Innovation Assistant Director
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Boston
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Category
- Not specified
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 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.
Full description
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.