Senior Project Manager - Technical Operations Lead

Apex Systems; Boston, Northern (MA, KY); On-site; USD 138,000 - 149,000; Full time

Job summary

Apex Systems is seeking a Senior Project Manager - Technical Operations Lead for the Commonwealth of MA BEST Program in Boston, MA. This hybrid role coordinates across CTR, EOTSS, and SI vendors to plan, implement, and manage the operational aspects of the Phase 2 ERP solution.

The position requires strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and experience with large-scale IT programs. Term through 6/30/27 with potential extension.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study/equivalent experience.
• Minimum of ten years of design and implementation experience in IT, with knowledge in APIs, database management, security risk and compliance, and servers and storage.
• Hybrid work model with on-site Boston office and potential remote work.

Responsibilities

• Oversee planning, delivery, and implementation of the BEST Phase 2 operational approach across departments and vendor teams.
• Coordinate with CTR, EOTSS, and vendor partners to align technical operations and risk management.
• Manage local IT needs, testing, access, approvals, and compliance requirements within departments.
• Ensure operational deliverables meet SLAs and program governance expectations.
• Support testing, data migration, and upgrade planning for the Phase 2 solution.

Job description

Apex Systems is a world class technology services business that incorporates industry insights and experience to deliver solutions that fulfill our clients’ digital visions.

Apex has an opportunity for a Senior Project Manager - Technical Operations Lead.

Here are the details

• Position: Senior Project Manager - Technical Operations Lead
• Client: Commonwealth of MA (BEST Program)
• Location: Boston, MA (Hybrid)
• Duration: Thru 6/30/27 (with possibility of extension)
• Pay rate: $100-$108/hour

Detailed Description of Services

About the Office of the Comptroller

The Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (CTR) is an independent and apolitical agency charged with overseeing the Commonwealth’s financial systems, preparing the annual financial reporting, and managing the external single audit process. In fiscal year 2021 CTR oversaw approximately $95 billion in spending. In addition, CTR oversees the Commonwealth’s General Ledger, payroll and vendor management, trains state employees on risk mitigation and operates the Commonwealth’s financial system. As stewards of the public trust, CTR aspires to inspire confidence by maintaining our core principles: clarity, integrity, and accountability. The powers and obligations of the Office of the Comptroller are generally dictated by M.G.L. c. 7A.

About Business Enterprise Systems Transformation (BEST) Program

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is undertaking a multi-year project known as the Business Enterprise Systems Transformation (BEST) Program to implement a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solution that will support a wide range of business functions used by all state agencies. The initial scope of the project replaced the Commonwealth’s core financial and accounting system. Phase 2 will replace the Commonwealth’s HR and Payroll solution (HR/CMS). This phase is projected to span a 2-year period. A software solution and Systems Implementation (SI) vendor have been selected. The solution is a SaaS cloud-based system, replacing the existing heavily customized software currently hosted on-premises, whether on virtual or physical servers, and supports more than 95,000 employees. The BEST Program is jointly sponsored by the Secretary for Administration and Finance, the Comptroller of the Commonwealth, the Secretary of Technology Services and Security, and the Chief Human Resources Officer of the Human Resources Division. This job posting is being issued through the Office of the Comptroller.

Position Summary

The BEST Program Technical Operations Lead will work for the BEST Solution Technical Lead and Deputy Program Manager to oversee and coordinate the adoption of the future state operational protocols. Together with the PMO and Phase 2 Technical Lead, Product Vendor Systems Integrator (SI), Office of the Comptroller and Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS) staff, the BEST Program Technical Operations Lead will be responsible for tasks related to planning, approach, align, and oversee the implementation of the operational solution across the Commonwealth and product vendor areas of responsibility.

The BEST Program Technical Operations Lead will join the BEST technical leadership team which includes: BEST Solution Technical Lead, BEST Phase 2 Technical Lead, BEST Technical Testing and Quality Assurance Lead, BEST Technical Security Lead, and BEST Technical Reporting Lead. Furthermore, this position will partner with and work across BEST PMO, SI, Product Vendor, EOTSS, CTR, HRD, ANF, and Departments to ensure deliverable quality and identify the necessary and optimal operational business solution.

The BEST Program Technical Operations Lead will:

• Align with Comptroller Technical Group (CTG) leadership, CTR Organizational leadership, Sponsor Organization technical leadership, BEST Architecture Review Board (ARB), and BEST Phase 2 Technical Lead to establish a future operations framework and operational model and define future state solution operational roles and responsibilities for the technical adoption and operational execution of the Phase 2 business solution.
• Engage Commonwealth Department Information Technology (IT) organizations or IT representatives that support approximately 160 departments to ensure the future operational solution will be implemented within departments, operate as desired as defined by the business, and will support local department operational and compliance needs.
• This position will be accountable to communicate and facilitate with the IT department representatives on their local technology needs, track and manage local department IT needs / issues, facilitate overall department testing of business solution, verify department users have necessary access, manage approvals for department implementations, align with security and risk teams to ensure appropriate and proper access levels are enabled, and be the BEST contact to oversee the local resolution to department operational issues.
• Where departments have an existing system today that performs a similar business function, these existing systems may or may not continue after implementation of the Phase 2 BEST solution. This role will coordinate with departments to establish necessary technical plans, such as (but not limited to):

• For local full adoption of the BEST new solution: existing system shutdown and retirement plans, existing system data conversion plans, user security migration plans, and other.

• For local retention of existing system (full or part) aligned with the BEST new solution: data integration plans, compliance plans, or other.

Coordinate testing and approval of department IT solution with the new HR/Payroll solution including user access, local IT operations plans and staffing, local IT compliance needs, and other needs.

Work side by side with Comptroller Technical Group (CTG) leadership, Commonwealth staff, solution SI, and solution SaaS vendor to establish the overall operational solution model, to identify and recommend future state operational needs, recommend future state roles and responsibilities, and will be responsible for oversight of specific operational deliverables provided by the SI and Product vendors during the project period with transition planning to CMW staff post go-live and warranty period. These include upgrades, defect fixes by the product vendor, implementation of penalties for Service Level Agreement (SLA) failures or breaches, monitoring SLA metrics for software, support, and maintenance services, and implementation of on-going configuration changes.

Work with BEST and CTR security and risk teams to communicate local IT department security and compliance requirements, as well as review local department implementation plans for security and compliance.

Work with BEST Quality Assurance and Testing team to define, communicate, and oversee testing within Departments.

Align with BEST Program business contacts to ensure the most current and appropriate business solution is understood and identity potential needs / issues with department operational needs and operational metrics.

Develop implementation plans with BEST program leadership to ensure department IT adoption, communications, coordination, and testing to support departments’ implementation of the Phase 2 business solution.

Support BEST Solution Technical Lead to engage the BEST Architecture Review Board (ARB) as requested, providing information on department technical needs / issues. BEST Phase 2 Operational lead will communicate ARB decisions to departments.

Be responsible for additional BEST program delivery tasks including: BEST technical environment management, Assist in the technical implementation of Help Desk to enable Hypercare Support Delivery during initial states of operations. Determine the timing and procedures for adopting SaaS solution upgrades and required system maintenance. Establish appropriate monitoring functions and operational SLAs to ensure a quality operational environment, including operational support tasks, local IT operational support tasks, alignment of data backups, and other related tools. Assist BEST Compliance team in implementing the procedures to meet risk mitigation requirements and to monitor vendor compliance with security protocols. Maintain awareness and communicate status of data within each environment. Exhibit excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, including an excellent customer service attitude. Communicate progress, risks, and potential changes in scope to the BEST Solution Technical Lead, BEST Program Director, and BEST Phase 2 Technical Lead. Work closely with BEST Phase 2 Technical Lead to engage EOTSS operational solution to clarify existing roles and responsibilities, operational details, and identification of known department needs and issues. Act as a liaison between incident response leads and subject matter experts and monitor daily or weekly reports and operational logs for unusual events.

The BEST Program Technical Operations Lead will partner with the product vendor and SI vendor who will also provide staff and have significant responsibilities per the vendor and Commonwealth’s Statement of Work to: Support the generation and approval of technical operational artifacts and deliverables. Assist coordination in the transition of legacy data contained within local IT system(s) or department server(s) into the new solution, as necessary.

Specific Duties

Manage the planning, delivery, and implementation of work products, as defined in the SOW, that will be provided by the product vendor and SI vendor to ensure a successful outcome of operational execution. This will include resource planning and management; maintenance of vendor performance metrics and progress, tracking of issues and risk; and review of deliverables by product vendor and SI vendor.

