C. E. A. Assistant Deputy Director, Chief Artificial Intelligence and Security Officer | JC-522718

Department Information

At the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), equity, diversity, and inclusion are at the core of our mission to advance the health and well-being of California’s diverse people and communities. We are genuinely and strongly committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of inclusion and connectedness where we can grow and learn together with a diverse team of employees. In recruiting team members, we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring to us and the work we do. California’s population is the most diverse in the world, including immigrants from sixty countries with over 200 languages spoken or read in the State. CDPH is a state department comprised of over 200 programs and 4000 staff who seek to improve the health and well-being of all Californians. The CDPH programs and services, implemented in collaboration with local health departments and state, federal and private partners, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, touch the lives of everyone who calls California home, and the millions who visit here each year.

The essential functions of CDPH are critical to the health and wellbeing of people and communities. CDPH's fundamental responsibilities are comprehensive in scope and include infectious disease control and prevention, food safety, environmental health, laboratory services, patient safety, emergency preparedness, chronic disease prevention and health promotion, family health, health equity and vital records and statistics. CDPH is committed to achieving a diverse workforce through application of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies in all aspects of employment to create an environment that is welcoming to all individuals.

The State of California is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

The Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) supports a wide range of enterprise services, platforms, data, and infrastructure, and is responsible for ensuring that responsive and reliable Information Technology (IT) support is available to all departmental programs to maintain the health and wellbeing of all Californians.

• Department Website: https://www.cdph.ca.gov
• Check out How to Apply for a Job at CDPH
• Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website and the CalPERS website.
• The salary listed in this ad may not include recent adjustments or changes from the fiscal year
• New to State candidates will be hired at the minimum salary of the classification or alternate range, as applicable.
• Effective July 2025, California’s Personal Leave Program (PLP 2025) reduces employees’ base pay by 3% in exchange for 5 hours of leave credits monthly through June 2027. The posted salary range does not reflect this reduction.

Job Description And Duties

The Assistant Deputy Director (ADD), Chief Artificial Intelligence and Security Operations Officer (CAISOO), supports the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) mission and strategic plan by ensuring that Information Technology (IT) is available to all departmental programs. The ADD is responsible for defining the vision of the modern public health information infrastructure and developing strategies to achieve that vision. Responsibilities include transforming the CDPH public health information technology enterprise via policy creation and oversight of the Artificial Intelligence functions: collaborating internally with other executives, and externally with stakeholders in California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA), California Department of Technology (CDT), other departments and agencies, other oversight and governing bodies, local health jurisdictions, and other partners.

Public health program services include surveillance, response, decision intelligence, and related capabilities under the purview of CHHSA and CDPH, for utility of public health information, and interoperability with local and State public health entities. As the CDPH has over 200 public health programs, the CAISOO is responsible for identifying business and technical capabilities that when deployed can be shared across programs to ensure that innovation aligns with department strategy and goals.

The CAISOO provides leadership over artificial intelligence innovation and modernization initiatives to build flexible and scalable technological backbones for dynamic public health activities that emphasize artificial intelligence services and licensing activities.

The CAISOO is responsible for developing policies and processes such as governance for collaboration, prioritization, and strategic blueprints to encourage enterprise-level collaboration throughout the organization; developing policies to enhance enterprise services, expand data access and interoperability to enable data driven decisions, mature systems, infrastructures, and ecosystems; defining and implementing strategies to support responsive and sustainable public health operations across all systems; and identifying opportunities to drive technology innovation and transformation throughout the enterprise. This includes the development and scaling of artificial intelligence solutions, as well as agile, on-demand shared services, all aimed at maximizing return on investment while reducing overall costs.

The CAISOO serves as an artificial intelligence leader to communicate the artificial intelligence vision and future state direction, major change transformation initiatives, cross-functional business process automation, as well as the real-world transformation challenges and enterprise opportunities including encouraging and supporting employees to become artificial intelligence champions and driving business results via imported transformation execution.

The ADD is responsible for providing administrative direction, guidance, and leadership to ITSD managers and staff to guide artificial intelligence transformation and drive the future of artificial intelligence across the state and directs project intake, architecture portfolio management, and agile development teams to ensure that their efforts reflect customer needs as well as innovative thinking.

Responsibilities include overseeing the development and execution of Budget Change Concepts (BCCs), Budget State of California – Health and Human Services Agency California Department of Public Health Budget Change Proposals (BCPs), and projects to implement artificial intelligence strategies that support future state innovation.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with all levels of management and stakeholders within the department
• Knowledge of existing and emerging Artificial Intelligence technologies
• Knowledge of fundamentals of accounting and budgeting
• Demonstrated experience with State contracting procurements
• Working knowledge of the California legislative and budgetary processes necessary for effective program implementation
• Demonstrated experience in leading or supervising multi-disciplinary staff
• Ability to perform high administrative and policy-influencing functions effectively
• Knowledge of the organization and functions of California State Government
• Ability to plan, organize, and direct the work of multidisciplinary professional and administrative staff
• Ability to think strategically and effectively set and execute a vision
• Customer service, communication, and collaboration skills
• Experience planning and executing technical innovation, digital transformation, and modernization efforts
• Project management experience
• Security and privacy management experience

Examination Information

When completing the SOQ applicants must follow these guidelines:

• Responses must be typed and limited to one (1) page per question
• No smaller than 12-point Arial font size
• Answer each numbered item separately and clearly indicate the corresponding question number for each response

1. Describe why you are interested in this position and why you believe your knowledge, experience, skills, and education make you the right candidate for this position.
2. How have you leveraged innovative artificial intelligence technology to help your organization? What was the business problem? What role did you play? What were your biggest obstacles, and how did you overcome them? What was the outcome?
3. Which IT metrics would you monitor on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to determine business value from the implementation of modern artificial intelligence technologies? How would you communicate this value to business programs, stakeholders, and oversight agencies?
4. Describe your experience and ability establishing governance processes within IT to manage risks, resources, and achieve objectives.
5. Describe your experience and ability developing creative and innovative solutions to complex infrastructure problems and initiatives to support the delivery of products and services leveraging IT and stakeholder engagement.

This position is subject to approval by the California Department of Human Resources and the Department of Finance.

Final Filing Date: 7/29/2026

Position Details

Job Code #: JC-522718

Position #(s): 580-150-7500-005

Working Title: Assistant Deputy Director, Chief Artificial Intelligence and Security Operations Officer

Classification: C. E. A.

Compensation: $12,131.00 - $14,453.00 B

# of Positions: 1

Work Location: Sacramento County

Telework: Hybrid

Job Type: Career Executive Assignment - Non Tenured, Full Time