Director, Product Strategy & Policy Design with CalSAWS

Job Description:

Director, Product Strategy & Policy Design with CalSAWS

Description

Position Description

APPLY HERE : Careers - The home of CalSAWS

Recruitment Announcement:

Are you a strategic product leader who thrives at the intersection of policy, technology, and large-scale public service delivery? Can you translate complex state and federal policy intent into clear roadmap priorities, actionable requirements, and measurable outcomes? Are you ready to help shape the future direction of CalSAWS core systems serving all 58 California counties?

If so, CalSAWS invites you to apply today to join our team as the next Director, Product Strategy & Policy Design!

Position Information

The Director, Product Strategy and Policy Designleads CalSAWS core product strategy by proactively identifying and shaping county business needs into a coherent, multi-horizon roadmap. This role strengthens upstream discipline across discovery, roadmap shaping, and Business Change Request (BCR) readiness to ensure delivery is predictable, outcomes-focused, and aligned to enterprise governance.

This position owns the overall functionality of CalSAWS core delivery upstream, including discovery, roadmap themes, and policy intent translated into acceptance criteria, while partnering closely with executive leadership, counties, vendors, and governance bodies.

Key areas of responsibility include:

• Owning the CalSAWS core County Business Needs Roadmap (Now/Next/Later) and leading a quarterly roadmap cycle of listening, synthesis, sequencing, and decision readiness
• Establishing and maintaining CalSAWS core Product Domains with clear outcome ownership (e.g., Core Eligibility and Rules, Integrations, Reporting and Analytics, Platform Enablement)
• Leading BCR top-of-funnel discipline for CalSAWS core, including problem statements, outcomes framing, sizing assumptions, and scope boundaries
• Translating state and federal policy changes into minimum compliance requirements and clear acceptance criteria
• Defining compliance-first versus enhancement phasing to support enterprise prioritization
• Owning early estimating and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) discipline including the scope, constraints, effort resources, phasing, risks, and assumptions(SCERFRA) framework, documenting sizing ranges, assumptions, dependencies, and phasing
• Partnering with the appropriate executive members (e.g. CTO) and vendors to convert early estimates into baselined delivery plans and release-sized commitments
• Maintaining decision-ready roadmap options with explicit tradeoffs (value, urgency, operational impact, and dependencies) for executive forums
• Coordinating cross-product interlocks with the BenefitsCal Director when dependencies or shared policy interpretation require alignment
• Ensuring delivered outcomes align with policy intent, user-centered design practices, and operational needs

The Ideal Candidate Will:

• Bring senior leadership experience in product strategy, business analysis, policy-to-technology translation, or large-scale program design
• Demonstrate the ability to govern multi-stakeholder roadmaps and prioritization frameworks
• Have strong expertise in requirements development and outcome-based acceptance criteria
• Excel in executive facilitation, strategic communication, and surfacing tradeoffs clearly
• Thrive in governance-heavy, compliance-sensitive environments
• Possess a general understanding of California’s welfare landscape and the county-administered delivery model
• Be motivated to shape enterprise-scale systems that support millions of Californians

All positions may be subject to some short-term travel in order to conduct project business with the State and counties. The CalSAWS project office is currently located in Gold River, California.

Success Measures - First 90 Days

• Publish CalSAWS core product domain map and establish domain cadences; define how domain insights feed the roadmap cycle.
• Deliver an initial CalSAWS core Now/Next/Later roadmap draft with top themes, proposed sequencing, and compliance/enhancement phasing.
• Implement a CalSAWS core BCR readiness checklist/template; pilot with at least 2 priority candidate items.
• Define and socialize the BenefitsCal interlock protocol (triggers, required artifacts, decision path) with BenefitsCal Director, PDO, and Release Governance.
• Establish a single set of ‘policy intent to acceptance criteria’ standards for core changes and align with UCD practices.

Success measures - First 12 Months

• A published and maintained CalSAWS core roadmap exists with clear themes, sequencing, and compliance/enhancement phasing; stakeholders recognize it as the source of truth for core priorities.
• CalSAWS core BCR submissions materially improve in quality (clear scope, benefits, acceptance criteria, and phasing), reducing late rework and escalation.
• Cross-product interlock process with BenefitsCal is operating: dependencies are documented early, sequencing is agreed, and conflicts are resolved through defined forums (not informal channels).
• Policy-driven core changes have documented minimum compliance requirements and explicit enhancement backlogs with measurable outcomes.

Examples of Duties

Link to full job description: LINK

Typical Qualifications

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university or experience.
• Seven (7) years of progressively responsible, full-time, paid experience in a centralized Information Technology organization, performing information systems analysis and design, application development.
• Two (2) years of management or supervisorial experience.

Supplemental Information

BENEFITS and SALARY INFORMATION:

SALARY: $11,795.69 - $16,937.04 monthly depending on experience.

For information on benefits through RGS employment - - https://rgsjpa.org/rgs-employees-assigned-to-calsaws/

EMPLOYMENT: For candidates employed with a county in California who are not able to support a staff member on the CalSAWS project, the CalSAWS Consortium contracts with Regional Government Services (RGS) to provide staff for the consortium. Hires from this recruitment and selection process are expected to work for the CalSAWS Consortium through the contract with Regional Government Services (RGS), which provides staff for the consortium.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Ready to take the next step? Email your resume and completed Request for Consideration form to [email protected] to join CalSAWS as a Director, Product Strategy & Policy Design and be part of shaping the future of statewide technology and service delivery!

Application Deadline - April 3, 2026

To apply email [email protected] and attach your resume.

All submissions will be reviewed by CalSAWS, with interviews scheduled for the most qualified candidates.

CalSAWS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Closing Date/Time: 4/3/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$141,548.28 - $203,244.48 Annually