Overview As CAO, you lead financial operations, strategic purchasing, procurement, grants, and internal controls for DPH. You shape policies, modernize business practices, and safeguard funding continuity in a complex public health environment. You will advise executive leadership and collaborate across legal, program, and finance perspectives to manage resources amid changing requirements. This role offers strategic influence, cross-functional leadership, and accountability for critical operations. You will drive data-informed decisions and strengthen operational resilience in service of Massachusetts communities.
Compensation / Benefits- Comprehensive benefits package
- professional development opportunities
- equity-focused public service
- competitive compensation
- work-life balance policies
- employee support programs
Responsibilities- Direct department-wide strategic purchasing operations (encumbrance strategy, year-end planning, financial reporting, resource management)
- Lead strategic purchasing for goods, services, grants, and other agreements with focus on value, quality, risk, supplier diversity, and continuity
- Oversee procurement and contracting activities (sourcing, solicitations, vendor selection, contract management, renewals, closeout)
- Establish procurement, contracting, and administrative policies, procedures, internal controls, and service standards
- Provide strategic leadership for federal and private grant administration, including compliance strategies across DPH
- Serve as Authorized Organization Representative for federal/private grants and approve grant actions
- Monitor changes in federal funding requirements and assess risk to protect funding and continuity
- Resolve complex financial, procurement, contract, vendor, and grant issues with cross-functional coordination
- Advise CFO and executive leadership on purchasing strategies, policy, risk, and internal controls
- Supervise senior managers and develop staff, ensuring continuity of critical operations
- Advance improvements to workflows, systems, reporting, and analytics using data to drive decisions
- Represent DPH with EOHHSL, Comptroller, OSd, EOHHS, federal agencies, auditors, and vendors
Key requirements- Minimum of seven years of related experience in administration or management
- At least three years in a managerial capacity
- Strong knowledge of public sector procurement, internal controls, and federal/state regulations
- Experience leading complex financial, administrative, procurement, or operations in a large public-sector or regulated setting
- Proven ability to develop leaders and manage cross-functional teams
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and negotiation skills
- Ability to analyze complex information and translate into strategic recommendations
- Proficiency with MS Office; familiarity with Mosaic and COMMBUYS is a plus
- leadership development
- stakeholder management
- communication and facilitation
- procurement planning
- strategic sourcing
- contract administration
