Director, Office of Mission Information Technology Services

Summary

This position is being filled under a stream-lined hiring authority, Title 21 of the United States Code (21 US Code 379d-3a) as amended by the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, section 3072 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, Section 3624. The candidate selected for this position will serve under a career or career-conditional appointment and be paid under the provisions of this authority. This position is being recruited based on the Title 21 Pay Table 4, Band H. .

Duties

• Develops and implements Super Intelligence (SI)-enabled information technology services to modernize regulatory processes and accelerate scientific discovery in support of FDA's public health mission.
• Leads evaluation, piloting, and deployment of SI, ML, and advanced analytics to enhance regulatory decision-making and streamline scientific processes, consistent with FDA's governance program.
• Establishes governance frameworks and standards for responsible SI adoption, ensuring alignment with federal policy, ethical guidelines, and FDA strategic priorities.
• Collaborates with scientific and regulatory program offices to identify opportunities where SI-enabled tools can improve data quality, analytical throughput, and mission outcomes.
• Conducts strategic IT planning and portfolio management to align technology investments with FDA priorities and modernize data platforms supporting scientific and regulatory needs.
• Develops and maintains, for approval by the Deputy Commissioner for Technology, a multi-year IT investment roadmap that reflects agency priorities, emerging technology trends, and resource constraints.
• Oversees the full lifecycle of IT programs and projects, ensuring cost-effective delivery, measurable performance outcomes, and alignment with OMB, HHS, and FDA policies.
• Advises the Deputy Commissioner for Technology, and senior leadership on technology investment decisions, risk trade-offs, and opportunities to consolidate or modernize legacy systems.
• Provides enterprise IT services, including application development, infrastructure maintenance, technical support, and cybersecurity to protect sensitive health data.
• Ensures the availability, reliability, and scalability of IT systems and platforms that support FDA's regulatory, scientific, and administrative functions.
• Directs the development and maintenance of enterprise applications, data platforms, and shared services that meet the diverse needs of FDA Centers, Offices, and Programs.
• Establishes and enforces service-level agreements, performance metrics, and customer service standards to ensure responsive and high-quality IT support.
• Oversees cybersecurity programs and policies to protect sensitive health, regulatory, and administrative data from unauthorized access, breaches, and cyber threats.
• Ensures compliance with federal cybersecurity requirements including FISMA, NIST frameworks, and HHS/FDA security policies across all IT systems and platforms.
• Partners with the FDA Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to assess risk, implement security controls, and respond to cybersecurity incidents.
• Promotes a culture of cybersecurity awareness and accountability across the IT workforce and among system users agency-wide.
• Improves operational efficiency and customer service delivery by modernizing legacy systems and establishing a secure, cost-effective IT foundation supporting FDA's regulatory and public health functions.
• Identifies and prioritizes legacy system modernization opportunities, developing migration strategies that minimize operational disruption and maximize return on investment.
• Implements cloud computing, automation, and other emerging technologies to reduce technical debt, improve system performance, and lower total cost of ownership.
• Establishes metrics and reporting mechanisms to track modernization progress and demonstrate value to agency leadership and stakeholders.

