IT Application Development - Senior/Specialist (Olympia)

State of Washington Dept of Children, Youth, and Families; Olympia (WA); Hybrid; USD 99,000 - 134,000; Full time

Job summary

The State of Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families in Olympia seeks a Senior IT Application Development Specialist for a project position. The role drives modernization, supports a regulated IT environment, and ensures compliance with security standards while delivering reliable payments and services to thousands of users.

You will design, build, test, and optimize applications, lead technical teams, and collaborate with multiple programs.

Qualifications

• Six years designing, developing, or maintaining large-scale mission-critical applications.
• Five years using Microsoft tech stack including Windows, Visual Studio, IIS, .NET C#, ASP.NET MVC.
• Seven years of programming with Java and/or .NET; GUI with .NET MVC, jQuery and web services.
• Ability to learn quickly and respond to stakeholder needs with collaborative teamwork.
• Experience in Agile, Scrum, DevOps in a regulated IT environment.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, upgrade, and maintain applications and integration packages.
• Provide technical leadership to application development teams.
• Document requirements and monitor progress with project management.
• Assess technologies and platforms for cost, performance, and compatibility.
• Ensure compliance with security standards and regulatory requirements.

Skills

Bootstrap

JavaScript

Knockout

JQuery

Ninject

ASP.NET MVC

Entity Framework

T-4 Templates

Reporting Services

MS SQL Server

.NET C#

TSQL

HTML

Windows

Visual Studio

IIS

SQL

TFS

SharePoint

Java

C#

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or closely allied field

Tools

SharePoint

Visual Studio

IIS

SQL Server Management Studio

TFS

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.

IT Application Development - Senior Specialist - Project Position

Location Olympia, WA, Thurston County (Flexible/Hybrid)

Closes November th, 2026

Salary $99,300.00 - $133,608.00 Annually

*Project position until at least 6/30/2028

The DCYF Application Development group designs, develops, configures, maintains and optimizes a broad range of robust, scalable applications, systems, software, interfaces and tools in support of the agency's mission and business objectives. This includes, but is not limited to, financial operations, human resources, licensing, fieldwork, case management, reporting, research, and supports for more than a dozen teams within the DCYF IT division.

Click here to learn more about DCYF.

The Opportunity:

This position has the important job of improving older technologies or creating better applications. The incumbent does this work in a highly regulated IT environment, and a key objective is compliance with industry’s best practices and all applicable Washington State and federal security standards, laws, and regulatory requirements. This work ensures that the SSPS user community, which includes internal programs of DCYF and external stakeholders such as OFM and Union 925, follow all necessary steps to issue payments to approximately 30,000 users and/or providers.

Some of what you will get to do:

• Designing, building, upgrading, maintaining, enhancing, testing new and existing applications.
• Designs, builds and maintains integration packages.
• Participates in iterative process improvements.
• Uses software development methods and tools to integrate and support custom-off-the-shelf (COTS) software.
• Recommends, designs, and develops technical solutions.
• Embraces agile software development principles and values.
• Provides technical leadership to application development teams.
• Influence information strategy and provide direction.
• Analyze current technologies used within the agency and determine ways to improve.
• Document and monitor requirements needed to institute proposed updates.
• Assess various technologies and platforms to determine the most suitable options for the solution, considering factors such as cost, performance, and compatibility.
• Account for possible project challenges on constraints including, risks, time, resources and scope.
• Work closely with project management teams to successfully monitor progress of initiatives.
• Provide detailed specifications for proposed solutions.

Required Qualifications:

Six (6) years of progressively more complex problem solving as a developer designing, developing or maintaining large-scale applications with mission critical business functions using Bootstrap, JavaScript, Knockout, JQuery, Ninject, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework, T-4 Templates, Reporting Services, MS SQL Server, Microsoft .NET C#, Transact Structured Query Language (TSQL), and Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML).

AND

Five (5) years of progressively more complex problem-solving experience as a developer designing, developing or maintaining large-scale applications with mission critical business functions using the Microsoft technology stack including Windows, Visual Studio, IIS, .NET C#, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework, SQL, TFS, SharePoint, etc.

OR

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or closely allied field.

AND

Seven (7) years of programming experience with Java and/or .NET technologies and/or C# .NET framework. Developing user interface with: .NET MVC, Jakarta Struts, Web Services (SOAP/RESTful), and jQuery. Seven years of experience working with relational databases (JDBC, SQL).

AND

• The ability to take action to learn and grow
• The ability to take action to meet the needs of others.

Additional Required Qualifications:

• Working knowledge of Agile values and principles as they apply to application development.
• Working knowledge of Scrum development methodologies, artifacts and traditions.
• Working knowledge of DevOps concepts.
• Experience working in a highly regulated environment where IT assets and data are subject to a broad range of State and federal information security requirements and regulations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience maintaining and supporting IT applications in a 7 day a week / 24 hour a day availability situation.
• Agile Training or Certification.
• Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Architect, or Solution Architect certifications.
• .NET Developer training or certification
• Experience in SCRUM, Agile, and iterative development processes.

Supplemental Information:

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.

Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications and wish to claim Veteran's Preference MUST attach a copy of their DD214, NGB Form 22 or Predischarge Certification (issued not more than 120 days prior to End of Term of Service (ETS) by date of submission). If claiming preference based on Predischarge Certification, individual will be required to provide their official discharge documentation, such as a DD form 214, NGB form 22, or equivalent, within 30 days after the date of discharge. Please blackout (redact) the social security number before attaching any documents. For additional information on Veteran's Preference and guidance on how to determine if you are eligible, click here.

DCYF participates in the federal E-Verify program. The selected candidate must provide proof of identity and authorization to work in the United States, consistent with E-Verify requirements, on their first day of employment.