Director, Systems & Engineering (California)

LAHSA manages critical technology solutions that track people experiencing homelessness, their utilization of homelessness services across the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC), and the funding and performance of the organizations that provide homelessness services to the City of Los Angeles. The technology solutions supporting this mission include but are not limited to the Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS), the Enterprise Grants Management System (EGMS), the Universal Housing Application (UHA), Tableau, LAHOP, and the Resource Management System (RMS). While several of these are SaaS platforms managed by external vendors, LAHSA's Systems & Engineering department is responsible for the underlying infrastructure, integrations, security, and data architecture that support this ecosystem, as well as the custom-built applications and databases developed in-house.

As the Continuum of Care’s technology ecosystem becomes increasingly interconnected across partner agencies, there is a critical need for strategic leadership to design, build, and implement a modern, interoperable systems and data architecture, one that unifies LAHSA’s own data environment while enabling secure, standards-based integration with CoC partner systems.

The Director of Systems & Engineering is responsible for establishing and driving the strategic vision for LAHSA's technology infrastructure and enterprise system architecture. Positioned within the Data Analytics Department and reporting directly to the Deputy Chief Analytics Officer, the Director leads a newly established Systems & Engineering department that unifies enterprise systems architecture, application development, and IT operations under a single technical function aligned to LAHSA’s programmatic and analytic mission, ensuring the delivery of reliable, secure, and scalable technology capabilities that support LAHSA’s mission and operations.

The Director leads the modernization of LAHSA's IT infrastructure and is the agency's principal architect for enterprise systems, leading the design and implementation of a modern system architecture, including the development of LAHSA's first enterprise data warehouse. This position bridges traditional IT operations with forward-looking systems and data engineering, requiring a leader who can manage day-to-day technology operations while also architecting and executing a multi-year technical modernization roadmap.

The Director manages IT Operations through the Associate Director of IT, and directly manages the Application Engineering team and the Database Administrator (DBA), ensuring application, database, and infrastructure decisions align with a coherent, unified enterprise architecture. This is a senior management position requiring substantial independent judgment, technical depth, architectural vision, and the ability to collaborate across departments and with executive leadership.

Strategic Vision & Enterprise Architecture

• Serve as LAHSA's principal architect for enterprise systems, establishing a long-term technical vision and roadmap for modernizing IT infrastructure, application platforms, and data systems.
• Design and lead the implementation of a modern system architecture for LAHSA, including compute, storage, network, cloud, and integration layers that support scalability, security, and reliability.
• Lead the design, development, and implementation of LAHSA's first enterprise data warehouse, establishing data modeling standards, ETL/integration pipelines, and governance practices that unify data across HMIS, EGMS, UHA, RMS, and other agency systems into a coherent, well-documented, and portable data architecture that supports enterprise reporting and CoC-wide interoperability.
• Develop and execute a multi-year Systems & Engineering strategic plan aligned with LAHSA's mission and Continuum of Care priorities, in collaboration with the Deputy Chief Analytics Officer and executive leadership.
• Evaluate, recommend, and architect emerging technologies, cloud platforms, and architectural patterns—including AI, retrieval-based knowledge systems, and advanced analytics tooling—to extend service capacity and advance LAHSA's long‑term technology vision.
• Partner with the Analytics team and other departments to ensure system and data architecture decisions support enterprise reporting, analytics, and data‑driven decision‑making across LAHSA.

IT Infrastructure & Operations Oversight

• Direct IT Operations through the Associate Director of IT, providing strategic guidance over systems administration, network infrastructure, desktop support, and end‑user computing environments.
• Ensure enterprise systems, on‑premise and cloud infrastructure, and network operations are performant, resilient, secure, and supported by appropriate disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
• Identify and prioritize automation opportunities across IT operations and application support that reduce manual effort and redirect staff capacity toward higher‑value work.
• Establish and enforce standards for systems architecture, infrastructure documentation, configuration management, and asset inventories in partnership with the Associate Director of IT.
• Lead IT governance across the full technology lifecycle—evaluation, acquisition, implementation, and ongoing support for enterprise hardware, software, and cloud platforms; manage vendor and consultant relationships.
• Define and enforce standards for architecture, process, and operations; maintain system documentation, configuration management, software licensing, and asset inventories.

Application Engineering & Database Management

• Directly oversee the Application Engineering team (currently three App Developers) and the Database Administrator (DBA), providing technical direction, architectural guidance, and code/design review for custom‑built applications and the agency website.
• Directly manage the DBA's work on database architecture, normalization practices, performance monitoring, capacity planning, and data integrity across LAHSA's application databases, ensuring alignment with the enterprise data warehouse strategy.
• Ensure application architecture and database design align with LAHSA’s broader enterprise and data warehouse architecture, avoiding fragmented or siloed technical decisions.
• Guide the Application Engineering team's practices around software development lifecycle, code quality, release management, and technical documentation.
• Ensure LAHSA’s public‑facing web properties and custom applications meet accessibility standards, including ADA and WCAG 2.1 Level AA, in alignment with DOJ Title II requirements.
• Partner with business stakeholders to translate operational and reporting needs into scalable technical solutions.

AI & Intelligent Automation

• Architect and implement LAHSA’s AI infrastructure, including cloud‑hosted compute, vector/document storage, and retrieval layers that ground large language models against LAHSA’s own documentation and knowledge base within a secure, access‑controlled environment.
• Lead development of in‑house conversational AI capabilities that assist staff, providers, and the public in navigating LAHSA’s website and applications, and that resolve common technical issues without staff intervention—extending service capacity for a lean technical team.
• Establish governance for AI systems, including data handling and PII protection, retrieval scoping, output validation, human escalation paths, and acceptable use standards.
• Design AI and integration architecture to support secure, standards‑based knowledge sharing with CoC partner agencies, enabling cross‑agency troubleshooting and service navigation where the use case warrants.

Cybersecurity & Information Protection

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive cybersecurity program—encompassing governance frameworks, policies, vulnerability management, threat detection, incident response, and business continuity and disaster recovery planning.
• Oversee outsourced or in‑house cybersecurity controls across identity and access management, endpoint protection, network security, encryption, and monitoring; coordinate internal and external audits, risk assessments, and remediation activities.
• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and standards including HIPAA, privacy requirements, data retention regulations, and cybersecurity mandates.
• In collaboration with Human Resources and through the Associate Director of IT, ensure onboarding and offboarding processes provision and revoke equipment and system access appropriately, with auditable records.
  • Promote a culture of cybersecurity awareness through training, communication, and organizational best practices.

People, Budget & Vendor Management

• Directly manage, mentor, and evaluate the Associate Director of IT, the Application Engineering team, and the Database Administrator (DBA); oversee workforce planning, recruitment, and performance management across all functions.
• Foster a collaborative, service‑oriented culture across the Systems & Engineering organization, and build the case for future organizational investments, including a Lead/Senior Developer role to support the Application Engineering team.
• Develop and administer the Systems & Engineering department budget, including technology investment, infrastructure, and staffing plans.
• Identify funding opportunities and support grant‑related technology requirements, in collaboration with the Deputy Chief Analytics Officer and other executive leadership.
• Represent Sy]]>