LMS IT Systems Administrator

State of Maryland • Baltimore City, MD

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

This contractual position serves as MSDE's in-house technical platform owner and primary administrator for the agency's enterprise Learning Management System (LMS), currently deployed as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) instance. The position is organized under the IT Branch and reports to the Director of IT Operations. This is a new position being established in the IT Branch. It is distinct from an existing LMS administrator role within the Chief Academic Officer's organization, which carries curricular and programmatic responsibilities. This position carries no curricular responsibilities. Its scope is exclusively the technical platform: the infrastructure at the application layer, the identity and access management systems, the integrations, the security and compliance posture, and the vendor relationship. The two roles are complementary and are designed to work alongside one another. MSDE's LMS is the technical infrastructure platform on which the Chief Academic Officer's program offices deliver professional learning, educator development, and compliance-related programs to approximately 133,000 school employees and board members across Maryland's 24 local education agencies (LEAs). This position is responsible for maintaining a well-governed, reliable, secure, and technically excellent platform on which those programs can be delivered. The incumbent works alongside Canvas-knowledgeable non-IT program staff in the Chief Academic Officer's organization as the IT technical primary and platform authority. Core responsibilities include: identity and access management (IAM) for a user population of approximately 133,000 school employees and board members residing across 24 separate LEA-managed identity systems as well as MSDE's own identity infrastructure; integration and API administration; platform administration, configuration, and governance; operational monitoring, reporting infrastructure, and security compliance; day-to-day vendor relationship and contract monitoring; platform readiness and technical onboarding; and Tier 2/3 internal support escalation. This position does not hold server administration or infrastructure ownership responsibilities -- infrastructure and hosting below the LMS application layer are the responsibility of the LMS vendor (SaaS host), DoIT, and MSDE's Infrastructure Branch. The incumbent may work in server-side environments as required by integration and automation duties, in coordination with those parties. This position is a critical enabler of MSDE's obligations under Education Article Sections 7-2201 through 7-2204, Annotated Code of Maryland (Chapter 634, Acts of 2026 -- the Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act), COMAR Title 13A, and other applicable reporting requirements.

Requirements

• Five (5) or more years of direct professional IT administration experience, including three (3) or more years administering an enterprise or multi-tenant SaaS LMS (Canvas strongly preferred), with governance and vendor-management responsibilities
• Experience establishing platform governance (access, roles, provisioning) and building reporting and analytics on usage, compliance, and performance for program and executive stakeholders
• Experience managing vendor relationships and contract/SLA compliance for a SaaS product, including SSO/identity federation in a multi-organization environment
• Strong written and verbal communication supporting both executive-level and working-level stakeholders across multiple organizations
• Demonstrated ability to adapt to shifting priorities and changing organizational needs
• Applicants must consent to State and FBI (CJIS) background check as a routine procedure for all employees.
• Proof of eligibility to work is required in compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
• Any misrepresentation of academic or experience requirements for this position may result in non-selection or termination of employment.

Nice To Haves

• Instructure Certified Canvas Administrator (ICCA) credential or equivalent
• Experience in a K-12 state education agency, higher education institution, or similar large multi-organization environment
• Knowledge of WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards as applied to LMS environments
• Experience with Canvas Data / Canvas Data 2 or integrating LMS data with a BI/reporting platform

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary technical owner of IAM for the LMS supporting approximately 133,000 Maryland public school employees and board members across 24 LEAs. The majority of this user population resides in LEA-managed identity systems -- not in state identity infrastructure -- and each of the 24 LEAs operates its own directory environment (which may include Google Workspace, Microsoft Azure AD/Entra ID, on-premises Active Directory, or other platforms)
• Design, implement, and maintain all technical integrations between the LMS and MSDE enterprise systems including SIS data pipelines, HR identity feeds, educator certification systems, and third-party instructional tools, using LMS REST API, LTI 1.3/Advantage, SIS import/export, and scripted automation (PowerShell, Python)
• Maintain LMS application configuration at the platform level: manage global settings, feature flags, authentication providers, sub-account hierarchy, notification templates, and platform-wide policies. Evaluate LMS feature releases and quarterly updates; assess impact on existing configurations, integrations, and active programs
• Maintain continuous operational monitoring of LMS platform health, availability, API performance, SIS sync status, and integration pipeline integrity; establish alerting thresholds and respond proactively to anomalies before they affect program delivery
• Serve as the primary day-to-day technical liaison to the LMS vendor for all operational and support matters; manage support ticket lifecycle; escalate stalled or critical issues to the Director of IT Operations and vendor account management
• Coordinate with the Chief Academic Officer's program offices and Canvas-knowledgeable program staff to deliver technical platform infrastructure for new or expanding MSDE programs

Benefits

• Contractual employees who work for an agency covered under the State Employee and Retiree Health and Welfare Benefits Program, have a current employment contract and work 30 or more hours a week (or on average 130 hours per month) may be eligible for subsidized health benefits coverage for themselves and their dependents. The State of Maryland will subsidize the remaining 75% of the cost for these benefits.
• Option to enroll in dental coverage, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and life insurance (full premium paid by employee).
• Leave may be granted at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, not to exceed 40 hours per calendar year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed