Chief Information Officer

  • Full-time

Company Description

With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and opportunities in more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the United States and one of the largest employers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. As an employer, the City of Philadelphia operates through the guiding principles of service, integrity, respect, accountability, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. Through these principles, we strive to effectively deliver services, to resolve the challenges facing our city, and to make Philadelphia a place where all of our residents have the opportunity to reach their potential. 

Agency Description

The Office of Innovation & Technology (OIT) oversees all major information and communication technology initiatives for City government and works to increase innovation throughout the City’s technology infrastructure and services.  The CIO leads the effort to control non-discretionary costs, allowing discretionary money to be spent on improvements for the residents of the city.  The department has increasingly developed a more public-facing role as well and seeks to create a meaningful technology experience for Philadelphia’s residents by focusing on digital access, literacy, and user experience.  

Job Description

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) guides all major information and communications technology initiatives for the City of Philadelphia and seeks to make the City’s technology infrastructure and services responsive to the needs of its businesses, residents and visitors. Through an active and practical approach, the CIO plans, organizes, and directs all programs, functions and activities of the City’s technology systems in a dynamic operating environment.

The CIO sets the strategic direction for the Office of Innovation & Technology, remains responsive to the evolving nature of technology, and manages a diverse administrative and operational team responsible for personnel management and recruiting, procurement, budget, project management, innovation, and infrastructure support. The CIO plays a key role on the City’s leadership team and works to support the Mayor’s strategic goals and improve organizational performance through technology. The Chief Information Officer reports to the Chief Administrative Officer.

While the City of Philadelphia is working to modernize its IT infrastructure, in several departments the IT infrastructure is old and outdated.  The CIO of the city needs to be able to maintain an older infrastructure while implementing realistic strategies to upgrade.   The CIO will be able to provide leadership thinking and frameworks for tackling the natural conflict of maintaining the old versus investing in new and innovative technologies.

Availability is everything.  Regardless of age and design, the technology systems that support city workers and residents need to be highly available.  Sporadic outages and unavailable systems simply are not acceptable.

The CIO will inculcate a culture of business and OIT collaboration.  Every project needs to solve important business goals.  Dollars are precious and every project needs to meet or exceed business outcomes. 

Strategic Leadership

  • Shape, guide and enact a technology strategy for City government that serves departments and employees while also providing meaningful technology services to other institutions and residents
  • Create a vision for a highly available infrastructure that also takes advantage of more economical technology trends-cloud, open source, etc.
  • Implement a governance strategy that allows the administration leadership to participate in technology direction and resolve major project obstacles. 
  • Build a great diverse team of leaders and workers that meet the city’s needs for the next decade.  Create a hiring and professional development program that ensures the OIT team meet the administrations technology needs.
  • Align technology strategy with the goals of the Mayoral administration and ensure that the City’s technology provision evolves to meet those goals
  • Develop new ideas and identify directions in technology to ensure the successful upgrade and/or replacement of City applications and infrastructure
  • Maintain a strategy and portfolio of initiatives that successfully balance operational support for City business processes with innovation in the technology space
  • Create and maintain new and existing relationships with peer city CIOs as a method for co-creating strategy and sharing best practices
  • Establish relationships with other Philadelphia institutions to develop new models for shared services, digital access and literacy, application development, and other opportunities lent support by cross-institutional partnerships 
  • Understand and recommend trends in government technology to position the organization toward the future

Operational and Technical Leadership

  • Implements a metrics framework to hold the OIT organization accountable to the administration and of the constituents of the city.  Track project effectiveness, availability, ROI, user satisfaction and the reduction of non-discretionary expenses.
  • Provide technical expertise to evaluate changing technologies that improve services, contain costs, and meet long-term City business needs
  • Establish and codify the development of technology standards to ensure a common platform for enterprise-level technology initiatives
  • Consult and advise other division and department heads on information technology management needs, challenges, and opportunities
  • Manage the relationship with the City’s cable TV franchisees to support expansions and renewals while responding to industry and regulatory changes
  • Act as the City's spokesperson and advocate on technology issues by promoting and sharing strategy and best practices with the technology ecosystem both in Philadelphia and other cities
  • Provide sound, independent judgment during technology policy development
  • Research, recommend and implement technology hardware and software
  • Demonstrate continuous effort to improve operations, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively to provide a quality customer experience
  • Collaborate and build consensus among a wide variety of stakeholders with different business needs to achieve City technology goals and objectives
  • Measure service efficacy through a series of metrics that are relevant for stakeholders
  • Navigate all levels of City management, consultants, vendors and the public to establish and maintain effective working relationships around technology

Department Leadership

  • Ensure fair and standardized treatment of employees by acting in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and union agreements
  • Provide support and guidance to department employees to ensure that their efforts align with the expectations of the Mayoral administration
  • Make sound recommendations on complex management and administrative issues
  • Advocate for and exercise control of resources in departmental budget
  • Improve the capacity of the organization through professional development of existing employees, establishment of career paths for organizational promotion and advancement, and implementation of creative recruiting strategies for potential employees.
  • Other responsibilities as assigned

Qualifications

Required

  • Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
  • Experience managing large and complex technology operations

Preferred

  • Advanced degree in Information Systems Management, Computer Science, Public Administration, Business Administration or a related field
  • A minimum of ten years of experience in information technology with six years of supervisory experience managing a large, multi-functional team or department
  • Experience working in highly regulated, bureaucratic systems, and/or the public sector
Competencies
  • Results oriented -- Can be counted on to meet and exceed goals; outcome focused; steadfastly pushes self and others for results
  • Innovative thinker -- Is good at bringing the creative ideas of others forward and advancing them; has good judgment about which ideas and suggestions work well; can facilitate effective brainstorming and prioritization sessions
  • Strategic agility -- Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate consequences and trends accurately; offers broad and diverse knowledge and perspective
  • Thoughtful communicator -- Prepares clear, logical, and persuasive proposals in public settings; communicates clearly and concisely in both oral and written formats 
  • Organizational savvy – Knowledgeable about how the organization works; knows how to get things done both formally and through an informal network; able to work with key partners across multiple departments and quasi-governmental organizations to accomplish goals
  • Organizational ability -- Can assemble resources to get things done; can manage numerous initiatives concurrently; uses resources effectively and efficiently
  • Motivating others -- Creates a climate in which people want to succeed; can assess individual motivations and use them to get the best out of employees; empowers others by inviting input and sharing ownership and visibility
  • Building effective teams -- Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit across teams; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; creates a feeling of organizational belonging
  • Political savvy -- Can maneuver through complex political situations effectively and quietly; is sensitive to how people and organizations function; views politics as a necessary part of organizational life and adapts well to that reality
  • Values and encourages diversity -- Relates well to all kinds of people; conducts business inside and outside of the organization with an understanding and respect for differences in thought and approach; uses diplomacy and tact; builds constructive and effective relationships

Additional Information

Philadelphia residency is not required at the time of application. Once hired, employees have six months to move into and maintain residency in the City of Philadelphia as a condition of employment.

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age,disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to pchr@ phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website at: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations