Associate IT Director

Job Title: Assistant IT Director(14154)

Location: 1200 Senate Street, Columbia, SC

Scope of the Project

Contract-to-hire placement of a senior IT leader to serve as second-in-command of the STO IT Division, with intent to convert to a full-time state position upon successful completion of the contract period. This role will oversee IT operations in coordination with the IT Operations Manager, who will report to this position and manage daily operations; oversee managed-service and shared-services vendor relationships; and support the agency s cybersecurity and compliance programs in a regulated financial environment.

Daily Duties / Responsibilities

• Oversee infrastructure, business application, and helpdesk services delivered by internal staff and managed service providers, holding vendors to performance and accountability standards.
• Serve as primary operations liaison to state wide shared-services providers.
• Participate in the agency s Information Security Team, including incident response, vulnerability management, risk assessments, and remediation.
• Support access control reviews, audits, and policy compliance.
• Oversee enterprise system integrations with the State s SAP environment, financial institutions, and third-party systems.
• Track contract renewals, assist with procurement and budget monitoring, annual audit and reporting, and contribute to long-range technology planning.
• Supervise, develop, and direct IT staff as a member of the IT Division leadership team.
• Monitor and perform occasional rotating after-hours work to address incidents, support system maintenance, and meet deadlines.

Required Skills (Ranked in Order of Importance)

1. 6+ years of progressive IT experience managing complex information technology functions.
2. 3+ years of full-time supervisory experience in an IT environment.
3. Experience managing IT services delivered through managed service providers or outsourced vendors, including SLA and performance management.
4. Leadership experience in cybersecurity operations: incident response, vulnerability management, and risk assessment.
5. Working knowledge of Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, and Intune.

Preferred Skills (Ranked in Order of Importance)

1. IT experience in state government, financial services, or other regulated environments, including audit, compliance, and risk management.
2. Experience working within shared-services models in state government.
3. Project management experience.
4. Enterprise system and integration experience (SAP, financial institution interfaces, secure file transfer).
5. IT procurement, contract management, and budget experience.

Required Education

Bachelor s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field.