Technical Lead

City of New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) in New York City seeks a Technical Lead to deliver mission-critical City applications, guiding a Java-based stack and AI-driven automation. You will architect and implement AI-powered workflows, integrate cloud services, and lead DevOps modernization to improve reliability and developer productivity.

You will collaborate with product owners and cross-functional teams to capture requirements, design scalable systems, and deliver end-to-end solutions.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in computer science with 3 years IT experience including apps/dev, systems & networking.
• Bachelor's degree with 4 years IT experience as described above.
• Four-year high school diploma with 6 years of IT experience.
• Substitution rules allowed with at least 3 years IT experience including 18 months leadership.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in Java-based development and best practices.
• Architect and implement AI-driven solutions, including agentic AI workflows.
• Apply MCP/RAG concepts to connect LLMs with enterprise data/workflows.
• Lead DevOps automation to improve deployment reliability and developer productivity.
• Integrate cloud-native services and AI tooling into existing platforms.
• Collaborate with product owners and cross-functional teams to deliver on time.
• Demonstrate hands-on experience with automation, AI components, and cloud services end-to-end.
• Oversee special projects as assigned.

Skills

Java

AWS AI services

REST APIs

Model Context Protocol

RAG systems

CI/CD

Cloud platforms

MCP servers

PostgreSQL

Oracle

Communication

Documentation

Education

Master's degree in computer science

Bachelor's degree in IT or related field

High school diploma with IT experience

Education/Experience combination allowed by NY criteria

Tools

AWS

Azure

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Job description

OPEN TO CURRENT CITY EMPLOYEES PERMANENT IN THIS TITLE ONLY

The Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) leverages technology to drive opportunity, improve public safety, and help government run better across New York City. From delivering affordable broadband to protecting against cybersecurity threats and building digital government services, OTI is at the forefront of how the city delivers for New Yorkers in the 21st century. Follow us on social media @NYCOfficeofTech, and visit www.nyc.gov/oti to learn more.

At OTI, we offer great benefits, and the chance to work on projects that have a meaningful impact on millions of people. You'll have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technology and collaborate with other passionate professionals who share your drive and commitment to making a difference through technology.

OTI is seeking a highly skilled Technical Lead to deliver mission-critical City applications to our constituents and City agencies while leveraging modern engineering practices, automation, and AI-driven capabilities. This role is ideal for a hands-on technologist who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about leveraging automation and AI to deliver value to our customers.

• Provide technical leadership in our Java-based environment, ensuring best practices in custom application development.
• Architect and implement AI-driven solutions, including agentic AI systems that autonomously execute workflows and optimize City operations.
• Apply AI-adjacent and core AI tools such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to real-world workflows and City use cases.
• Lead initiatives to automate DevOps tasks, improving deployment efficiency, reliability, and developer productivity.
• Integrate cloud-native services, AI tooling, and automation frameworks into existing applications and platforms.
• Collaborate with product owners, project managers, and cross-functional teams to gather requirements and deliver solutions on time.
• Demonstrate hands-on experience implementing automation, AI components, agentic behaviors, cloud services, and custom development end-to-end.
• Oversee special projects and initiatives assigned.

HOURS/SHIFT Day - Due to the necessary technical duties of this position in a 24/7 operation, candidate may be required to work various shifts such as weekends and/or nights/evenings.

WORK LOCATION Brooklyn, NY

COMPUTER SYSTEMS MANAGER - 1005D

Minimum Qualifications

1. A master's degree in computer science from an accredited college or university and three (3) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience in Information Technology (IT) including applications development, systems development, data communications and networking, database administration, data processing, or user services. At least eighteen (18) months of this experience must have been in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity in the areas of applications development, systems development, data communications and networking, database administration, data processing or in the supervision of staff performing these duties; or

2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and four (4) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience as described in "1" above; or

3. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, and six (6) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience as described in "1" above; or

4. A satisfactory combination of education and experience equivalent to "1", "2" or "3" above. However, all candidates must have at least a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and must possess at least three (3) years of experience as described in "1" above, including the eighteen (18) months of administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience as described in "1" above.

In the absence of a baccalaureate degree, undergraduate credits may be substituted for a maximum of two (2) years of the required experience in IT on the basis of 30 semester credits for six (6) months of the required experience. Graduate credits in computer science may be substituted for a maximum of one (1) year of the required experience in IT on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits in computer science for one (1) year of the required IT experience. However, undergraduate and/or graduate credits may not be substituted for the eighteen (18) months of experience in an administrative, managerial, executive, or supervisory capacity as described in "1" above.

Preferred Skills

• 7+ years of strong experience in Java and custom application development.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience evaluating and implementing cloud-based AI services, with deep technical expertise in AWS preferred (familiarity with Azure is acceptable).
• Experience building REST APIs, microservices, and cloud-native applications.
• Proven experience designing and deploying Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to securely connect Large Language Models (LLMs) with enterprise data sources, APIs, and business workflows.
• Strong background in relational database design (PostgreSQL, Oracle), with additional exposure to non-relational/document databases such as MongoDB.
• Experience leveraging CI/CD pipelines for automated testing, code-quality enforcement, and security scanning.
• Experience with deploying and operating custom applications on AWS, Azure and similar cloud platforms.
• Experience building or integrating retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems.
• Familiarity with enterprise-scale application modernization patterns.
• Ability to work effectively across product, engineering, DevOps, cloud, and data teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex concepts to peers and stakeholders.
• Strong experience producing technical documentation, including technical designs and runbooks

55a Program

This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

Residency Requirement

New York City Residency is not required for this position

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.