DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Funding Arizona’s future through excellence in innovation, exceptional customer service and public servant-led continuous improvement.

Chief Technology Officer

Job Location:

Division of Technology Services
Address: 1600 West Monroe Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007

Posting Details:

Salary: $160,000 annual

Grade: E3

Closing Date: Open until sufficient resumes are received.

Job Summary:

Are you a technologist who hates the idea of leaving the keyboard behind?

Most executive roles require you to trade your technical mastery for endless meetings. At the Arizona Department of Revenue, we’re doing things differently. We are looking for a hands-on, high-impact CTO who doesn't just manage the roadmap—they build it.

The Mission: Why Join Us?

You won’t just be leading a team; you’ll be leading a technical evolution. You will bridge the gap between complex on-premise legacy systems and modern, resilient cloud environments. You’ll be the person the team turns to when the problem is hardest, and the leader who fosters a culture of excellence, accountability, and continuous learning.

What You’ll Actually Do

Be a Hands-On Anchor: Participate in architecture, perform code reviews, design and implement secure cloud networks, and act as the final escalation point for the toughest technical roadblocks.
Architect the Future: Define and execute the technical roadmaps that modernize our infrastructure, ensuring reliability and security across both legacy and cloud-native environments.
Elevate the Team: Act as a mentor and coach to our senior engineers and architects, establishing rigor in our SDLC and DevOps practices.
Bridge Strategy and Code: Translate high-level business objectives into tangible, scalable technical deliverables.

Who We’re Looking For

The Experienced Practitioner: You have 10+ years of deep technical experience in software engineering and enterprise architecture. You are more than familiar with AWS, Azure, or GCP—you are a practitioner of DevSecOps. You have a deep knowledge of compliance frameworks such as FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST, PCI-DSS, CJIS, and SOC2 standards
A Proven Leader: You have 4+ years of senior leadership experience (Deputy CTO, VP of Engineering, Chief Architect, Principal Engineer), where you guided multidisciplinary teams to success.
An Engineer at Heart: You have a verifiable, current ability to design infrastructure, review configurations, and solve complex technical problems with "hands-on" precision.
A Clear Communicator: You can explain complex architectural trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders just as easily as you can debug with your engineering team.
Education: A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Bonus Points

Experience leading modernization in large-scale enterprise, financial, or public sector environments.
A strong track record of executing enterprise-wide digital transformation.
Expertise in data security, compliance frameworks, and the privacy standards required for sensitive financial/tax data.

Ready to lead from the front?

Join us to drive innovation, solve massive-scale technical challenges, and build a culture of true engineering excellence.

This position may offer the ability to work remotely, within Arizona, based upon the department's business needs and continual meeting of expected performance measures.

Job Duties:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Lead by Example: Actively participate in architectural design, code reviews, and complex troubleshooting sessions to demonstrate engineering best practices to the broader team.
Solve Complex Problems: Serve as the ultimate point of escalation for severe technical challenges, rolling up your sleeves to provide solutions that unblock engineering teams.
Drive Enterprise Architecture: Design resilient, scalable, and secure system architectures that support the critical financial and data processing operations of the agency.
Evaluate Technologies: Continuously assess emerging technologies, frameworks, and tooling through hands-on proofs-of-concept to determine their viability and value for the Department.
Strategic Vision & Execution
Develop Technology Roadmaps: Formulate and maintain forward-looking technology roadmaps aligned with the CIO's vision and the overarching goals of the Department.
Modernize Systems: Lead the strategic transition from legacy platforms to modern, resilient environments while ensuring zero disruption to critical taxpayer services.
Align Technical Execution with Business Strategy: Bridge the gap between deeply technical execution and high-level strategic objectives, ensuring technical investments deliver measurable value.

