The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) works to build on strengths of families and communities to keep children and vulnerable adults safe, so they thrive. We do this through investigations, services, and referrals.
What You Get Beyond Your Paycheck
When you join the State of Texas, your monthly paycheck is just one part of your real income. Our benefits provide extra value that many private employers simply don’t match - often adding hundreds of dollars each month to what you take home or save.
Here’s what you get as a full-time employee:
- 100% paid health insurance for you, and 50% paid for eligible family members - saving you hundreds every month in out-of-pocket medical costs
- Retirement plans with lifetime monthly payments after five years of state service, plus options to save even more with 401(k) and 457 plans
- Paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave so you can recharge and take care of life outside work (that’s time off you’re actually paid for)
- Optional dental, vision, and life insurance - at rates much lower than most private plans
- Flexible spending accounts for added tax savings on health and dependent care
- Employee discounts on things like gym memberships, electronics, and entertainment
You also might qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which could help you pay off federal student loans faster.
You can see all the details here: ERS recruitment brochure
Functional Title: Enterprise Application Lead Job Title: Systems Analyst VI Agency: Dept of Family & Protectve Svc Department: Software Development Res-Op Posting Number: 23160 Closing Date: 05/13/2027 Posting Audience: Internal and External Occupational Category: Computer and Mathematical Salary Range: $7,015.16 - $11,864.50 Pay Frequency: Monthly Salary Group: TEXAS-B-27 Shift: Day Additional Shift: Days (First) Telework: Eligible for Telework Travel: Up to 10% Regular/Temporary: Regular Full Time/Part Time: Full time FLSA Exempt/Non-Exempt: Exempt
Facility Location:
Job Location City: AUSTIN Job Location Address: 4900 N LAMAR BLVD
Other Locations:
MOS Codes: 0171,8848,8858,181X,182X,1D7X1,255A,255S,25B,25D,25H,26B,62E,681X,682X,781X,CTI,CTM,CTR,CYB10,CYB11 ISM,IT,Z Prefix
Brief Job Description:
Java Enterprise Lead (Systems Analyst VI) performs highly advanced (senior-level) computer systems analysis work. Work involves overseeing the planning and analysis of system requirements, procedures, and problems to automate the processes or to improve existing systems and implementing designs using software programming languages. May supervise the work of others. Works under minimal supervision, with extensive latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. This role leads advanced systems analysis, requirements engineering, solution architecture, and functional design of IMPACT modules and integrations. The position serves as a key liaison between business stakeholders and development teams, ensuring Java solutions meet complex operational demands, adhere to governance frameworks, and leverage secure, scalable, and maintainable best practices. This role demands expert-level knowledge of Java platform architecture and a capacity to design resilient, extensible solutions, data governance, automation, security, cloud integration standards and extensive latitude for initiative and independent judgment. May independently perform the most complex systems analysis work and:
- Shape strategic planning and policy decisions for enterprise platform direction.
- Make recommendations for modernization, system alignment, and future-state architecture.
Essential Job Functions (EJFs):
(35%) Oversees and/or plans, designs, develops, implements, supports, and maintains the information technology security measures to safeguard departmental information.
Provisions/de-provisions and manages access and setup tasks for new and existing users for applicable system tools and applications.
Plans and evaluates internal functions, business development strategies, technical processes and recommends improvements.
Ensures efficiency, security, and support of the organization's technology and business goals.
Oversees and/or conducts studies and prepares reports that include study findings, recommendations, and instructions for proposed system implementations; formulates logical descriptions of problems; and devises and implements optimum solutions.
Leads and performs analysis and architect work to translate business needs into data and system requirements to manage data and its flow through the enterprise, providing findings, proposals, and recommendations of the issue.
Provides analysis and consultation to agency leadership on key technology issues affecting the agency and research emerging trends, ideas and evaluates new technologies for implementation.
Oversees projects that cross functional agency systems and other state entities that require coordinating, planning, and scheduling during project development and implementation stages.
Communicates and collaborates with Agency reporting teams to coordinate development efforts in support of Agency reporting and business initiatives.