Qualifications

In order to qualify for the Director, Office of Mission Information Technology Services position which falls under the 2210 occupational Series, you must meet the following requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 12/09/2026: The candidate must meet the following qualifications for this Title 21 position: Scientific, Technical, and/or Professional Fields Qualified and Outstanding Candidates a. Qualified applies to all candidates for Cures appointments. The FDA OTS will use the technical qualifications defined below as a baseline for comparing experience levels and other candidate attributes for relevant positions b, Outstanding candidates can be defined by existing outstanding work experience, outstanding performance rating, or both. To be qualified for the Director, Office of Mission Information Technology Services, AD-2210, Band H position you must meet the following qualifications and it must be evident within your 2-page resume or you must submit transcripts if you are qualifying based on education: Education: A bachelor's degree or higher in a computer science, cybersecurity, information science, information systems management, technology, engineering field. The degree must be from an accredited program or institution. If you are qualifying based on the education mentioned above you must also meet the below qualifications. If you possess a bachelor's degree in a related field you must have 8 years of comparable experience. If you possess a master's degree in a related field you must have 7 years of comparable experience. If you possess a doctorate degree in a related field you must have 5 years of comparable experience. OR You must have fifteen (15) years of experience in one of the following: - Experience that demonstrates knowledge of the software design, development, and testing lifecycle. - Experience that demonstrates knowledge of enterprise architecture, business architecture, systems architecture, service-oriented architecture, or data architecture; or frameworks of the same. - Experience that demonstrates knowledge of IT management, IT helpdesk support, system integration, IT project management, IT Finance or IT Acquisitions. - Experience that demonstrates knowledge of managing IT transformation programs, managing IT innovation programs, or implementing disruptive technologies. - Experience that demonstrates basic knowledge of technology and data processing functions, data extraction, transformation, loading, automation, and other aspects of data management. - Demonstrated ability to meet the standards of a skills assessment test to be administered by the agency during the candidate process (i.e., pre-employment). - Experience that demonstrates knowledge of the user experience design, development, and testing lifecycle. Experience may have been gained in work such as CIO/CTO/other IT executive, IT manager, IT services manager, enterprise transition manager/planner, enterprise architect, business analyst, systems integrator, systems administrator, programmer, program analyst, or other positions that required the management of, use, or adaptation of computer programs and systems. Desired Qualifications: The ideal candidate will bring approximately 15-20+ years of progressive technology leadership experience, or equivalent experience demonstrating comparable executive scope, scale, complexity, and impact, including significant senior executive leadership experience. Priority experience includes: Leadership of large, complex, enterprise-scale technology organizations with broad operational, modernization, and service-delivery responsibilities. Experience leading senior IT executives and technology leaders, establishing accountability, and building high-performing leadership teams. Accountability for significant technology budgets and broad technology portfolios; experience approaching billion-dollar scale is highly desirable. Demonstrated success leading enterprise transformation, particularly consolidation or integration of distributed/federated IT organizations, shared-services transformation, or implementation of enterprise operating models. Experience maintaining strong IT operations and service delivery while simultaneously driving modernization, efficiency, and organizational change. Experience operating within a highly regulated, governed, security-sensitive, or compliance-intensive environment; familiarity with federal IT requirements is a plus. Strong executive stakeholder management and the ability to work across a complex organization with diverse mission, customer, and technology needs. Experience with complex technology financial management, acquisition/vendor management, cybersecurity, privacy, data protection, and enterprise IT governance. Supervisory Responsibilities: The incumbent exercises executive-level supervisory responsibility through subordinate leaders for the performance, organizational capability, workforce strategy, resource utilization, and continued transformation of a complex enterprise technology organization. The Director establishes the management framework and leadership expectations within which subordinate organizations operate and is accountable for ensuring that the organization possesses the structure, talent, leadership, and capacity required to achieve FDA's enterprise technology and modernization objectives. Provides reasonable accommodations needed to best utilize qualified people with disabilities. Background Investigation/Security Clearance Requirements: Non-Sensitive/Moderate Risk (Public Trust) This is not a Testing Designated Position. Applicants selected for this position will be subject to reasonable suspicion and post-accident drug testing upon hiring. To demonstrate commitment to the HHS goal of a drug-free workplace and to set an example for other Federal employees, employees not in a testing designated position may volunteer for unannounced random testing by notifying their Drug-free Federal Workplace Program Point of Contact upon hiring. NOTE: Applicants must submit all relevant transcripts that demonstrate you possess the required education to meet the Basic Qualifications. Active-duty U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers are encouraged to apply. If selected, officers may either (1) remain on active duty assigned to the designated billet for PHS assignment, or (2) separate or retire from the Commissioned Corps before entering a Title 21 civilian appointment. This position is designated as an SES Equivalent position and is covered under the FDA Title 21 Executive Performance Management System and identified as a public filing position for ethics purposes.

Education

If you are qualifying based on the education qualification listed above you must submit transcripts, the education must be the following: A bachelor's degree or higher in a computer science, cybersecurity, information science, information systems management, technology, engineering field. The degree must be from an accredited program or institution. Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee, you are not exempt from transcript requirements. TRANSCRIPTS: Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities, see the Foreign Education section below for additional requirements. Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically, the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore, you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively, you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system, you may receive consideration and credit for the information we can access. Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation. To be acceptable, the foreign credential evaluation must include/describe at a minimum, the following information: (1) The type of education received by the applicant; (2) The level of education in relation to the U.S. education system, and state that its comparability recommendations follow the general guidelines of the International Evaluation Standards Council; (3) The content of the applicant's educational program earned abroad, and the standard obtained; (4) The status of the awarding foreign school's recognition and legitimacy in its home country's education system; and (5) Any other information of interest such as what the evaluation service did to obtain this information, the qualifications of the evaluator, and any indications as to other problems such as forgery. Note: Some positions require the completion of specific courses or a specified number of credit hours. Therefore, the foreign credential evaluation should provide information similar to that of an official transcript, to include a list of the courses taken, quarter and/or semester hours awarded, the cumulative grade point average (GPA), honors received, if any, date degree awarded. Applicants can request an evaluation from a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services listed below: National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) Association of International Credentials Evaluators (AICE) Credential evaluations are not free, and applicants are responsible for the cost of the selected service. For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.