What are the responsibilities and job description for the Information Technology Program Administrator position at State of Ohio - Secretary of State?
POSITION SUMMARY
The Information Technology (IT) Program Administrator is a senior-level operational program leader within the Ohio Secretary of State’s Project Management Office (PMO). This role is responsible for the end-to-end operational management, execution, and continuous improvement of statewide List Maintenance operations, one of the most critical components of Ohio’s election administration infrastructure.
Acting within established PMO and IT governance frameworks, and under the strategic direction of PMO and IT leadership, the Administrator translates statutory requirements, executive directives, and enterprise priorities into actionable program plans, project schedules, and operational deliverables.
The position serves as the primary owner of day-to-day program execution, cross-functional coordination, risk and dependency management, and performance tracking for List Maintenance initiatives.
This position requires strong program leadership skills, exceptional communication, and the ability to influence high-level stakeholders in a highly visible and regulated environment.
Program Leadership & Strategy
- Lead the statewide List Maintenance program, including annual, supplemental, and ongoing maintenance cycles.
- Translate statutory requirements and executive directives into structured, measurable program plans.
- Oversee program roadmaps, milestones, risk management, and cross-functional coordination across Elections, IT, Legal, Data Analytics, and county partners.
- Identify systemic issues, propose solutions, and drive continuous operational improvement.
- Serve as the operational owner for all List Maintenance-related initiatives, projects, and annual cycles, ensuring timely, compliant, and high-quality delivery.
- Apply formal program and project management methodologies to plan, execute, monitor, and close List Maintenance initiatives.
- Manage program intake, prioritization, scope definition, sequencing, and execution in coordination with PMO leadership.
- Track schedules, deliverables, milestones, risks, issues, and dependencies across multiple concurrent List Maintenance efforts.
- Coordinate and facilitate cross-functional working groups, operational status meetings, milestone reviews, and issue resolution sessions.
- Prepare and deliver regular operational status reports, dashboards, and executive briefings for PMO, IT leadership, and executive stakeholders.
- Support operational change management related to List Maintenance processes, systems, or policies, including stakeholder communications and readiness activities.
- Ensure operational readiness for major List Maintenance events, statutory deadlines, audits, and compliance reviews.
- Serve as a subject-matter advisor to C-Suite leadership, providing briefings, impact analyses, and decision-ready recommendations.
- Coordinate with Boards of Elections regarding deadlines, compliance expectations, data submissions, reporting standards, and escalations.
- Lead stakeholder communications, meetings, trainings, and public-facing program updates.
- Track executive-level input and ensure timely follow-ups and resolution.
- Ensure statewide compliance with federal and state List Maintenance requirements, including NVRA, and Ohio law.
- Maintain program documentation, public records, audit readiness, and phase-gate approvals.
- Develop and enforce program governance standards, workflows, and change-control processes.
- Support legal reviews, data requests, audits, and legislative inquiries.
- Build and maintain program dashboards, KPI reports, and compliance trackers.
- Monitor county compliance, statewide data quality, error trends, and operational risk indicators.
- Prepare executive summaries, issue briefs, county updates, and reports for oversight bodies.
- Create high-quality presentations for leadership, external stakeholders, and legislative partners.
- Perform advanced analysis to identify anomalies, trends, performance issues, or compliance gaps within List Maintenance data.
- Use analytics tools to monitor statewide performance and support executive decision making.
- Provide actionable recommendations to improve accuracy, timeliness, and consistency across counties.
- Recommend and lead improvements to List Maintenance workflows, automation, data validation processes, and statewide communication practices.
- Partner with IT, Data Analytics, and Elections to modernize tools and reporting capabilities.
- Support the adoption of workflow platforms (e.g., Monday.com), dashboards, and automated compliance monitoring.
- Mentor junior staff and provide subject-matter guidance across divisions.
- Foster a collaborative environment with county partners and internal stakeholders.
- Model professionalism and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Core Values.
At the State of Ohio, we take care of the team that cares for Ohioans. We provide a variety of quality, competitive benefits to eligible full-time and part-time employees*. For a list of all the State of Ohio Benefits, visit our Total Rewards website! Our benefits package includes:
- Medical Coverage
- Free Dental, Vision and Basic Life Insurance premiums after completion of eligibility period
- Paid time off, including vacation, personal, sick leave and 11 paid holidays per year
- Childbirth, Adoption, and Foster Care leave
- Education and Development Opportunities (Employee Development Funds, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and more)
- Public Retirement Systems (such as OPERS, STRS, SERS, and HPRS) & Optional Deferred Compensation (Ohio Deferred Compensation)
- Benefits eligibility is dependent on a number of factors. The Agency Contact listed above will be able to provide specific benefits information for this position.
Education
- Required: Bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration, information systems, political science, or a related field.
- Preferred: Master’s degree; PMP/PgMP; Lean Six Sigma; Prosci Change Management certifications.
Required:
- 7 years of program or project management experience, including oversight of complex, multi-phase operational programs.
- Experience working with compliance-driven or data-intensive programs.
- Demonstrated success collaborating with executive leadership and managing cross-functional stakeholders.
- Experience in elections administration or public-sector operations.
- Experience with statewide programs involving county partners.
- Experience implementing governance frameworks or large-scale operational reforms.
Knowledge of:
- Understanding of basic project management concepts (e.g., scope, schedule, risk, stakeholder)
- Familiarity with public sector processes, transparency requirements, and accountability expectations
- Strong organizational and analytical skills with the ability to synthesize information and present it clearly
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to draft summaries and reports for diverse audiences
- Attention to detail and commitment to maintaining accurate records
- Work independently and collaboratively on cross-functional initiatives
- Personal computing; Microsoft Office 365 – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook; collaborative technology like Teams, SharePoint, Monday.com.
Supplemental Information
This position is Unclassified per ORC 124.11 (A) (30)
Pre-employment drug screening and background check required
ADA StatementOhio is a Disability Inclusion State and strives to be a model employer of individuals with disabilities. The State of Ohio is committed to providing access and inclusion and reasonable accommodation in its services, activities, programs and employment opportunities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable laws.