Assistant Director, Illinois Office of Broadband

Position Overview

The Dept. of Commerce & Economic Opportunity is seeking to fill the Assistant Director position within the Illinois Office of Broadband to support the bureau’s lead administrator and manage a current annual operating budget of $1 million, a current capital budget of $400 million, and anticipated federal funding of a least $1 billion to supplement existing investment in broadband infrastructure deployment, community and regional planning and engagement, and digital equity and inclusion programming.

The ideal candidate will be able to help lead and support a growing office staff in grants creation, management, compliance, and technical assistance. This position will play a critical leadership role in administering and managing $1B across multiple grant programs within the Office of Broadband, including broadband infrastructure deployment, digital inclusion programming, and capacity building among local communities. This position is responsible for building, overseeing, and refining broadband grant programs, supervising grants administration staff, managing federal reporting, and ensuring fiscal and regulatory compliance with federal and state laws.

The Assistant Director will be instrumental in ensuring that broadband and digital equity grant processes are efficient and in compliance with grant and federal requirements to ensure underserved populations are connected with high quality, affordable broadband service and have the digital skills they need to participate in Illinois’ modern economy.

The Illinois Office of Broadband has forged strong cross-sector collaborations with external stakeholders in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors, leveraging these cooperative professional relationships for work in broadband data, mapping, research and publication, as well as program delivery, outreach and engagement. The unique Office of Broadband approach and working environment offers its employees a strong sense of shared mission, meaningful work toward recognized state and federal goals, and exceptional benefits including health, paid time off, and pension. We welcome interested applicants to join us in setting a new standard for state-driven broadband infrastructure investment and related programming to apply.

Job Responsibilities

• Formulates, develops, implements and controls Division operations.
• Establishes policy, process, and procedures regarding grant program methodology and compliance, and fiscal and personnel manage.
• Represents the agency before various private and public groups on a state and local level concerning the mission, goals and program resources available through the Division.
• Plans and develops program objectives for Division grant programs to Eliminate the Digital Divide.
• Supervises staff.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

Minimum Requirements

• Requires knowledge, skill, and mental development equivalent to completion of four (4) years of college, preferably with courses in public administration, political science, or business.
• Requires prior experience equivalent to four (4) years of progressively responsible administrative experience in a public or business organization.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prefer one or more years of experience in broadband or other infrastructure or technology deployment, working with the telecommunications or other infrastructure-related industry (e.g., public-sector, private-sector, or non-profit roles) or working with policy relevant to the telecommunications industry, such as grants management, program management, planning, community engagement, or policymaking.
• Prefers one or more years of experience with grant rules, federal or state compliance, and fiscal best practices.
• Prefer one year experience with grant program design, implementation, and administration – ideally in collaboration with various internal and external collaborators, such as grantees, vendors, aligned agencies or units of government, higher education, nonprofits, or philanthropies, etc.
• Prefer one or more years’ professional experience communicating with local government and state legislators, as well as ability to engage with and speak before audiences of various size, broadband knowledge, and composition.

• Prefer one or more years’ experience working with federal agencies with authority over infrastructure or technology, such as the Department of Commerce, Federal Communications Commission, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, etc.

Conditions of Employment

• Requires completion of a background check and self-disclosure of criminal history.
• Requires appropriate, valid driver’s license.
• Requires ability to travel in the performance of duties, with overnight stays as appropriate.

The conditions of employment listed here are incorporated and related to any of the job duties as listed in the job description.

About the Agency

The mission of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is to support and maintain a climate that enables a strong economy for our customers - taxpayers, businesses, workers and communities - by keeping, attracting and growing businesses, maintaining a skilled workforce, and enhancing communities so that the climate here is one in which businesses, small and large, and workers, can succeed to the greatest extent possible. The Illinois Department of Commerce delivers impactful and efficient programs and services through focused on business, community, and workforce development.