Description

Position Title: Lead, Platform, Solutions & QA
Effective Date: April 2023
Salary Grade/Range: Grade 16/$79,013 - $86,914
FLSA Status: Exempt - Computer
EEO Job Category: Professional

General Position Summary :
How We Work:
The Administrative Office of the Courts is committed to supporting the mission of the Idaho Courts through the use of an agile approach that aligns strategy, work, and capacity. This approach empowers our employees to respond quickly and efficiently to meet the needs of our customers: citizens, courts, judges, employees, and other stakeholders. We believe in continual improvement of our services and products to better serve and support our customers and the evolving environment. Employees are future-focused, take initiative, and are personally responsible for work delivery and professional growth. Our leaders are committed to professional development and growth of employees by empowering and supporting motivated individuals; providing clarity and focus for projects; giving those individuals the environment and support they need; and fostering a culture of collaboration, transparency, learning, trust and shared accountability.

Example of Duties

Major Duties and Responsibilities: (The examples provided do not cover all the duties which the incumbent in this position may be required to perform.)

IT Testing

• Manages all technology and application testing activities and ensures test results are approved prior to delivery acceptance, to include, but not limited to the following:
  • Core business application testing (case management system, web portal, e-filing system, etc.),
  • End-user application testing (user productivity applications; project management applications; IT service management applications; courtroom audio recording applications; conferencing applications; etc.),
  • Infrastructure application and hardware testing (firewalls, routers, load balancers, servers, storage, personal computers, laptops, etc.),
  • Security application and hardware testing (endpoint protection, managed detections, intrusion prevention, etc.).
• Defines the scope of testing for each release or delivery of new/updated technologies and applications;
• Selects and implements tools and methodologies to ensure tests are comprehensive;
• Designs and executes effective test plans, test cases, user scenarios, test scripts and procedures;
• Ensures testing is completed on time and meets all functional requirements, as defined during the requirement definition process;
• Evaluates test results against expected results and recommends improvements to the technology or application being tested to meet desired results;
• Manages defect management processes to ensure identified defects are prioritized, tested, and remediated;
• Works with applicable IT teams and/or vendors to evaluate defects, determine remediation options, and establish timelines for fixes;
• Works directly with project managers and product owners to ensure visibility and action plans related to identified defects;
• Drives user acceptance testing of new or updated technologies or applications;
• Ensures products, applications and systems meet customer requirements and expectations.

IT Change Management and Production Control

• Ensures any new technologies and/or changes to existing technologies and applications have been coordinated, tested, and approved;
• Works with other IT teams, divisions, and external stakeholders to ensure coordination of IT changes without impacting business operations;
• Monitors incoming change requests to ensure they are properly reviewed, approved and managed through implementation;
• Manages the Change Approval Board (CAB) process, meetings, and actions and provides insight to influence decisions;
• Provides guidance and advice to proposed infrastructure or application changes;
• Analyzes, recommends findings, and implements improvements when changes negatively impact end-users or are not successful, with the goal to prevent future impacts of similar changes;
• Develops, implements, and monitors the production control process to manage the introduction of significant technology or application changes in the production environment;
• Ensures all production changes occur during scheduled maintenance windows or established timeframes;
• Validates that production changes are thoroughly tested and documented with specific instructions prior to deployment.

IT Problem Management

• Conducts trend analysis of historical incidents to identify problems;
• Works with applicable IT service delivery teams to identify underlying causes of recurring incidents and propose remediation actions for problems;
• Participates in critical incident reviews to analyze root cause issues and works to determine how to improve quality assurance processes in testing and/or change management to prevent recurrence of such incidents;

IT Release Management

• Establishes release management and release tracking processes;
• Facilitate cross-team and cross-divisional coordination of release management functions;
• Tracks an enterprise-wide release calendar;
• Informs senior management of enterprise-wide exposure to release risk and mitigation recommendations;
• Creates common release standards and works with leadership to standardize release decision-making.

