IT Manager I - Application Engineering

Office of Information Technology Annual Salary Range: $126,222 - $168,276 FLSA Exempt / Non-Union Represented This position allows for up to four days of remote work per week About the Office The Office of Information Technology (IT) is responsible for enabling State Bar’s internal and external stakeholders by the management, implementation, and maintenance of an organization's technology to support of State Bar’s mission and goals. The office’s primary goals are to build and maintain functional capabilities, to support innovation and to ensure that all systems are running smoothly, efficiently, and securely to support the needs of the organization and its stakeholders. The Ideal Candidate The ideal candidate is a strategic, hands-on technical leader with deep expertise in Microsoft enterprise technologies and a proven ability to guide teams through the full lifecycle of complex application ecosystems. They excel at architecting, designing, developing, integrating, and maintaining enterprise-scale solutions that directly support organizational mission and operational needs. The candidate brings a strong blend of technical expertise and leadership presence, enabling them to mentor engineering teams, drive modern development practices, and foster a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement. They collaborate across business and technical groups, translating organizational goals into scalable, secure, and sustainable technology solutions. Definition Under direction, the IT Manager I – Application Engineering assists with overseeing, planning, organizing, developing, staffing and managing the activities and functions of application engineering unit of the Office of the Information Technology and serves as a liaison between State Bar business units and technical staff. Examples of Essential Duties Duties may include, but are not limited to the following: Lead, mentor, and develop software engineering teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. Set goals, manage performance, and growth. Oversee the end-to-end development lifecycle for custom applications and integrations, from ideation, ‑requirements analysis and architecture through deployment and ongoing support. Architect scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions primarily using Microsoft technologies (Azure, .NET, SQL Server, Power Platform, GitHub CI/CD pipelines). Provide technical oversight and direction for projects involving integrations with platforms such as Salesforce, Tyler Odyssey, Oracle systems, and Drupal CMS. Drive modernization efforts, including cloud adoption, platform upgrades, and legacy system remediation. Manage and optimize system integrations between Microsoft stack applications and external platforms via APIs, middleware, messaging systems, and ETL pipelines. Ensure development teams follow best practices for code quality, security, testing, and documentation. Oversee reliable operations for production systems (incident, problem, and change management), monitoring, on-call processes, and root cause analysis. Partner with business stakeholders and internal IT teams including infrastructure, and business solution teams to define technical requirements, delivery timelines, and resource plans. Allocate resources, balance workloads, and oversee capacity planning across concurrent projects and operational commitments. Oversee vendor partnerships and external development teams when applicable. Help create and negotiate SOWs, align on deliverables, and hold vendors to SLAs/OLAs and quality standards. Monitor system performance, reliability, and compliance with State Bar policies and industry standards. Actively participate in developing and managing budgets for projects, operational spend, cloud costs, and vendor contracts; forecast and balance build vs. buy decisions. Optimize licensing and total cost of ownership; drive efficiencies via automation, consolidation, and cloud adoption. Work with IT leadership and business partners to help develop and meet strategic and technology initiatives. Review standard operating procedures (SOP) and recommend improvements to upper management. Stay abreast of and adapt relevant changes in trends and practices of technologies, processes and practices. Minimum Qualifications Education: Bachelor’s degree in a field that develops skills related to essential duties or equivalent academic achievement. (Desired: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, etc.) Two (2) years of an IT Analyst role for the State Bar with assigned lead duties or equivalent. Master’s degree may substitute for up to two (2) years or experience. Desired Experience: Seven (7) or more years of experience in business application software architecture, design and development, including three (3) or more years in a technical leadership or management role. Strong expertise with the Microsoft development ecosystem, including: C#, .NET Core/Framework Azure cloud services SQL Server Power Platform / PowerApps Experience with version management, advanced security and CI/CD capabilities through GitHub platform. Experience leading teams building enterprise scale applications and integrations. Solid understanding of modern architecture patterns such as microservices, API centric design, event driven integration, and cloud-native development. Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and planning skills. Strong leadership presence and ability to lead and inspire teams. Analytical problem-solver with a pragmatic approach to solution delivery. Able to balance technical depth with strategic planning. Commitment to quality, security, and service excellence. Able to use tact and diplomacy in dealing with sensitive and complex issues, situations, and concerned people. Below are a plus but not expected Experience with one or more of the State Bar’s enterprise platforms: Salesforce (Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud) Tyler Odyssey Case Management Systems Oracle enterprise applications Drupal Content Management platform Application development experience in hybrid technical environments (on prem and cloud). Familiarity with regulatory, legal, or public sector environments. License, Certificate, and Registration Requirements: Certifications in Microsoft, Salesforce, or cloud technologies (Azure) are a plus. About the State Bar The State Bar of California’s mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation, and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system. Our Values Clarity | Investing in Our People | Excellence | Respect | Growth Mindset Learn more about our values. DEI Statement We are a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where all of our employees and prospective employees experience fairness, dignity, and respect. Learn more about our commitment to DEI.