IT Project Manager (Senior Technologist)

JOB TITLE: IT Project Manager (Senior Technologist)

AGENCY: City of Palo Alto

LOCATION: Palo Alto, CA

FILING DEADLINE:  January 6, 2025

SALARY RANGE:  $131,934 - $197,891 annually

The Position

Reporting directly to the Director of Information Technology/CIO, this IT Project Manager (Senior Technologist), who is one of several senior technologists with differing missions in the IT Department, replaces a retiring long-time City employee. The incumbent will be responsible for performing business process analysis, needs assessment, and design of IT solutions. Responsibilities include coordinating/facilitating activities between IT and other internal departments or vendors to ensure the integration of citywide technology systems, as well as serving as a resource to internal departments in the planning, development, and control of data systems and workplace automation. This Senior Technologist may supervise lower-level IT staff, as yet to be determined.

This role will also involve extensive collaboration with other Senior Technologists in the IT department and professionals in other City departments, to include reporting to and interacting with various project champions at all levels throughout City government, as well as the City Council, IT PMO, and CIO. Contracting with vendors, scheduling, budgeting, and other typical project and program management duties will come into play. The incumbent will also be involved in governance meetings.

The Senior Technologist will have the opportunity to work on exciting projects that benefit all Palo Alto residents, including the City fiber optic project and others. Below is a partial list of pending and upcoming projects:

• Continue to enhance the City’s Cybersecurity posture.
• Start the Council Chambers Audio Visual (A/V) upgrade project.
• Continue supporting the technology efforts for the new Public Safety Building.
• Continue partnering with the Utilities Department on the Fiber Expansion, including Fiber-to-the-Premises.
• Upgrade the City’s VoIP telephone system.
• Data Center Redesign and Upgrade.

Distinguishing Characteristics

This classification is at the expert professional level. Incumbents reconfigure City applications to follow designated business processes. This individual will conduct professional level project and program management and design; prepare reports and presentations for review; manage City enterprise infrastructure, systems/networks, and applications; and assess City needs for business process and technology solutions. The incumbent must have the ability to create RFPs, CMRs, written and oral reports, and to present to executive staff and City Council. They will create reports and presentations for public meetings and liaise with other departments, external agencies, vendors, and the public. They will create task assignments for staff and may supervise personnel, and assess operational goals and objectives related to one or more departmental functions.

For a complete list of Knowledge, Skills and Abilities as well as Essential Duties, click here.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have extremely strong written and verbal communication skills given they will be interacting with and reporting to professionals at all levels both inside and outside the Department, including the City Council. A PMP certification would be ideal. Strong scheduling, PowerPoint, Monday.com, and other project management skills are required. The incumbent will be able to speak to and understand the entire project management lifecycle. This Senior Technologist will also interact with the IT operations manager and senior management analyst. The incumbent will be highly motivated and able to hit the ground running from day one with minimal supervision. Further, the ability to deal with all types of personalities is important. The incumbent will be able to work successfully with strong personalities as well as be approachable to everyone.

Qualifications

Sufficient education, training, and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or a related field and five years of progressively responsible, professional Information Technology experience; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform a particular subset of the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.

The Community

Palo Alto, known as the “Birthplace of Silicon Valley,” is home to 69,700 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Unique among city organizations, the City of Palo Alto operates a full array of services, including its own gas, electric, water, sewer, refuse, and storm drainage provided at very competitive rates for its customers. The City of Palo Alto offers robust community amenities, including 36 parks, 39 playgrounds, five community and youth centers, 41 miles of walking/biking trails, and five libraries. The City also manages a regional airport and provides fire, police, and emergency services. Palo Alto is an award-winning City, recognized nationally as innovative and well-managed, and is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. City services and performance also receive high marks from community members in the annual citizen survey conducted by Polco (previously the National Research Center).

For more details about this opportunity, please visit the job brochure at: https://koffassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Palo-Alto-Senior-Technologist-Final-Brochure-v6.pdf.

To be considered, please submit a resume, cover letter and five work-related references (who will not be contacted in the early stages of the recruitment) to: https://koffassociates.com/it-project-manager-senior-technologist/. Resumes should reflect years and months of positions held as well as size of past organization(s).

For additional information please contact:

Pete Smith

Senior Recruiter

510.342.3233

peter_smith1@ajg.com

www.koffassociates.com

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