Salary: $82,381.52 – $144,975.48 Annually
Location : Alexandria, VA
Job Type: Full-Time
Remote Employment: Flexible/Hybrid
Job Number: 2024-00157
Department: Department of Emergency Communications
Division: Administration
Opening Date: 10/23/2023
Closing Date: 11/21/2023 11:59 PM Eastern
Division Chief of Public Safety Communication Systems
The City of Alexandria is in northern Virginia and is bordered by the District of Columbia (Potomac River), Arlington, and Fairfax counties. With a population of approximately 150,000 and a land area of 15.75 square miles, Alexandria is the seventh largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Alexandria has a charming waterfront and is a unique and historic place to live and work. About one-quarter of the City’s square miles have been designated as a national or local historic district. We proudly embrace our rich history and seize the endless opportunities. If you are interested in working for the vibrant City of Alexandria, we invite qualified candidates to apply for the Division Chief of Public Safety Communication Systems position
An Overview
The City of Alexandria’s Department of Emergency and Customer Communications is seeking a Division Chief of Public Safety Communication Systems that will provide institutional support to all public safety communication systems through the development and implementation of communication systems to ensure that Public Safety technology initiatives fulfill the needs of the individual agencies and the National Capital Region (NCR), while considering the impact of the system and data on other interconnected systems utilized by all Public Safety departments. The employee in this position will perform professional level information technology work installing, configuring, and maintaining critical systems and applications of the City’s Computer Aided Dispatching System, the City’s Radio System, and the NG911 Phone System. This position will also advance emerging projects to include but not limited to AVIVE – 4-minute City, ASAP to PSAP, Remote Call Taking expansion, Remote Dispatching, regional projects, Rave Aware, Auto Tow Dispatch, and all other emerging technologies. The employee in this position will maintain professional working relationships with contracting companies to establish a pool of resources from which to draw for support of software development efforts. The employee in this position will also directly supervise all public safety communications technology specialist in the IT Division and will work closely with other City staff and PSAP’s in the National Capital Region and nationally to effectively manage and enhance all public safety communication systems. Work is performed under the general supervision of the Deputy Director.
What You Should Bring
The ideal candidate will know operational characteristics and administration of public safety CAD systems (e.g. TriTech CAD and its component modules), NG911 phone systems, integration of phone and alarm systems with CAD, phone and radio recording systems with the Radio Manager, CAD maps and managing GIS ESRI and GeoMedia formats, record management systems, and peripheral equipment. The best candidate should know about applying standard methods and techniques to maintain high availability of critical life-safety systems, troubleshoot operational problems and achieve the on-time implementation of hardware and software configuration and installation to meet customer requirements. One should be skilled to utilize policy guidance from various governance groups to develop strategic plans to address short and long-term technology needs across the public safety agencies, direct project and programing development for the implementation of all public safety communication systems to include project analysis, project design, and programming, provides advisory services to user departments for alignment of technology with business needs; ensures that programming projects are appropriately staffed and that appropriate backup staff are assigned to in-process projects and that project teams are appropriately configured and assigned. Interpersonal skills to work effectively with business contacts in a businesslike, customer service-oriented manner to define, implement solutions, and measure project delivery results are also required.
The Opportunity
• Work closely with senior leadership and stakeholders across the public safety departments to set long-term strategy for Next Generation 911 (NG911) infrastructure, analyze technologies and determine current and future infrastructure technology needs driving towards superior maintainability, reliability, and scalability.
• Identifying the most effective approach for implementing new 9-1-1 communication technology, improve the value of the city’s 9-1-1 technology assets and the return on the city’s technology investments, ensure data security continuity planning for continuing operations in the event of disruption of information technology or communications services, and support accountable, efficient and effective government across all public safety departments.
• Provides strategic planning, develop and manage the budget for DECC’s IT division, communicating with senior leadership to determine budgetary needs and prioritize 9-1-1 technology projects. Maintains various fiscal and budgetary data to support effective operations and conduct technical research on system upgrades to determine feasibility, cost, time required, and compatibility with current.
• Oversee advanced administration, design, maintenance, setup, configuration, and troubleshooting of the Computer Aided Dispatching Systems; NG911 Phone Systems, City’s Radio System, Logging Recorder, Text to 9-1-1, various interfaces to local, state, and federal databases, servers, network equipment and monitoring systems. Ensure the efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of mission-critical systems.
• Maintain network security and data integrity and availability by monitoring authoritative security sources and ensuring that security settings and systems patches are proactively maintained.
• Contribute to the continuity of 9-1-1 computer systems and services by providing necessary technical leadership and project coordination.
• Direct the installation and validation of new or revised software and hardware.
• Hire, direct, motivate and develop a staff of highly technical and professional individuals.
• Confer with public safety stakeholders to determine computing and information management needs and requirements. Develop plans and strategies to meet the information management needs. Develop plans and proposals to analyze and upgrade existing systems. Determine which applications can best satisfy department requirements. Determine policies and procedures. Direct installation and validation of new or revised software and hardware. Confer with designated technical specialists to ensure support; participate in interview and selection of vendors/contractors.