Oversees and/or trains staff prior to the implementation of technical and/or computer systems and offers advice and guidance during the implementation process.
Oversees, develops, conducts presentations and communicates technical information to agency.
Oversees and provides supports to ensure system changes have been applied correctly.
(15%) Coordinates and/or participates in the development and execution of enterprise-level strategies and technical direction, including establishing processes and procedures for executing and maintaining technology road maps.
Creates business technology models and diagrams to reflect the organization's strategies and goals and creates and implements business visions and goals.
Oversees and builds an overall comprehensive view of the organization's technical strategy, processes, information, and information technology assets.
Oversees the support of Application Development needs for new structures and modifications to existing structures.
Reviews all application change requests to determine any downstream effect on area of system expertise. Identifies, investigates, and resolves production problems in a timely manner, based on their priority.
Identifies, investigates, and resolves production problems in a timely manner, based on their priority.
Develop and implement strategic planning actions and policy decisions related to the agency's systems and make recommendations concerning the direction of the agency's computer and management information systems.
Reviews and analyzes legislative bills related to the application/system and when applicable, provides a cost estimate and potential impact analysis.
Establishes and enforces code migration processes.
Determines and implements build versus buy strategies and views in alignment with overall business strategy.
Leads and performs analysis and research of application functionality and interprets reporting requirements to develop technical specifications.
(15%) Coordinates with users to identify system requirements, develop functional design specifications to meet requirements, and solve complex operational problems.
Develop and consult processes for any dependencies and additional information that the change request may require.
Leads and reviews explain plans for new or modified queries for performance and recommend alternative ways to resolve any performance issues.
Coordinates and/or tests and diagnoses systems to ensure critical requirements are met.
Recommends cost reductions in technology and business strategies and makes presentations to leadership.
Plans and schedules studies and system implementations.
Reviews change requests to ensure they meet standards, are consistent with the structural parameters within the existing environment and are tracked electronically.
Provides on-call support on a rotating schedule.
Assists in the development of agency computer operations and management information system plans and budgets.
Leads planning, policy development, budget discussions, and problem resolution efforts to support and maintain the IT information technology environments and develops processes to improve business efficiency.
May write and update computer application programs.
Designs, codes, and modifies application programs to populate Agency data in support of Agency reporting.
(15%) May occasionally manage multiple projects.
Provides project scope, work and cost estimations and participates in project planning.
Ensures project schedules are met, re-negotiated, and approved by customer and Team Manager prior to target dates.
Communicates progress and issues affecting work assignments to the Team Manager and Project Manager timely.
Provides technical leadership in code reviews, unit testing, integration testing, releases, continuous integration, and continuous deployment practices.
Practices current development methods/techniques and establishes development standards.
Verifies updates, modifications and changes were successful and complete.
(10%) May supervise the work of others.
Provides technical leadership on projects and agency initiatives or acts as technical team lead.
Manages work activities for short- and long-range performance assignments, communicating with management and other team members in a timely and effective manner.
Mentors junior level staff in the development, testing, and deployment of new systems or functionality and provides performance feedback, as requested.
(10%) Support the full SDLC for ServiceNow: lead or advise on change management, testing strategies, deployment planning, incident resolution, and post-implementation analysis.
Performs related work as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):
Knowledge of:
- System and Enterprise application integration, implementation, and administration processes.
- Technical and enterprise architectural domains; with familiarity of other architecture domains.
- Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC) methodologies; system design methodologies and techniques (entity/relationship models, data/process flow diagrams); object-oriented programming and of programming client/server applications.
- Working experience with Java 1.6, 1.8, Open JDK 17
- Spring technology stack including Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Rest API, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA, SOAP or RESTful Web Services or Hibernate ORM.
- Security OAuth and JWT.
- Web application using Angular, JSP, jQuery, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, NPM, NodeJS.
- Familiarity designing, developing, and deploying solution on the AWS platform.
- API Gateways like MuleSoft, Azure API management, Amazon API Gateway.
- AWS Secrets Manager for secure secret storage and retrieval.
