Millions of people interact with the City of Boston digitally each year to do everything from finding information on City services to paying a parking ticket. We believe these experiences should be easy to navigate and accessible. DoIT is focused on partnering with City departments to improve service delivery across the City. We’re a cross-functional team with a mission to improve the user experience of existing digital services, better engage and communicate with our residents, and build new systems to improve how the City delivers services online. 

The Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) provides and maintains mission-critical technologies for the City’s more than 18,000 employees and the hundreds of thousands of constituents they serve. DoIT is seeking a Platform Administrator with expertise in planning, implementing, and sustaining one or more enterprise software platforms for the City of Boston. The purpose of this position is to achieve the best possible fit between a service operation and a platform’s technical capabilities, so that employees in service roles can deliver exceptionally good service experiences.

The Platform Administrator is an individual contributor focused on the smooth functioning of our platform(s), ensuring that vital systems are reliable, performant, and responsive to the City’s needs. The Platform Administrator will know the ins and outs of the platform(s) in their portfolio and will advise DoIT on solutions that will lead to the best outcomes for all users. This role will work with the DoIT staff, outside vendors, and various city departments. The right candidate will have a technology background and will be comfortable managing multiple platform integrations, data pipelines, and complex user/group administration.

DoIT expects to hire several people in a Platform Administrator role, each with a distinct platform focus. As a result, the time distribution for the responsibilities below may vary, depending on the needs of the platform and the team. At its core, this is a technical configuration role.

User Experience and Workflow Optimization 

• Advocate for our users, their goals and the context in which they work.
• Pursue solutions that create simplicity, ease of use and obvious value for our end users.
• Design and build user experiences and business workflows that improve operational efficiency, ease user interactions, and minimize errors.

System Configuration and Maintenance

• Implement features and functionality that leverage the platform(s)’s designed capabilities. 
• Maintain organized documentation and record keeping for business requirements and solution designs.
• Troubleshoot and correct problems. Ensure the platform(s) is well-maintained. 
• Perform regular system maintenance and execute timely updates.
• Thoroughly test and ensure quality as new and modified solutions are released.

Thought Leadership

• Be the City’s expert on the platform(s): know the technology inside and out.
• Understand our business and technology architecture so that solutions fit the need.
• Pursue optimal use of the platform’s capabilities. Define and communicate best practices, with thought to capabilities, limitations, opportunities for improvement and potential upgrades.

System Planning 

• Work with internal stakeholders to understand our organization's operational requirements, pain points, and opportunities for process improvement. 
• Collaborate with internal and external users and technical teams to develop a system implementation roadmap, following Agile principles, that aligns with the city's goals and timelines.

Business Process Analysis

• Understand business processes that the platform(s) enables in order to identify opportunities for process improvement. 
• Develop recommendations for system optimization, workflow design, and service delivery enhancements. 

User Education and Support

• Provide user education materials, documentation and consultative support to stakeholders to ensure effective usage of the platform(s). 
• Enable a lightweight onboarding experience so that new users and teams can get up to speed quickly. 
• Build support systems among employees, vendors, contractors, and consultants to provide a consistent level of service and value to the city.

Vendor Relationship Management

• Maintain regular day-to-day communication with the vendor along with product managers on the team; in some cases, act as the primary vendor relationship contact.
• Facilitate communication and get issues fixed quickly.
• Remain aware of opportunities to use the vendor’s new features and capabilities to deliver value.

Compliance and Data Management

• Know what data needs to be captured and measured, and build in necessary instrumentation while keeping user experience at top of mind.
• Ensure that the platform(s)’s configuration is compliant with organizational requirements and data management best practices. 
• Develop data management procedures, ensure data consistency and accuracy, and provide business analytics tools.

Platform Integration

• Build and maintain integrations with other City of Boston systems to remain compatible with data integration and security standards and remain consistent with current industry protocols. 
• Work with other DoIT teams to develop and implement a common technology and integration strategy across platform(s)s.
• Perform related work as required. 

Experienced Required

• 4 years of experience required.

Education

• A bachelor's degree is desired and may be substituted for two (2) years of the required experience, or a certificate in platform(s) management for an enterprise SaaS platform(s) of sufficient complexity.

Agility and Acumen

• Candidates will need to have a clear understanding of the technical relationships of a variety of SaaS products and should have the ability to pick up the application knowledge in a short timeframe.

User-Centric Approach

• Strong ability to gather and analyze user requirements, conduct needs assessments, and translate them into system configurations that address user needs and improve operational efficiency.

Enterprise Application Development

• Must possess at least two (2) years of system administration of an enterprise software package, such as Salesforce, SAP, NetSuite, Peoplesoft or comparable systems.
• Understand software development methodologies and practices. Experience managing vendor relationships and coordinating solutions with their support staff is preferred. 

Business Process Analysis

• Strong experience in conducting business process analysis, developing process maps, and designing workflows that support efficient and effective service delivery.

Technical Expertise

• Strong understanding of SaaS-based enterprise applications, database structures, and integration capabilities.
• Proficiency in system configuration, workflows, user roles, reporting, and customization options.
• Experience building integrations using REST APIs, JSON, XML/XSL, SOAP, or similar frameworks.
• At least one year of programming/scripting in JavaScript, Python, PHP, or other similar language.
• Intermediate HTML/CSS abilities are preferred. Experience with SQL and BI applications.

Problem-Solving

• Proven track record of effectively troubleshooting system issues, identifying root causes, and implementing appropriate solutions.

Project Management

• Experience in managing system enhancement projects, including requirements gathering, stakeholder coordination, task prioritization, and timeline management.

Business Skills

• Strong candidates will be able to work independently with little direct oversight and will welcome collaboration with stakeholders, executives, and peers.
• Must have strong written and verbal communications skills and have demonstrated an ability to work effectively in a team environment.
• Ability to exercise good judgment and focus on the duties required by the job. Experience in the public sector (especially in a city or local government) is desirable. 

BOSTON RESIDENCY REQUIRED. You must live within Boston city limits at the start of your employment.

Terms:
Union/Salary Plan/Grade: SENA/ MM1-8
Hours per week: 35