In a Twitter post Friday, a writer at Ca.gov (covid19.ca.gov in progress) said the state is seeking applicants for two “project roles with California” — an agile delivery manager and a digital performance analyst. The job posting, by Kimberly Glenn, makes clear the state seeks “mid-to-senior level people in several digital services disciplines” who are passionate about user experience and “want to create measurable and accelerated service improvements for all Californians."
“This is especially important as we work to keep our state healthy and secure as we battle COVID-19,” Glenn wrote. Among the takeaways:
• The new hires will be part of some of the state’s more significant tech and innovation work now underway. Their positions are advertised on alpha.ca.gov, the December-March sprint by technologists to reimagine the state’s mainpage ca.gov; and they’ll join “our team as part of the (California Government Operations Agency) GovOps California digital innovation team,” JP Petrucione, deputy director for communications for the Office of Digital Innovation (ODI), told Techwire via email.
“ … With the start of the COVID-19 emergency, the Alpha team transitioned to build the state's response website covid19.ca.gov,” he said. The website project is being funded by ODI with staffing support from the California Department of Technology and the California Health and Human Services Agency’s Office of Innovation.
• Both roles are temporary, and new hires will be onboarded as special consultants or contractors, Petrucione said. The agile delivery manager position is for up to a year, according to the posting, and requires someone with experience to “support ongoing development” of covid19.ca.gov, which went live in March. The successful candidate must also be experienced in coaching teams and other staffers in agile and lean techniques and helping people “adapt from traditional waterfall approaches to agile, iterative and user-centered ways of working.” Responsibilities include product delivery, building a motivated team and establishing “an environment for successful delivery.”
Per the job description: “This is not a typical Project Manager role -- we’re looking for a good facilitator who can help the team become more self-organizing and continuously improve.” The role will also include ensuring that the team has an iterative plan and that team members collaborate and focus on priorities. The person chosen must be able to “give the team a rhythm and momentum, remove blockers that impede delivery and manage risk.”
• The digital performance analyst position is for a duration of several months and requires a data analyst with experience using Google Analytics and search. The person selected will be charged with identifying “user trends and insights that can be applied to website content related to the state’s response to COVID-19.” He or she should also have “expert-level” data analysis skills using Excel and Google Sheets; “basic proficiency” in scripting/query languages for analysis, like SQL, Python and Ruby; and be a strong communicator capable of clearly delivering information and ideas.
The successful candidate “will develop and generate regular performance reports to help explain website performance, including analysis of user traffic, user demographics, and traffic sources” and will establish “a comprehensive, data-driven view of user behavior across the various parts of web-based workflow.” Find more information here on the state team building the COVID-19 response and their work on alpha.ca.gov.