Team Mentorship & Organization

Elevate Engineering Culture: Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, and accountability across the entire IT organization.
Mentor Technical Staff: Provide direct guidance, mentorship, and technical coaching to senior engineers, architects, developers, and infrastructure teams.
Standardize Practices: Establish and enforce rigorous software development life cycle (SDLC) processes, DevOps practices, and quality assurance standards.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (KSAs):

Knowledge/Understanding

Deep knowledge of compliance Frameworks such as FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST, PCI-DSS, CJIS, and SOC2 standards
Knowledge of technological trends to build strategy
Understanding of budgets and business-planning
Knowledge of and Demonstrated experience with TechOps and DevSecOps processes, tools and technologies relevant for an IT and product & software engineering organization

Skills

Excellent verbal, written, and listening communication skills so as to foster a collaborative and inclusive culture across the IT department
Effective project management skills with the ability to lead, direct the work of teams without formal supervisory authority
Proficient in the use of a PC in a Windows environment; in the use of the Internet; in the use of MS Office Applications such as Outlook, Word
and Excel, PowerPoint; and in the use of Google Suite applications such as GMail, Sheets, Docs, and Drive
Proficiency in on-premise as well hybrid (on-prem and public cloud) infrastructure and network environments for application development, delivery, operations, and backups/disaster recovery.
Proficiency in new process development, process optimization, IT and Infosec policies and procedures, Agile and traditional Project Management methodologies
Proficiency in CI/CD - automation processes and tools
Proficiency in infrastructure such as Cloud Migration, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Disaster Recovery (DR)

Abilities

Ability to seamlessly translate deeply technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and translate high-level strategic vision into actionable technical deliverables.
Ability to engage in technical development, review complex code or system configurations, and design enterprise infrastructure, networks, and software products in a current, hands-on capacity.
Ability to conduct technological analyses and research
Willingness and ability to embody ADOR’s core values of Do the Right Thing, Commit to Excellence, and Care About One Another

Selective Preference(s):

The ideal candidate for this position will have:

Extensive Technical Foundation: 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, enterprise systems architecture, or technical infrastructure, with a demonstrably deep understanding of modern technology stacks and workloads running in public clouds, e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP.
This role requires the CTO candidate to be an experienced practitioner (not just knowledgeable) of DevSecOps.
Proven Leadership: 4+ years in a senior technical leadership role (e.g., CTO, VP, or Director of Engineering, Chief Architect, Principal Engineer) guiding multidisciplinary technical teams.
An undergraduate or graduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or technical employment of equivalent experience.

Pre-Employment Requirements:

The final candidate will be required to abide by the the following pre-employment checks:

Successfully pass background and reference checks; employment is contingent upon completion of the above-mentioned process and the agency’s ability to reasonably accommodate any restrictions.
Arizona Tax Filing Records Check
If applicable, ASEDRA Authorized Driver Identification Check
All newly hired State employees are subject to and must successfully complete the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

If this position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job to conduct State business, then the following requirements apply: Driver’s License Requirements.

Benefits:

The Arizona Department of Revenue offers a comprehensive benefits package to include:

Affordable medical, dental, life, and short-term disability insurance plans
Participation in the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) and long-term disability plans
10 paid holidays per year
Vacation time accrued at 4.00 hours bi-weekly for the first 3 years
Sick time accrued at 3.70 hours bi-weekly
Paid Parental Leave-Up to 12 weeks per year paid leave for newborn or newly-placed foster/adopted child (pilot program).
Deferred compensation plan
Wellness plans
Tuition Reimbursement
Infant at Work Program
Rideshare and Public Transit Subsidy
Career Advancement & Employee Development Opportunities
Flexible schedules to create a work/life balance

By providing the option of a full-time or part-time remote work schedule, employees enjoy improved work/life balance, report higher job satisfaction, and are more productive. Remote work is a management option and not an employee entitlement or right. An agency may terminate a remote work agreement at its discretion.

Learn more about the Paid Parental Leave program here. For a complete list of benefits provided by The State of Arizona, please visit our benefits page

Retirement:

Top ranked Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) provides 100% employer matched contributions (enrollment eligibility will be effective after 27 weeks of State employment). ASRS provides a lifelong benefit based on years of service earned, or worked, and your ending salary. Learn more about ASRS at: https://www.azasrs.gov/content/new-and-prospective-members.

If you have any questions, need assistance, or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact the ADOR Talent Team at talentgroup@azdor.gov.
*The State of Arizona is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer.

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