Director, Technology Innovation

Although this position is remote, team members in this role are expected to occasionally attend in-person team events, client and/or partner meetings as required by business needs.  In-person attendance at these meetings and events is an essential function of this role as a leader of people at Ad Hoc. 

Ad Hoc is a digital services company that helps the government better serve people through modern technology and product development practices. Some examples of the services we support include Healthcare.gov and VA.gov, both of which are used by millions of people. We help implement modern technologies that government agencies are increasingly interested in, bringing in best practices as we do: among other things, this includes API design, implementation, and governance; platform infrastructure for developers; responsive, accessible websites; and mobile applications. 

The Director, Technical Innovation is accountable for the leadership, direction, and oversight of the operation, management and delivery of the Technology Innovation function. As part of the Technology leadership team, this role is responsible for stimulating an environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. The role cultivates innovative approaches to business challenges and works with teams Ad Hoc to deliver useful and customer-centric products and services.  

The Director, Technical Innovation ensures that research, insights, analysis of the ecosystem, and customer needs inform solutions evaluated for consideration and help shape offerings. The Director, Technical Innovation will lead new thinking and nurture new ideas from concept, through pilot, and into mainstream usage. Solutions could be service-based (workshop, training, etc), open source, or revenue-generating COTS or SaaS-based solutions. This role will also oversee research sprints. 

Successful candidates will have an entrepreneurship track record and proven experience leading high-performing cross-functional technology teams. The willingness to think iteratively, work incrementally, and demonstrate value quickly is essential to success in this role. Previous experience working in a technology startup or accelerator is highly desired but not required, as is interest in working with the government.

This role reports to the VP of Technology and will lead a team of 5-7 cross-discipline team members.

The Director, Technology Innovation is responsible for the following essential functions:

• Owning the Ad Hoc technology innovation roadmap. 
• Oversee the Product Innovation Council and seek their guidance to prioritize future work. 
• Plan, coordinate, and deliver on complex projects without explicit guidance and in partnership with your team.
• Work in partnership with Technology Solution Strategy and Growth to staff and delivery on ideation work for new agency endeavors.
• Delivery successfully and continually on productization efforts for work deemed worthy for exploring by the Product Innovation Council.
• Develop metrics for measuring the effectiveness of Ad Hoc innovation and measure the results of productization efforts
• Build out new innovative capabilities and transfer them into the corporate culture to impact the broader organization.
• Establish a brief hypothesis, build a business case, test the hypothesis through quick iterative cycles of learning.  
• Focuses on proving, testing, and learning in quick iteration cycles over the development of production-ready code.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and has a strong sense of prioritization and road mapping strategies.
• Ability to lead a cross-functional team comprised of multiple disciplines 
• Communicating upward and outward as effectively as you do downward.
• Ability to lead strategic discussions with prospective clients and influence their decision-making. 
• Using effective written communication and presentation skills to communicate existing strategies, decisions, past performance, and future direction
• Participating in bid-writing, tech demos, and other client-facing communications 
• Managing performance, in terms of both craft and associated competencies relevant to career development, for assigned individuals within the innovation team. This includes supporting hiring, onboarding, and conducting 1:1s and annual performance reviews.
• Providing recommendations for pay, performance, and bonuses; escalating performance issues, supporting onboarding and interviews, and making recommendations for internal transfer and KP readiness. 
• Providing coaching and development to team members, which includes defining growth goals and development plans with individuals, and creating a culture where team members can learn and evolve.

All Ad Hoc Leaders are expected to embody Ad Hoc’s core values in their leadership and to hold their team accountable to the same. Ad Hoc Leaders are expected to ensure we are always growing by tackling hard problems, being strategic and learning from others.  Ad Hoc Leaders are expected to lead with humility. This involves being there for their teams, having a perspective, and demonstrating low/no ego in their leadership. 

Some basic requirements

• 8 years working within a technology-related discipline
• 3 years experience leading a small multi-disciplined team, or equivalent
• Strong understanding of modern technology  practices and digital transformation
• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S now and in the future without sponsorship

Benefits

• Company-subsidized Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Use What You Need Vacation Policy
• 401K with employer match
• Paid parental leave after one year of service
• Continuing education/annual conference attendance stipend

Ad Hoc LLC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.   

In support of the Colorado Equal Pay Transparency Act, and others like it across the country, Ad Hoc job descriptions feature the starting range we reasonably expect to pay to candidates who would join our team with little to no need for training on the responsibilities we've outlined above. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide range of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and responsibility. The range of starting pay for this role is $171,341 - $226,486 and information on benefits offered is here. Our recruiters will be happy to answer any questions you may have, and we look forward to learning more about your salary requirements.