IT Specialist (Change Authorization & Delivery Lead)

We are seeking a senior technical leader to spearhead the transformation of our software release and change management practices. In this role, you will transition our traditional, manual change review boards into a modern, automated, and evidence-based governance model.

By embedding security and compliance directly into our automated software pipelines, you will play a central role in ensuring that the technology powering the region is deployed faster, safer, and with unprecedented stability.

As an IT Specialist (Change Authorization & Delivery Lead), you will: Serve as the final authority on system-wide software updates, steering the approval process away from tedious, manual checklist meetings. You will empower teams to focus instead on automated, high-speed validation of code readiness, ensuring every update is justified and safe.

Embed automated security checks, vulnerability scans, and regulatory compliance protocols directly into the software development pipeline. You will shift quality assurance from a final-stage bottleneck into a continuous, automated process that runs seamlessly in the background.

Champion and design low-risk, pre-approved deployment pathways for mature applications. By creating highly automated and reliable pipelines, you will enable teams to rapidly roll out new features and security patches without compromising system stability.

Establish and track modern development metrics-such as deployment frequency, change success rates, and recovery times. You will analyze these data trends to uncover bottlenecks, reduce risks, and make strategic, evidence-based recommendations to executive leadership.

Collaborate with engineering teams to integrate modern project tracking systems (like ServiceNow) directly with automated cloud deployment pipelines (like Azure DevOps). Your goal is to eliminate manual paperwork by automatically generating and filing compliance records as code moves to production.

Design and maintain clear, accessible visual dashboards. These will provide developers, engineers, and executive leaders with instant, real-time insights into upcoming software changes, pipeline health, and overall system performance. Act as the central coordinator and communication hub during major scheduled system updates.

You will align software development and infrastructure teams, ensuring everyone is prepared with robust contingency and rollback plans for a smooth launch. Take the lead during critical outages or software emergencies.

You will coordinate technical teams to deploy emergency patches rapidly, ensuring the system returns to normal operations quickly while still maintaining essential safety controls.

BASIC REQUIREMENT: Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate. For all positions individuals must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below.

The employing agency is responsible for identifying the specific level of proficiency required for each competency at each grade level based on the requirements of the position being filled. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.

Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

To meet this requirement, you must demonstrate proficiency in each of the four competencies listed above as follows: GS-13: Advanced - You can perform the actions associated with each of these competencies without assistance.

You are recognized within your immediate organization as "a person to ask" when difficult questions arise regarding each of these competencies.

Focus is on broad organizational/professional issues; You have consistently provided practical/relevant ideas and perspectives on process or practice improvements which may easily be implemented; You are capable of coaching others in the application of each of these competencies by translating complex nuances relating to each competency into easy to understand terms; You participate in senior level discussions regarding these competencies; You assist in the development of reference and resource materials in these competencies.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12) in the Federal service.

Specialized experience for this position is defined as experience 1) analyzing and coordinating IT change requests within a formal change management framework, such as a Change Advisory Board (CAB), such as assessing release readiness, evaluating potential risks to system stability and security, and ensuring compliance with established governance procedures; 2) improving IT service management (ITSM) or software delivery lifecycle (SDLC) processes by developing or implementing automation for release and change workflows; and 3) analyzing process data and performance metrics to identify bottlenecks and recommend specific improvements.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations.

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills; and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.