• Participate in RFP, RFI proposal, and contract reviews, manage vendors, and ensure compliance with service level agreements (SLAs). Approve deliverables and invoicing. Management of all 911 system vendor contracts, including contract renewals and request for new contracts
• Provide technical leadership in design, architecture and administration through identifying system problem areas and upholding product quality.
• Work with department management to identify and define problems, issues and opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness through IT initiatives; work with internal IT resources, stakeholders and vendors to ensure new initiatives are planned, launched and executed correctly.
• Stay abreast of the latest developments in 9-1-1 technology and provide input to the City’s 9-1-1 technology roadmap; in collaboration with public safety senior management, set priorities and direction for 9-1-1 technology projects. Actively participate in regional and state meetings to provide input to the technology roadmap. Maintain awareness of industry trends and best practices and develop ways to incorporate those practices.
• Perform risk analysis, identify points of vulnerability and recommend disaster avoidance and reduction strategies.
• Project future needs of department to promote effectiveness and efficiency; confer with and recommend to superiors the most appropriate software and hardware purchases; prepare cost comparisons of equipment and software considered for purchasing
• Provides guidance to and coordinates the efforts of staff members in the development of recovery procedures for key areas of the organization.
• Provide guidance to all levels of the DECC IT Division group about the various processes, procedures and influential points of contact throughout the public safety governance in order to successfully meet objectives.
• Perform related duties as assigned.
About the Department
The Department of Emergency and Customer Communications (DECC) ensures the effective delivery of routine and emergency calls for service to the City of Alexandria public safety departments. Our highly trained staff of professionals always strives to provide the best service possible to the public. Our employees are the most dedicated you will find anywhere, going above and beyond the call of duty to serve. Our 9-1-1 center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). You can learn more about our department, by clicking the following link
Minimum & Additional Requirements
A bachelor’s or higher degree from an accredited college or university in computer science, information systems, or closely related field; or equivalent knowledge or experience. Three (3) years of information technology experience, one year of which shall include experience in a lead or supervisory capacity, performing a variety of progressively responsible technical and/or analytical tasks for computer systems or services in one or more of the major six domains or a closely related or emerging information technology field.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s Degree; Certification in information security (CISM, CISSP); two years in working in the public sector; knowledge of information security management and technology; Active Emergency Number Professional (ENP) and Registered Public-Safety Leader (RPL) certifications. Three years of experience in communication and negotiating with high-level executives.
Notes
This position requires the successful completion of pre-employment checks and medical testing including but not limited to a criminal history records check, fingerprinting, drug screening, vision and hearing exams, and polygraph testing.
We are proud to welcome you to explore the City of Alexandria’s excellent benefits and programs!
The benefits referenced on this site, may be changed from time to time without notice. Also, temporary and some part-time positions are not eligible for these benefits. For further information, please contact the Benefits Division of the Department of Human Resources at 703.746.3785 or email
01
I understand that failure to thoroughly and accurately complete the “Education” and “Work Experience” sections on my application and the “Supplemental Questionnaire” will result in my application being rejected.
- Yes
- No
02
Are you a United States Citizen or a lawful resident of the United States for the past ten (10) consecutive years?
- Yes
- No
03
Do you have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or a closely related field; or ten years of progressively responsible experience in Public Safety systems implementation and integration?
- Yes
- No
04
Do you have three years of public safety communication systems information technology experience and one year of which shall include experience in a lead or supervisory capacity?
- Yes
- No
05
If you answered yes to question 4. Please describe your experience. If you answered no, enter N/A.
06
Are you currently certified as an Information Technician or have the ability to proficiently work on a Next Generation 911 Computer Aided Dispatch system and Next Generation 911 Phone systems?
- Yes
- No
07
Please indicate how many years of experience you have as a system administrator or have oversight of a Computer Aided Dispatch system?
- 8 or more years
- 7 to 6 years or less
- 5 to 4 years or less
- None
08
If you selected years of experience to question 7, please describe your experience. If you selected none, enter N/A.
09
Please indicate how many years of experience you have as a system administrator or have oversight of a NG911 or E911 Phone System?
- 8 or more years
- 7 to 6 years or less
- 5 to 4 years or less
- None
10
If you selected years of experience to question 9, please describe your experience. If you selected none, enter N/A.
11
Please indicate how many years of experience you have as a system administrator or have oversight of a P25 Radio System?
- 8 or more years
- 7 to 6 years or less
- 5 to 4 years or less
- None
12
If you selected years of experience to question 11, please describe your experience. If you selected none, enter N/A.
13
Are you willing to work varied shift schedules? To include nights, days 4 – 7 days per week with 24hr accessibility?
- Yes
- No
14
Please outline any specific project management and contractual/vendor negotiation experience you have and outline your duties, employer, and any IT systems and equipment with which you worked to meet customer service and agency needs. If none, indicate N/A
Required Question