Chief Information Officer - CIO

Salary: $160,259.00 - $248,566.00 Annually
Location : Lexington County, SC
Job Type: FTE - Full-Time
Job Number: 184691
Agency: Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
Opening Date: 06/10/2026
Closing Date: 6/28/2026 11:59 PM Eastern
Agency Specific Application Procedures:: Please apply online.
Class Code:: UA03
Position Number:: 600016177
Normal Work Schedule:: Other
Pay Grade: Unclassified
Hiring Range - Min.: $160,259.00
Hiring Range - Max.: $248,566.00
Opening Date: 06/10/2026
EEO Statement: Equal Opportunity Employer
Normal Work Schedule (Other):: Monday-Friday (8:30-5:00) Position may require employee to work evenings and weekends as this is an essential position for the purposes of declarations of hazardous weather closures.
Veteran Preference Statement: South Carolina is making our Veterans a priority for employment in state agencies and institutions.


Job Responsibilities

• The Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides executive leadership, strategic vision, and operational oversight for all information technology and digital services supporting the Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Agency.
• Ensures that technology enables safe, secure, equitable, and effective delivery of behavioral health and developmental disability services across the state.
• Partners closely with executive leadership, clinical and program leaders, Medicaid authorities, other state agencies, providers, and external partners to modernize systems, strengthen cybersecurity, improved data interoperability, and support outcome-based service delivery while ensuring compliance with federal and state regulations.
• Directs and manages the IT budget, contracts and vendor relationships to maximize value, ensuring accountability and supporting long-term sustainability. Work with the Executive Director and the Executive Leadership team to forecast budgets and expenditure.
• Oversees the modernization and integration of clinical, case management and administrative systems supporting agency services.
• Develops and executes a comprehensive IT strategy aligned with agency mission, clinical priorities and statewide IT standards provided by the State CIO and State CISO. This strategy will promote best practices along with technology innovation for BHDD.
• Provides leadership, coordination and oversight for the agency's use of IT shared services with the Department of Administration, including network infrastructure, Firewall and perimeter security, VPN, enterprise compute and storage, Workplace services and desktop endpoints. Serve as the primary liaison between the agency and the State's IT Shared Services organization to ensure services meet agency operational, clinical and security requirements.
• Ensures Information Technology division's alignment with agency goals and objectives.
• Ensures strong customer service throughout all areas of the Information Technology division.

Minimum and Additional Requirements

• A bachelor's degree and at least 10 years of experience with information technology, information security or privacy programs, as well as contract and vendor negotiations; with six (6) of the years in leadership roles including planning, scheduling, assignment, and monitoring of staff, budget and resources.

Additional Requirements

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, collaboration skills, and the ability to communicate project related concepts to a broad range of technical and non-technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications


IT Management experience in a behavioral health or other medical environment preferred.
Additional Comments
The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities offers an exceptional benefits package for full time (FTE) employees:

• Health, dental, vision, long-term disability, and life insurance for employees, spouse, and children. Clickfor additional information.
• 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year
• 15 days sick leave per year
• 13 paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• S.C. Deferred Compensation Program available
• Retirement benefit choices *
  • State Retirement Plan
  • State Optional Retirement Program

Benefits for State Employees
The state of South Carolina offers eligible employees generous benefits, including health and dental insurance; retirement and savings plan options; and paid vacation and sick leave. Plus, work-life balance programs such as telecommuting and flexible work schedules are available to employees of some state agencies.


Insurance Benefits
Eligible employees may enroll in health insurance, which includes prescription coverage and wellness benefits. Other available insurance benefits include dental, vision, term life insurance, long term disability and flexible spending accounts for health and child care expenses.


Retirement Benefits
State employees are also offered retirement plan options, including defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Additionally, eligible employees may elect to participate in the South Carolina Deferred Compensation Program, which is a voluntary, supplemental retirement savings plan offering 401(k) and 457 plan options.


Workplace Benefits
State employees may also be eligible for other benefits, including tuition assistance; holiday, annual and sick leave; and discounts on purchases, travel and more.


Note: The benefits above are available to most state employees, with the exception of those in temporary positions. Employees in temporary grant and time-limited positions may be eligible for all, some or none of these benefits as benefits are associated with each position type. For these positions, contact the hiring agency to determine what benefits may be available.