IT Operations Management

• Plans and directs the daily operations of the IT production control activities;
• Monitors and audits of the effectiveness of critical IT services to ensure day-to-day operational activities are carried out in a timely and reliable way;
• Manages operations management processes to include job monitoring, data exchange monitoring, report execution and monitoring, table maintenance, financial posting errors, and other critical functions;
• Identifies and implements operational audits to ensure the reliability, stability, and performance of critical IT transactions and functions;
• Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Technology Platforms

• Supervises technology platform administration;
• Recommends process and platform improvements for non-court IT platforms;
• Collaborates with stakeholders to ensure continual improvement of platform usability, stability, and functionality;
• Identifies long-term solutions that prevent and reduce reoccurrence of issues and provide a framework for continued growth;
• Troubleshoots complex, higher-level technical issues;
• Partners with the Lead, Quality Assurance and the IT Agile Programs for implementation of technical, platform, and business process solutions;
• Prepares and reviews proposals to IT leadership regarding current and future platform strategy;
• Aligns service delivery strategy, processes and resource-planning with overall department goals;
• Participates in tool/vendor selection process.

General Management

• Supervises a team of application specialists;
• Coordinates and assigns work and reviews work for accuracy;
• Approves timesheets and requests for time off.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience

• 
  Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Information Systems, a related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience required;
• A minimum of 5 years of experience conducting testing of applications or other technologies in a complex commercial enterprise or state agency with multi-tier and distributed architectures;
• Experience managing test plans and processes for large IT application projects with critical timelines required;
• Experience creating test plans, scripts, and scenarios/use cases required;
• Experience with IT test management tools preferred;
• Experience with structured IT Service Management tools and processes preferred;
• Certifications such as ITIL, ITSM or similar certifications are preferred;
• Must have excellent interpersonal and organization skills.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of integrated applications in a multiple platform environment, including common integration methods and tools;
• Knowledge of software application test management principles and processes;
• Knowledge of advanced concepts and basic operating principles related to information systems software and hardware;
• Knowledge of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practices;
• Knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) practices;
• Knowledge of software development lifecycles and associated toolsets and processes preferred;
• Knowledge of current trends in information technology;
• Knowledge of effective management principles and practices;
• Skill in the testing applications and technologies to meet defined requirements;
• Skill in the use of test management tools and processes;
• Skill in organizing complex activities and coordinating with others to accomplish quality assurance goals;
• Skill in coping with potentially stressful situations and making independent decisions;
• Skill in working and communicating with others to provide consultation and problem resolution;
• Ability to evaluate, document and translate business requirements and technology specifications into test plans, test cases, and test scripts;
• Ability to work with diverse groups and individuals while pursuing common goals;
• Ability to analyze problems and make sound decisions in a timely manner;
• Ability to organize and manage time effectively;
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing;
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative professional relationships with co-workers, management, internal, and external customers;
• Ability to lead initiatives to completion, including initiatives that require coordinating the work of others;
• Ability to travel throughout the State of Idaho as required.
• Ability to use innovation and creativity in identifying solutions to issues;
• Ability to coach and train on staff and end-users regarding applications;
• Ability to learn court user business processes, procedures and software application requirements;
• Ability to prepare comprehensive documentation and reports;
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships with staff, co-workers, managers, and external partners
• Experience with general court processes and/or information systems preferred;
• Experience supporting a complex business, agency or enterprise environment with multiple shifting priorities;
• Experience identifying, evaluating and resolving computer and system problems including compatibility conflicts, application operations, and hardware malfunctions;

The Judicial Branch reserves the right to consider an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience in determining whether an applicant is capable of performing the assigned duties and fulfilling the assigned responsibilities of this position.

Supplemental Information

To Apply:
Please see the job announcement on the Idaho Supreme Court Careers page at: governmentjobs.com/careers/issc

The Idaho Judiciary is an equal opportunity employer. Hiring is done without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other applicable legally protected status. In addition, preference may be given to veterans who qualify under state and federal laws and regulations. If you need special accommodation for applying or interviewing, please notify human resources.