Conduct regular meetings with Department Local IT representatives to communicate BEST Phase 2 plans, decisions, and information needs, as well as capture local IT specific needs and issues.

Communicate progress, risks, and potential changes in scope to the BEST Solution Technical Lead and Phase 2 Technical Lead.

Work with business owners, BEST program resources, and departments to understand the changing business needs served by the new system and the change management needed to arrive at the future state for operating the new solution.

Participate in testing, including quality assurance testing, business process solution testing, integrated system test (IST), user acceptance testing (UAT) and end to end testing activities and deliverables throughout the project period.

Participate in Product vendor testing, such as performance, penetration, disaster recovery and integration testing to meet requirements for volume, performance, and security.

Ensure that appropriate deliverables fulfill the business requirements of the project and recommend procedures and tools for troubleshooting software issues, applying patches, dealing with exceptions, and escalating problems.

Where needed, provide recommend software support needs that could be met by a third-party vendor or by the SI or product vendor if such tasks cannot be supported by Commonwealth in-house staff.

Support BEST Phase 2 Technical lead as needed to assess the results of product vendor audits or audits performed by third parties to produce recommendations of acceptable risks and risk mitigation strategies. Provide recommendations regarding audit finding remediation, including providing feedback and suggestions on managerial responses to findings, tracking progress and providing status and updates.

Required Skills

• Extensive technical knowledge and experiences that operated in various operational settings, including but not limited to: Software as a Services (SaaS), relational database structures, Structured Query Language (SQL), and others.
• Experience in Technical Leadership roles and decision making.
• Extensive experience with system administration and monitoring for various application platforms particularly SaaS delivery models and all phases of testing including unit, system, integration, parallel and user acceptance.
• Experienced with LAN/WAN/VPN and remote network technologies and protocols (such as, but not limited to, TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, Ethernet, token ring, ARCNET, HTML CGI, ATM, CDPD), as well as experience with network infrastructure, including routers, switches, firewalls, and the associated network protocols and concepts.
• Experience with common information security management frameworks, such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 2700x, ITIL, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and others.
• Ability to analyze and communicate project risks and challenges and drive resolution.
• Problem-solving, negotiation and decision-making skills.
• Leadership and effectiveness in matrix management and team building.
• Understanding of the relationship between systems architecture and business use cases.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud implementations particularly those in which legacy on premise applications have been migrated to cloud delivery options.
• In depth experience and exposure to multiple, diverse technical configurations, technologies, and processing environments in at least one project of similar size and complexity to the BEST Program in which the candidate led data integration, system operations, and security protocols to a successful conclusion.
• Extensive experience in Project Plan development, delivery oversight, and status reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in development and delivery of Executive status reports and communications.
• Experience in implementation of Data Quality programs.
• Experience in performing or supporting a system audit within a state government.
• Experience with state government implementation and operations, preference given to individuals with Commonwealth of Mass specific experience.

Minimum Entrance Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study/equivalent experience.
• Minimum of ten years of design and implementation experience in IT, with a deep knowledge in the following technical disciplines: application development, application programming interfaces (APIs), audit compliance, database management, infrastructure and network design, middleware, security risk and compliance management, and servers and storage.

Hybrid Work Model

The BEST program operates under the Office of the Comptroller (CTR) hybrid work model. Under this policy, employees are currently required to work a minimum of four (4) business days per month (two (2) set by management and two (2) set by the employee) on-site at CTR’s Boston office and may work remotely the remainder of the time at a location approved by their supervisor, so long as they comply with the requirements of the telework policy. Under this policy, all employees must be able to report to the Boston office with little or no notice, even including the same workday should an exigent circumstance arise. Therefore, a reasonable proximity to the office is necessary. CTR does not reimburse for employees to travel to the office.

In addition, the successful candidate may be required to work primarily on site in Boston during the initial training and orientation period and/or for certain positions a primarily on-site role may be necessary.

Hours

Hours of work are Monday through Friday, except for holidays, on a full-time basis, with a compensated workday of 7.5 hours a day with an option for 8 hours per day upon preapproval from supervisor. A selected candidate’s exact schedule may be set with the direct supervisor. Overtime, night, and weekend work schedules will be set with the position’s direct supervisor.

EEO Employer

Apex Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, political affiliation, union membership, or any other characteristic protected by law. Apex will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law. If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation in using our website for a search or application, please contact our Employee Services Department at [e-mail] or 844-463-6178.