The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

Information Technology Services (ITS) is DSS’s technology services organization. Its mission is to support the daily, emergent, and long-term needs of both agencies. ITS creates and enhances the technology infrastructure and computer applications that support HRA and DHS and develops applications, including a variety of client eligibility and recertification systems, case management systems, housing systems, employment/work engagement services, revenue producing computer matches, claiming systems, and personnel systems.

Under general direction from the Division Director, with high degree of latitude for independent action, judgement and decision making, the IT Budget & Contract Specialist is responsible for the assessment of financial needs and implementation of complex technology initiatives focusing on IT project management and reporting as well as vendor management. This position performs complex information technology project work with expertise around the entire IT project lifecycle utilizing various IT Project/Application development methodologies such as Agile, Waterfall, Iterative etc. that delivers usable systems and technology solutions for business needs.


Information Technology Services is recruiting for one (1) IT Project Specialist, to function as an IT Budget and Contract Specialist, who will:

- Manage day to day procurement activities. Process requisitions to ensure goods and services are obtained in a timely fashion with an emphasis on quality, cost and availability. Track contract performance. Manage, maintain and update contract tracking database to track and enforce reporting requirements, in collaboration with program. Develop proposal budgets and cost proposals. Provide subject matter expertise in procurement and contracting and ensure compliance to the NYC procurement processes, procedures, and policies. Support and assist with establishment of protocols, templates.

- Work collaboratively with end users to develop Scope of Work (SOW) documents, requests quotation/proposal, coordinate with bidders, analyze responses, conduct market survey, and coordinate pricing evaluations, develop recommendations for award. Support Requests for Proposals (RFP) including coordinating meetings, commenting on scope of work, etc.

- Negotiate, manage and maintain complex contracts for IT hardware/Software and services; demonstrate strong contract knowledge and negotiating skills, excellent problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills, and strong understanding of general legal issues. Monitor and manage contract status and provide advice to business/program on contract renewals.

- Prepare procurement packages and update procurement report weekly. Perform QA/QC on memorandums and proposals. Develop efficient processes and procedures to reduce cycle time. Communicating with various stakeholders in Operations, Procurement, and Legal.

- Review and coordinate around reports on project tasks such as tracking of IT Project spending for a portfolio of projects pertaining to areas of software application development, web development, mobile applications, data integrity and database management, infrastructure solutions etc., track total cost of ownership, undertake project schedule and budget maintenance, creating status reports and resource/equipment need and disseminating process to management, stakeholders and relevant teams to ensure strategic alignment with the organizational needs.

- Drive improvement initiatives related to services and contracts required for application development, maintenance and operations, server management, software subscriptions, telecommunications, cloud infrastructure etc., by utilizing techniques and tolls as creation of interaction models, product, and market research, reporting variance analysis, cost benefit analysis, use cases, business scenarios, workflow diagrams, etc.

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college in computer science, engineering, human computer interaction, interactive media, digital and graphics design, data visualization, communication or a related field, and four years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or

2. An associate degree from an accredited college in computer science, engineering, human computer interaction, interactive media, digital and graphics design, data visualization, communication or a related field, and six years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or

3. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, and eight years of satisfactory full-time experience related to the area(s) required by the particular position and a specialization in a relevant technology, process, methodology and/or domain; or

4. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1", "2", or "3" above.

- Experience in highly complex environments integrating with enterprise-wide services, working with Analytical software such as MS Office/SQL and PPM tools such as JIRA’ performing implementation and delivery of various application development projects by carrying out integrations between parallel applications and system components throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and overseeing the deliverable requirements gathered from various stakeholders. - Advanced understanding of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) with displayed experience overseeing the deployment of software applications and identifying integration points with infrastructure solutions IT project funding need assessment methods and eligibility criteria to create funding request proposals that are crucial to effectively ascertain the funding needs for various IT Project initiatives. - Displayed experience in creating of human centered interface design, user research, wireframes creation and software prototyping. - Excellent leadership skills including the ability to develop and communicate a vision that inspires and motivates staff as well as aligns with the overall IT and business strategies. - Ability to build partnerships with the business, application development teams and demonstrate the business value of IT Infrastructure teams. - Strong business acumen, including industry and domain-specific knowledge of the enterprise and its business units with the ability to explain technical concepts and technologies to business leaders and business concepts to the IT workforce and to effectively negotiate contracts. - Understanding of current and emerging application development and infrastructure solution technologies and practices and how other organizations are employing them and the ability to identify and act on opportunities for continuous improvement ITS contract/Budgeting applications such as Financial Management System (FMS), Procurement and Sourcing Solutions Portal (PASSPort), electronic Procurement and Contracts Tracking System (ePACTS), and Human Resources Management System (HRMS).

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/

New York City Residency is not required for this position

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.