Project Assistant - 1455

New York State Department of Health; City of Albany (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday & Paid Time Off

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

Pension from NYS Employees’ Retirement

Shift & Geographic pay differentials

Affordable Health Care options

Family dental and vision benefits

Job summary

The New York State Department of Health seeks a senior IT project management professional to oversee the MECM Bureau's complex portfolio, aligning cross-functional teams across business analysts, developers, and security professionals. The role emphasizes governance, schedule management, and executive reporting to ensure Medicaid eligibility system modernization and compliance.

Responsibilities include overseeing project plans, coordinating releases, engaging stakeholders, and driving quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and six years of IT project management or related experience.
• Experience in governance, integrated scheduling, risk & issue management, stakeholder coordination, and executive reporting.

Responsibilities

• Project Planning & Schedule Management across complex portfolios.
• Oversee system rollouts from functional and technical perspectives across iterations, releases, and waves.
• Quality Assurance & Testing Oversight, including SIT/UAT coordination.
• Governance, Standards & Continuous Improvement for project management practices.

Skills

Project governance

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder coordination

SDLC oversight

Executive reporting

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/related field

Job description

Duties Description

The Medicaid Eligibility and Client Management (MECM) Bureau oversees the development, implementation, and operation of New York State’s modernized Medicaid eligibility and enrollment system – a large-scale, cloud native platform that processes eligibility determinations, enrollment, and appeals for complex and Non-Modified Adjusted Gross Income (Non-MAGI) Medicaid populations. The MECM Bureau manages the full systems development lifecycle (SDLC), from requirements gathering and design through build, testing, deployment, and ongoing production support, ensuring the platform operates reliably and evolves to meet changing programmatic and regulatory demands. The MECM Bureau's core system responsibilities include, but are not limited to, eligibility and enrollment system operations, appeals system administration, legacy system migration, system integration, and interoperability. These functions are not discretionary as they are federally mandated, operationally essential, and directly tied to the health and welfare of New Yorkers who depend on Medicaid coverage. The following duties are core to the position:

• Project Planning & Schedule Management
• Direct and oversee a complex project portfolio in a cross-functional environment, including Business Analysts, Developers, Technical Architects, Testers, Security and Change Management professionals.
• Standardize project schedules across multiple projects and maintain overall roadmap and cross-project dependencies.
• Oversee maintenance and execution of schedules across iterations, releases, and waves.
• Manage system change requests, including impact analysis on scope, time, and budget.
• Review and approve changes to release schedule due to changes in service portfolio.
• Oversee system rollout for iterations, releases, and waves from functional and technical perspectives.
• Collaborate with business users to support schedule for projects across iterations, releases, and waves.
• Foster relationships with trading partners within and outside of DOH to coordinate project delivery and ensure support for needed data exchanges.
• Reach out to trading partners to communicate expectations and incorporate feedback for all waves and releases.
• Stakeholder Engagement, Communication & Team Leadership
• Oversee work products of Systems Integrator staff.
• Supervise Project Managers, assign projects, and provide coaching and identify training needs.
• Develop official and professional communications/presentations that convey complex concepts to new audiences.
• Produce monthly Executive Status Reports for OHIP leadership and monthly Project Status Reports for CMS.
• Review for accuracy and provide feedback on monthly Project Status Reports and Risks and Issues Register from the Systems Integrator.
• Ensure federal compliance, accuracy, and consistency for CMS reporting.
• Conduct regular touchpoints across Business Analysts, Developers, Technical Architects, Testers, Security and Change Management professionals.
• Navigate a network of stakeholders with varied interests and cultures to drive alignment and results.
• Quality Assurance & Testing Oversight
• Establish and enforce a rigorous testing governance framework to ensure system quality across iterations, releases, and waves.
• Define and oversee test strategy and planning for iterations, releases, and waves.
• Collaborate on System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to ensure readiness, execution, and alignment with milestones.
• Collaborate on defect management processes including triage, prioritization, resolution tracking, and escalation.
• Review and approve deliverables for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with standards.
• Coordinate testing activities across cross-functional teams and trading partners to ensure testing timelines are integrated into the master project schedule.
• Governance, Standards & Continuous Improvement
• Ensure standardization of project management practices, identify areas of improvement, and develop recommendations.
• Guide standardization of reporting for risks and issues and development of mitigation strategies.
• Participate in retrospectives for completed waves/releases and contribute ideas for continuous improvement and implement changes.
• Oversee project close-out and documentation of lessons learned along with creation of actionable follow-up items.
• Possess and apply understanding of project objectives and scope from various perspectives including business, technical, and security.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree* and six years of experience in information technology project management, enterprise systems implementation, healthcare systems modernization, or large-scale systems integration projects, including responsibility for project governance, integrated project scheduling, risk and issue management, stakeholder coordination, systems development lifecycle oversight, vendor management, and executive reporting for complex cross-functional technology initiatives; three of these years must have been at the supervisory level; or one year of experience at the managerial level.

Substitution: Bachelor’s degree may be substituted by four years of specialized experience or an associate’s degree and two years of specialized service. A master's degree may substitute for one year of specialized experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Successful demonstrated experience in the following areas: Directing and overseeing portfolio of development efforts including leadership across all phases of the system development lifecycle. Managing and providing oversight to project managers and quality assurance staff to ensure coordinated execution, accountability, and adherence to project standards. Establishing and enforcing a rigorous testing governance framework to ensure system quality and release readiness. Working in health and human services at a national, state or local level as well as experience working with Medicaid programs in New York State. Managing vendors, including monitoring of service level agreements and adherence to contract terms. Writing and communicating with an ability to express complex information and concepts to project sponsors, technical staff, consultants/contractors and agency stakeholders.

Additional Comments

When reviewing qualifications, omissions and vagueness cannot be interpreted in the candidate’s favor. Candidates are responsible for providing accurate and clear descriptions of their experience demonstrating how they meet the minimum qualifications.

This position may require travel throughout New York State including overnights to areas not served by public transportation.

We offer a work-life balance and a generous benefits package, worth 65% of salary, including:

• Holiday & Paid Time Off
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
• Pension from New York State Employees’ Retirement System
• Shift & Geographic pay differentials
• Affordable Health Care options
• Family dental and vision benefits at no additional cost
• NYS Deferred Compensation plan
• Access to NY 529 and NY ABLE College Savings Programs, and U.S. Savings Bonds
• And many more...

The NYS Department of Health is committed to making New York a safer, healthier, and more equitable place to live. Understanding health equity, social determinants of health and health disparities is critical to accomplish our goal of eliminating health disparities. For more information on the NYS Department of Health’s Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Plan, please visit: https://health.ny.gov/commissioner/index.htm

If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, a job interview or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact by phone [phone] or email [e-mail] to make a request.

The NYS Department of Health does not participate in E-Verify and does not sponsor visa applications.

For new State employees appointed to graded positions, the annual salary is the hiring rate of the position (beginning of the salary range). Promotion salaries are calculated by the NYS Office of the State Comptroller in accordance with NYS Civil Service Law, OSC Payroll rules and regulations, and negotiated union contracts.