Digital & Data Services Supervisor
Oregon Metro · Portland, OR
Metro is dedicated to shaping a better future for the greater Portland region. The work the people of Metro do every day benefits the lives of the people who live here, today, and tomorrow.
The Information Technology and Records Management Department is looking for the person to fill the cutting-edge role as a Digital & Data Services Supervisor where your creativity and technical skills will drive the transformation of Metro’s capacity to solve problems with technology for our staff and our community.
In this dynamic role, you will build Metro’s capacity to solve government problems through digital transformation — applying product thinking, development, automation, and data intelligence to continue growing Metro for the people who depend on it, contributing significantly to Metro’s digital evolution. Be part of a team where innovation meets public service, and your work directly enhances daily lives of the community. Your expertise in product and services leadership will guide a lean, AI-augmented team that builds real solutions — sometimes partnering with subject matter experts and stakeholders who help shape the problem, sometimes leading the team through that discovery work themselves — always focused on delivering the best outcomes.
The Team:
The Digital & Data Services team exists to drive transformation and continually enhance how Metro operates through innovative solutions. We take on organizational problems — the ones that slow people down, obscure what’s happening, or require too many steps to get too little done — and we build solutions. Sometimes that’s a custom application or agentic workflow. Sometimes it’s a self-service data product that helps a division make a decision it couldn’t make before. Sometimes it’s automation that gives staff hours back every week to focus on other important work for Metro. The methodology is always the same: start with the problem, build iteratively, measure outcomes. We’re a small team, deliberately AI-augmented, working in the tradition of digital services — and we’re the team Metro turns to when technology can make something better.
As the Digital & Data Services Supervisor you will:
- Lead a multidisciplinary team of data and digital practitioners, creating the conditions for high-quality, outcome-focused work in a modern, iterative, and human-centered way.
- Build a lean, AI-augmented development capability — guiding the team’s work to create custom applications, agentic workflows, and automated solutions that solve real organizational problems and give Metro staff time back.
- Deliver the evolution of Metro’s data-as-a-service capability — directing the team’s work to turn existing BI infrastructure into a self-service platform that helps Metro divisions make fast, data-informed decisions.
- Direct the team’s internal services roadmap — balancing a self-directed portfolio of automation and self-service initiatives with responsive support for organizational demand across Metro’s divisions.
- Shape organizational problems brought by internal customers into scoped, prioritized technical work, conducting discovery conversations and ensuring the team builds the right things for the right reasons.
- Modernize the team’s approach by guiding adoption of modern practices — DevOps, agile delivery, cloud, and AI-assisted workflows — while stewarding the transition from legacy systems and retiring institutional knowledge.
- Partner with division leaders, IT management, and internal customers, bridging Metro’s organizational needs and the team’s technical capacity.
- Develop team members through coaching and evaluation, supporting their professional growth and building a culture of continuous improvement and technical depth across modern tools and platforms.
Attributes for success
- Demonstrated experience directing the work of a technical team — formally or as a lead, product owner, or de facto manager — with clear accountability for outcomes, not just tasks.
- A track record of translating organizational problems into scoped technical work — conducting discovery, managing a portfolio of initiatives, and ensuring the team builds things that create real value for users and stakeholders.
- Technical fluency across data and digital domains — sufficient to have credible conversations with data engineers, BI developers, automation specialists, and productivity platform owners, and including practical fluency with AI tools — not to do their work, but to direct it effectively.
- A Service Leader who listens before building — someone who earns credibility with internal customers by understanding their problems before reaching for a solution.
- A Product Thinker who defaults to asking “what problem are we actually solving?” before reaching for a solution — and who knows how to keep a team pointed at outcomes even when the work gets technical.
- Comfortable with Ambiguity — you see an emerging mandate and a team still finding its shape as an opportunity, not a liability.
- Genuinely AI-Capable — you’ve integrated AI tools into how you actually work, and you’re ready to lead a team that builds with them, not just alongside them.
- Unwaveringly Passionate for using technology to make government work better for the people it serves.
TO QUALIFY
We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific in your application materials on how your background is relevant.
Minimum qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in the assigned program area, and
- Four years of progressively responsible experience leading or directing technical teams in a digital services, product management, data, or software engineering context, or
- Any combination of education and experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the classification duties and responsibilities.
Hybrid Telework
This position is designated as “hybrid telework.” You will be required to work onsite and at times have the option to work away from your assigned work location. The specific schedule and balance of onsite and telework will be discussed with the hiring manager at the time of offer. Employees must reside in Oregon or Washington to work at Metro. Please note, the designation of hybrid telework may be subject to change at a future time.
Like to have qualifications
You do not need to have the following preferred qualifications/transferable skills to qualify. However, keep in mind we may consider them when identifying the most qualified candidates. Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience, including the military, or life experience that are relevant for this position.
- Experience in civic tech, government digital services, or mission-driven technology organization — or demonstrated interest in transitioning into public service work.
- Experience directing or contributing to the development of a BI or analytics platform — particularly work aimed at making data more accessible and useful to non-technical organizational customers.
- Experience building or standing up a new internal capability rather than inheriting a mature one.
SCREENING AND EVALUATION
The application packet: The application packet consists of the following required documents. Please ensure that you upload these documents in your online application. Make sure your application is complete, missing any part of these items could result in an incomplete application and will not be moved forward in the recruitment.
- A completed Resume that includes the details for each employer:
- Name of employer, working title
- Dates of employment; including if the work was full-time or part-time your title,
- Number of employees supervised
- Summary of your responsibilities
- A cover letter addressing the following:
- A cover letter that describes a situation in which you directed the work of a technical team — formally or informally — toward a specific user or organizational outcome. What was your role, what did you decide, and what resulted? Additionally, describe how you use AI tools in your work today, and if you were leading that same team and that same challenge now, what would you do differently with AI available to you?
