Director, Systems Development

State of Maryland • Baltimore City, MD

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Maryland State Retirement Agency is the administrator of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (“System”). The System is a defined benefit retirement system covering governmental employees within the State of Maryland. It’s composed of twelve (12) separate retirement and pension systems with over 50 different rule sets. The System has over 397,000 participants (customers), including 192,000 members who are actively employed and participating in the System, 165,000 payees who receive a monthly payment from the System, and 40,000 vested members who are no longer actively employed but have earned a benefit that will become payable at a future date. We are seeking to recruit a Director, Systems Development position. Located in Baltimore’s Central Business District, SRPS offers a purpose-driven workplace with modern amenities, including panoramic city and harbor views, renovated common areas, upgraded elevators, and an on-site café. Employees enjoy comprehensive state benefits including medical, dental, prescription coverage, generous paid leave, participation in the state pension system, and supplemental retirement savings options (401(k), 457(b), and more). Additional perks include an on-site fitness center with showers and lockers, 24/7 building security, and easy access to restaurants, shops, public transit, and major highways. This position manages Systems Development unit in Business Operations Office. This is a Management Service position and serves at the pleasure of the Appointing Authority. GRADE STD 0024 LOCATION OF POSITION 120 East Baltimore Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Main Purpose of Job This position directs and manages the Systems Development teams including Software Engineering, and Development Operations (DevOps). The position requires regular interaction and collaboration with Business Operations Office (BOO) and Information Systems (IS) executives and subordinate staff from Project Management, Technical Infrastructure, IS Security, Production Operations, and with SRPS Internal Audit, Investments and other business units to ensure the application platform is adequately supporting the mission of the Agency in a sustainable, modern, effective, and secure manner. Continuous planning and evaluation of application creation/delivery options and team/talent structure, and their feasibility, to best support the Agency mission, is required. This position supports the on-going business process reengineering initiatives by overseeing the implementation of an appropriate balance of 1) the creation/extension of custom applications, 2) integration and use of COTS and SaaS solutions, 3) the integration of 3rd-party tools and modules (pre-coded general functions), and 4) the integration of external services (i.e. banking, ID proofing.) Critical responsibilities of the Director are: · An intelligent enterprise application architecture and platform, which supports the mission of the Agency, and the team’s consistent use of it while implementing solutions. · Maintaining team readiness (staffed, knowledgeable and skilled) for new development, maintenance, and operations. · Overseeing the work of multiple Agile development teams, assuring the delivery of quality work products that is efficient, secure, adherent to standards and conventions, sustainable/maintainable, and appropriately documented. · Keeping the solutions current with platform and tool versions to increase security and manage technical debt. · Managing the persistence of data with efficient and sustainable strategies and techniques, to assure availability, security, capacity and recoverability.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in IT/IS/Computer Science or related field. (Required to upload transcript or Degree at the time of application)
• At least five (5) years’ experience in the systems development field.

Nice To Haves

• Two plus years’ experience supervising and managing application and database developers.
• At least one year of experience in DevOps and related tools/software for source control and automated deployments, preferably on a Microsoft platform
• At least one year of experience in Project Management
• Knowledge of Security Architecture, including cloud-native security, DevSecOps, and multi-cloud environments
• Hands-on experience with modern AI coding tools and LLMs, including GitHub Copilot to automate SDLC phases.
• Ability to implement AI coding tools to increase engineering productivity and code quality.
• Creating policies and operating procedures that enable efficient, quality, secure and defect-free software and solutions

Responsibilities

• Direct the activities of the Systems Development Unit
• Receive, review, evaluate, and determine feasibility of requests and opportunities for information systems and services, working closely with SRPS Chief Business Operations Officer and SRPS Deputy Chief Business Operations Officer.
• Lead and/or collaborate in the identification, design, development, testing, implementation, and on-going support of computer information systems.
• Develop, adapt, implement, and manage new and revised policies, procedures, standards, and conventions.
• Recruit, train, and develop staff. Acquiring supplemental vendor staff to augment activities of SRA staff.
• Meet with upper-level management, vendors, clients, and other Agency and State staff to identify, define, discuss, and resolve computer information systems challenges.
• Create technical solution documents for SRPS applications
• Working closely with SRPS Chief Business Operations Officer and SRPS Deputy Chief Business Operations Officer, determining staffing requirements, developing work plans and targets, monitoring progress, approve deliverables, approve plan changes, assure technical standards and accuracy, assure completeness, assure adherence to Agency and State policies, practices, and standards.
• Conduct Information Systems and Business Systems Planning Processes
• Develop annual plans that are fully coordinated with the SRPS Business Plan, contribute to SRPS IT Master Plan, and incorporate MD State goals and plans.
• Prepare status reports, communicate status to the SRPS Chief Business Operations Officer and SRPS Deputy Chief Business Operations Officer
• Prepare requisitions and RFP's for software, services, and products as required. Manage the procurement process in concert with MSRA and State acquisition policies, practices, and methodologies.
• Document and communicate the MSRA Enterprise Information Systems Architecture
• Develop and implement standards, procedures, training, and disciplines to assure consistent application development processes across all applications including data definitions, data security, data recovery/backup, data privacy, disaster recovery, etc.
• Business and Technology Awareness and Expertise
• Maintain personal business and technology skills.
• Attend seminars, training classes or other events that enhance current ability to build and manage Systems Development Unit

Benefits

• health insurance, dental, and vision plans offered at a low cost.
• Personal Leave - new State employees are awarded six (6) personnel days annually (prorated based on start date).
• Annual Leave - ten (10) days of accumulated annual leave per year.
• Sick Leave - fifteen (15) days of accumulated sick leave per year.
• Parental Leave - up to sixty (60) days of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child.
• Holidays - State employees also celebrate at least thirteen (13) holidays per year.
• Pension - State employees earn credit towards a retirement pension.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees