Innovation Assistant Director

SALARY RANGE (Grade 15A) CSA216: $94,042.82/yr. -- $141,042.23/yr.  (Commensurate with experience)

GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES:

The Innovation Assistant Director leads OSA’s IT Innovation group, which designs, builds, procures, and supports AI-enabled applications that accelerate audit production, strengthen oversight, and streamline operations. The primary focus is the Audit division; the group also delivers AI-enabled programs for Human Resources, Administration & Finance, Occupational Schools, the Division of Local Mandates, and the Bureau of Special Investigations.

This is a player-coach role. The Assistant Director manages staff, contractors, priorities, and technology decisions, and also contributes hands-on to design reviews, prototypes, and code. The group builds applications on existing foundation models accessed through approved platforms such as Azure AI Foundry; it does not train or develop large language models. IT Innovation supports the AI layer of the applications it delivers (models, prompts, retrieval, agents, and evaluations), while Enterprise IT supports hosting, infrastructure, and general application maintenance.

SUPERVISION:

Works under the direct supervision of the Chief Information & Technology Officer.

Supervises the IT Innovation group, including the Senior AI Engineer, AI Application Developer, data engineering staff, the Agency Data Research & Integration Analyst, and assigned contractors.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Leadership and People Management
  • Hire, supervise, coach, and evaluate IT Innovation staff, and manage contractor and vendor engagements.
  • Set work priorities for the group in line with the IT Governance Council, balancing delivery of new applications with ongoing support of the AI layer.
  • Build a team practice of documentation, code review, and knowledge sharing that reduces dependency on any single person or vendor.
  • Develop staff skills through training plans, pairing, and stretch assignments.
• Technology Strategy and Decisions
  • Decide technology, platform, and build-versus-buy choices for AI-enabled applications, informed by technical assessments from the Senior AI Engineer.
  • Review and approve solution architectures led by the Senior AI Engineer, and serve as design reviewer and technical backup; coordinate with the Development Solutions Architect on enterprise integration and with Cloud Engineering on the platform.
  • Rationalize the technology portfolio in key areas and plan replacement or consolidation of systems.
  • Investigate emerging technologies and sponsor sandbox experiments that can streamline and automate manual processes.
  • Manage the group’s budget, cloud and software consumption costs, and procurement.
• Hands-On Technical Contribution
  • Contribute directly to prototypes, proofs of concept, and production code in Python and JavaScript/TypeScript as capacity allows.
  • Take part in design and code reviews, and step in on critical technical work when the team needs added capacity.
  • Stay current with Azure AI services, agent frameworks, and AI-assisted development practices so technology decisions are grounded in hands-on experience.
• Program and Project Delivery
  • Run AI-request intake for OSA’s non-Audit units (Human Resources, Administration & Finance, Occupational Schools, DLM, and BSI), and sequence Audit work with the Manager, System and Process Improvements, who maintains the audit process-improvement backlog.
  • Plan and manage the group’s project portfolio, including scope, schedules, risks, dependencies, and status reporting.
  • Oversee transition of delivered applications to Enterprise IT for long-term hosting and maintenance, with IT Innovation retaining support of the AI layer.
  • Track delivery metrics such as schedule, adoption, cost, and quality, and provide them alongside the audit workflow KPIs maintained by the Manager, System and Process Improvements.
  • Manage external development organizations and contractors delivering AI and advanced technology applications.
• Governance, Quality and Policy
  • Help align OSA AI policies with Commonwealth protocols for the development, use, and monitoring of AI systems, working with Policy and Governance.
  • Own the software quality assurance process for AI-enabled applications, using test tooling and evaluation metrics built by the Senior AI Engineer.
  • Ensure IT Innovation work supports the GAGAS-compatible protocols for AI use developed by the Manager, System and Process Improvements with Quality Assurance, and meets OSA security, privacy, and records requirements.
• Communication and Collaboration
  • Build relationships with leaders and stakeholders across OSA to manage projects and expand use cases.
  • Communicate project status, decisions, and trade-offs to IT leadership, Audit leadership, and business partners.
  • Collaborate with the Data Analytics Unit, Development, Cloud Engineering, Policy and Governance, and peer Commonwealth organizations on cross-functional projects.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

The successful candidate will possess and/or demonstrate:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of experience in software development or technology, including at least 3 years supervising or leading technical teams.
• Current hands-on programming ability in Python and JavaScript/TypeScript, using GitHub, CI/CD, and AI-assisted development tools.
• Hands-on experience building or delivering applications that use large language models (e.g., RAG, agents, or tool-calling features).
• Experience with Azure cloud services, SaaS integration, and API design for cloud and on-premises databases.
• Working knowledge of solution architecture and information security frameworks sufficient to review and approve designs.
• Project and portfolio management experience implementing new technologies.
• Experience managing budgets, vendors, or contractors.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate persuasively and build support across technical and non-technical groups.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Demonstrated experience and expertise in the following areas will also be important considerations:

• Government or regulated-industry experience, including Microsoft GCC.
• Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, Microsoft Agent Framework, and RAG evaluation practices.
• Data engineering and analytics concepts; Microsoft SQL or PostgreSQL.
• Experience leading AI governance, responsible AI, or AI policy work.
• Familiarity with audit or oversight work, including GAGAS.
• Microsoft Azure, project management, or Agile certifications.
• Experience partnering with business units on process automation and change management.

Salary is commensurate with experience.

The Office of the State Auditor is committed to providing equal employment opportunities.  Employment actions such as recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting individuals are based upon a policy of non-discrimination.  Employment decisions and actions are made without regard to race, color, gender, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, military status, genetic information, political affiliation, or veteran’s status.