web based programming, and supporting tools.
- Seven years of experience supporting Microsoft SQL Server databases, including stored procedures, complex query development, performance tuning, troubleshooting, and data analysis.
- Five years of experience supporting enterprise batch processing systems, workload automation platforms, or scheduled operational processing, including OpCon or equivalent scheduling tools.
- Experience supporting complex business applications in a highly regulated environment involving sensitive data, financial processing, or public‑sector operations.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate directly with business stakeholders, analyze business processes, translate requirements into technical solutions, and provide production support.
- Experience supporting complex business applications in a highly regulated environment involving sensitive data, financial processing, or public‑sector operations.
- Experience supporting SACWIS, CCWIS, or Child Welfare information systems.
- Direct experience supporting FamLink applications, Finance modules, batch processing, or operational support functions.
- Experience supporting OpCon Enterprise Scheduler or similar enterprise workload automation platforms.
- Experience supporting Micro Focus COBOL applications and legacy batch processing systems.
- Experience with Azure DevOps, Git, CI/CD pipelines, and application modernization practices.
- Experience with cloud migration, containerization technologies, or AI‑assisted software development tools.
- Agile, Scrum, or related certifications.
- Experience may be gained concurrently.
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is committed to Washington’s children and youth growing up safe, healthy, and thriving. We invite all candidates to join us in our mission to create a diverse and equitable workplace that reflects the communities we serve. If you are excited about this role but you believe that your education and/or experience might not align perfectly with every qualification in the job posting, we encourage you to apply anyway.
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained service animal by a person with a disability.
This recruitment may be used to fill multiple vacancies.
Employee benefits are not just about the kind of services you get, they are also about how much you may have to pay out of pocket. Washington State offers one of the most competitive benefits packages in the nation.
We understand that your life revolves around more than just your career. Like everyone, your first priority is ensuring that you and your family will maintain health and financial security. That's why choice is a key component of our benefits package. We have a selection of health and retirement plans, paid leave, staff training and other compensation benefits that you can mix and match to meet your current and future needs.
Note: If the position offers benefits which differ from the following, the job posting should include the specific benefits.
- Employees and their families are covered by medical (including vision), dental and basic life insurance. There are multiple medical plans with affordable monthly premiums that offer coverage throughout the state.
- Staff are eligible to enroll each year in a medical flexible spending account which enables them to use tax‑deferred dollars toward their health care expenses.
- Employees are also covered by basic life and long‑term disability insurance, with the option to purchase additional coverage amounts.
- To view premium rates, coverage choice in your area and how to enroll, please visit the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) website. The Washington Wellness program from the Health Care Authority works with PEBB to support our workplace wellness programs.
- Dependent care assistance allows the employee to save pre‑tax dollars for a child or elder care expenses.
- Other insurance coverage for auto, boat, home, and renter insurance is available through payroll deduction.
- The Washington State Employee Assistance Program promotes the health and well‑being of employees.
- State Employees are members of the Washington Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS).
- New employees have the option of two employer contributed retirement programs. For additional information, check out the Department of Retirement Systems' web site.
- Employees also have the ability to participate in the Deferred Compensation Program (DCP). This is a supplemental retirement savings program (similar to an IRA) that allows you control over the amount of pre‑tax salary dollars you defer as well as the flexibility to choose between multiple investment options.
All state employees are covered by the federal Social Security and Medicare systems. The state and the employee pay an equal amount into the system.
If you are employed by a government or not‑for‑profit organization, and meet the qualifying criteria, you may be eligible to receive student loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
Full‑time and part‑time employees are entitled to paid holidays and one paid personal holiday per calendar year.
Note: Employees who are members of certain Unions may be entitled to additional personal leave day(s), please refer to position specific Collective Bargaining Agreements for more information.
Full‑time employees earn eight hours of sick leave per month. Overtime eligible employees who are in pay status for less than 80 hours per month, earn a monthly proportionate accrual to the number of hours in pay status, in the month to that required for full‑time employment. Overtime exempt employees who are in pay status for less than 80 hours per month do not earn a monthly accrual of sick leave.
Sick leave accruals for part‑time employees will be proportionate to the number of hours in pay status, in the month to that required for full‑time employment. Pay status includes hours worked, time on paid leave and paid holiday.
Full‑time employees accrue vacation leave at the rates specified in WAC 357-31-165(1) or the applicable collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Full‑time employees who are in pay status for less than 80 nonovertime hours in a month do not earn a monthly accrual of vacation leave.
Part‑time employees accrue vacation leave hours in accordance with WAC 357-31-165(1) or the applicable collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on a pro rata basis. Vacation leave accrual will be proportionate to the number of hours in pay status, in the month to that required for full‑time employment.
Pay status includes hours worked, time on paid leave and paid holiday.
As provided in WAC 357-58-175, an employer may authorize a lump‑sum accrual of vacation leave or accelerate the vacation leave accrual rate to support the recruitment and/or retention of a candidate or employee for a Washington Management Service position. Vacation leave accrual rates may only be accelerated using the rates established WAC 357-31-165.
Note: Most agencies follow the civil service rules covering leave and holidays for exempt employees even though there is no requirement for them to do so. However, agencies are required to adhere
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