State departments are recruiting for key positions in IT, including a vendor performance analyst and a firearms technical lead.

The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is seeking a vendor performance analyst (IT Specialist II) to “lead and support enterprise architecture activities that guide the development and management of a portfolio of solutions.”

The analyst “is responsible for overseeing and managing the performance of vendors to ensure they meet or exceed contractual obligations and service level agreements,” the job posting says. “This role involves developing performance metrics, conducting regular evaluations, and fostering strong relationships with vendors to drive continuous improvement and operational excellence. This position requires extensive knowledge of IT vendor management practices to ensure that vendors are performing as expected, and aligned with DHCS’ IT strategy.”

Desirable qualifications, according to the posting and duty statement, include the following:

• The ability to analyze data, identify trends, and derive actionable insights is essential.
• Experience with project management and contract management can help in overseeing vendor performance improvement initiatives and ensuring the projects stay on track.
• Understanding best practices in vendor management, including performance metrics, contract management, and risk assessment.
• The ability to address and resolve performance issues or discrepancies with vendors is vital in maintaining effective vendor relationships.
• Effective communication, business acumen, decision-making, problem-solving skills, and excellent customer service organizational skills with attention to details are essential.

The monthly salary range is $8,374 to $11,220, and the application deadline is Dec. 9.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a firearms technical lead (IT Specialist II) to “design, implement and maintain statewide information systems that directly support law enforcement efforts.”

The incumbent will serve as the technical lead and subject matter expert for DOJ’s Firearms Systems, which comprises databases containing sensitive and confidential data, and a complex suite of applications, gateways and multisystem interfaces. “The ITS II is responsible for leading the design, development and maintenance of multiple highly scalable, fault tolerant, business critical, internal and external facing applications,” the job posting says.

Responsibilities of the role include serving as project lead over one or more applications and reviewing existing applications to detect deficiencies and opportunities for improvement; providing solution and design recommendations that align with the Application Development Bureau’s standards and best practices; developing the road maps and the plans required to implement these recommendations; and leading and mentoring the team of analysts and developers throughout the project life cycle.

Desirable qualifications include:

• Highly proficient in Java/J2EE and related components, frameworks, and technologies such as Java Server Pages, Servlets, Java Message Service, Java Persistence API (JPA), OpenJPA, Spring Core, Spring MVC, Spring Boot.
• Working knowledge on web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular or similar JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue and JQuery, Markup Languages such as XML and JSON.
• Experience with requirements gathering and analysis. This includes working with business analysts and subject matter experts to understand business processes and requirements to translate them into technical specifications.
• Proven ability to conduct code reviews and evaluate deliverables for quality, adherence to standards, and alignment with requirements.
• Strong working knowledge of version control systems (e.g., GIT, SVN) to include code branching and merging methodologies.

More details are available in the duty statement. The monthly salary range is $8,374 to $11,220, and the application deadline is Dec. 16.