- understanding and experience with AWS Lambda, including writing and deploying functions.
- Serverless architecture and best practices.
- Software development tools: Bitbucket, JIRA, Maven, Jaspersoft Studio, Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ, IBM RAD, SonarQube, Veracode, Postman, SVN, Team Forge, GitLab, Soap UI opensource, Swagger
- NoSQL database solution using MongoDB.
- Junit, Mockito framework.
- IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS), Web Logic, JBOSS, IBM WebSphere Portal Server.
- DevOps tools and processes.
- public/private/hybrid cloud technologies.
- technical approaches used to deliver projects, products and services to large client organizations, and current and future IT trends and best practices.
- the limitations and capabilities of computer systems, of the techniques used in the design of non-automated systems, of information technology equipment, of applicable programming/coding languages, of computer hardware and software, of computer operating systems, of writing and modifying program code and of automated mapping.
- Agile methodology with experience with Epics, User Stories.
Skill in:
•
- planning, recommending, and managing technical enterprise system frameworks and technology strategic planning.
- coordinating and solving problems; in developing or revising program code; in scheduling, installing, and implementing programs; and in troubleshooting computer systems.
- technical analysis, critical analysis, decision making, determining root cause, problem solving and ability to think and act strategically and proactively.
- office productivity software including Microsoft Office Suite to include MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project, SharePoint, Visio and/or SQL.
- written and verbal communication.
Ability to:
•
- lead major technology initiatives and project implementations.
- analyze legislation to determine and document agency impact analysis, fiscal notes, and cost estimates.
- develop recommendations and presentations suited for various levels of leadership and decision makers.
- analyze systems and procedures, write and revise standards and procedures, to communicate effectively, and to supervise the work of others.
Registrations, Licensure Requirements or Certifications: N/A
Initial Screening Criteria:
- Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a Bachelor of Administration (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or a related field is required. Work experience may be substituted for education on a year-for-year basis.
- At least six (6) years’ IT experience in software development.
- At least four (4) years leading software development teams.
- At least one (1) year experience in IMPACT application.
Additional Information:
- Candidates from outside Texas must be willing to relocate within 30 days of hire and work onsite at the Austin office as needed.
- DFPS is not considering applications from individuals who require sponsorship for an employment visa, including those with H1B visas or those currently on student or postgraduate visas - CPT, OPT, STEM, AT, J-1. M-1.
Review our Tips for Success when applying for jobs at DFPS, DSHS and HHSC.
Military occupation(s) that relate to the initial selection criteria and registration or licensure requirements for this position may include, but not limited to those listed in this posting. All active-duty military, reservists, guardsmen, and veterans are encouraged to apply if qualified to fill this position. For more information please see the Texas State Auditor’s Job Descriptions, Military Crosswalk and Military Crosswalk Guide at Texas State Auditor's Office - Job Descriptions. You may also contact the DFPS Military Liaison at dfpsmilvets@dfps.texas.gov with additional questions.
Applicants selected for hire must pass a background check and if applicable a driver’s record check.
State of Texas employees are required to maintain the security and integrity of critical infrastructure as defined in Section 117.001(2), State of Texas Business and Commerce Code. Applicants selected for hire comply with this code by completing related training and abiding by agency cybersecurity and communications system usage policies.
As a state agency, DFPS is required by Texas Administrative Code (TAC 206 and 213) to ensure all Electronic Information Resources (EIR) follow accessibility standards. The staff must be familiar with the WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 to create accessible content including but not limited to; Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDFs, webpages, software, training guides, video, and audio files.
DFPS uses E-Verify. You must bring your I-9 documentation with you on your first day of work. Employees must provide documentation to DFPS to show their identity and authorization to work in the US. Please review the following link for authorized documents: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents .
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), HHS/DFPS agencies will provide reasonable accommodation during the hiring and selection process for qualified individuals with a disability. If you need assistance completing the on-line application, contact the HHS/DFPS Employee Service Center at 1-888-894-4747. If you are contacted for an interview and need accommodation to participate in the interview process, please notify the person scheduling the interview.
