Digital Service Expert (Product Management) Remote...

Digital Service Expert is a technical leader with a proven track record in their skill-set of delivering IT products and services. While all positions will contribute to the entire mission of OIT and CDS, some positions will focus on specific aspects of the mission such as software engineering, product management, etc.

This is a new position on the Colorado Digital Service. This product role supports the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) and ensures the delivery of a comprehensive, community-informed, data-driven, high-quality, and equitable early childhood system that supports the care, education, and well-being of all Colorado’s young children, their families, and early childhood professionals in all settings. CDEC provides access to collaborative, coordinated, quality early childhood programs and support to children, families, and early care professionals in an effort to best prepare Coloradans for future success.

The Digital Service Expert serves as the Senior Product Manager for Counties and is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and delivery of technology products that Colorado county workers use every day. This role bridges technical teams, county partners, program staff, and other agency product teams to ensure county-facing systems are user-centered and reliable.

The role is being established to expand CDEC’s capacity in county-facing product management and lead the development of tools and services that equip frontline county staff - such as caseworkers and program administrators - to serve Colorado’s most vulnerable children and families.

Working in close partnership with county and program staff, this role owns the vision, roadmap, and delivery for county-facing products, translating the real-world needs of frontline staff into technical requirements and aligning product solutions with county workflows, program goals, and compliance requirements.

Some Responsibilities include:

• Own the vision, strategy, and roadmap for county-facing products that equip frontline county staff with the tools they need to efficiently and effectively serve Colorado’s most vulnerable children and families.

• Prioritize features and enhancements across multiple county-facing tools, and define success metrics for county product adoption and frontline staff efficiency.

• Facilitate collaboration across county partners, frontline staff, technical teams, program staff, and leadership to ensure products meet real-world needs and comply with regulatory requirements.

• Synthesize diverse feedback from counties into actionable product requirements, and lead cross-functional meetings to align on priorities and timelines.

• Oversee execution of county-facing product initiatives from discovery through delivery, working closely with developers, county partners, and vendors to build scalable, maintainable solutions.

• Write and prioritize user stories, tickets, and documentation, and make tradeoffs between scope, resources, and time.

• Support successful launches, adoption, and ongoing quality by collaborating with county partners and internal teams on training, documentation, and continuous improvement.

• Establish product standards and benchmarks for performance, security, and usability, and make trade-off decisions between short-term needs and long-term strategic goals.

• Identify opportunities to scale and evolve county-facing systems into best-in-class, user-centered platforms that reduce administrative burden on frontline staff.

Success in this role requires someone who can navigate complex stakeholder environments across Colorado’s 64 counties, translate between technical and non-technical audiences, and keep product strategy adaptable given wide variation in county size, capacity, and technical readiness, as well as a changing policy and funding environment. You must be highly adaptable and comfortable integrating modern approaches to user experience and interoperability while remaining compliant with state and federal government standards and regulations.

This position offers a unique opportunity to fundamentally improve how Colorado’s counties serve young children and families - ensuring the systems frontline workers rely on are reliable, accessible, and built around their real needs. Your work will directly impact how counties across the state support Colorado’s most vulnerable children and families., OIT employees must comply with any screening procedures in place at state agency locations where they might perform work.

A pre-employment background check will be conducted as part of the selection process. Post-employment background checks will be required for specific agencies as business needs dictate, which may include a polygraph exam, fingerprint-based criminal history search, reference checks, and a drug test.

This position may require travel within the specified geographic area, and to locations across the state as needed.

This position may require on-call duties as needed by the position.

A wide salary range is posted for this position and any job offer is based upon a salary analysis to comply with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. The salary analysis considers relevant experience, education, certifications, and state seniority as compared to others doing substantially similar work. While most salary offers are made within the posted range, occasionally an offer is made below or above the posted range based upon this salary analysis. This is a skills-based job announcement. The required minimum qualifications and/or education (if substituting for the proven experience, knowledge, and skills) are as follows, + The minimum of five (5) years of experience delivering product management, user experience research & design, software development, or related concepts in complex environments.

• Documented proficiency in working collaboratively with teams across the software development life cycle.

Substitutions:

• Additional appropriate education will substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis, but cannot completely substitute for these qualifications.

• Training or Certification related to the work assigned to the position will be assigned credit towards substitution for experience and/or education, but cannot completely substitute for these qualifications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5+ years of product management experience owning complex digital products from discovery through delivery and iteration. Experience working in government, human services, or county-facing environments.

• Cross-functional leadership: Demonstrated ability to independently and collaboratively lead cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, data, operations, and business stakeholders.

• Strategic and analytical skills: Experience defining product strategy, prioritizing roadmaps, using qualitative and quantitative data to make decisions, and measuring outcomes against clear success metrics.

• Experience translating the needs of frontline, non-technical users into technical requirements, and aligning product solutions with operational workflows and compliance requirements.

TERM LIMITED POSITION: This position is term-limited with an anticipated end date ofApril 30, 2027. This position is eligible for State employee benefits and may be extended as the situation warrants. Thisvideo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEbEdIC6qBE) explains the many benefits of working at the State of Colorado on a term-limited basis.

Together, we innovate for a stronger Colorado

The work of employees at the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) is challenging and diverse because the needs of agencies, customers and Coloradans constantly evolve. But our focus never changes: improve the lives of all Coloradans through innovation and collaboration. We’re building one of the nation’s leading government IT organizations by reimagining how we support agencies, building first-of-their-kind applications, and creating an inclusive, collaborative culture, together. Join us in the important work of providing equitable access to services.

Watch this video (https://youtu.be/nQRkos_W-sk) to learn more about how we’re Serving People. Serving Colorado., The State of Colorado strives to create a Colorado for All by building and maintaining workplaces that value and respect all Coloradans through a commitment to equal opportunity and hiring based on merit and fitness. The State is resolute in non-discriminatory practices in everything we do, including hiring, employment, and advancement opportunities.