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New Jersey Office of Innovation + Lab
Join us if you’re excited to deliver modern services to improve the lives of all New Jerseyans!
How to reach us
If you are interested in joining us, apply today!
Learn more about us at innovation.nj.gov
Email us at hello@innovation.nj.gov with any questions
About us
We launched the New Jersey State Office of Innovation and Lab in 2018 to build and deliver better services for the people of the state using human-centered, data-driven, and agile practices. Our team is made up of dedicated and energetic individuals with experience in civic tech and policy. We are passionate about transforming the way government operates, and we support State agencies in innovating and improving the lives of all New Jerseyans.
We are looking to expand our team with experienced tech, government, and policy experts who share our passion and want to partner with teams throughout the state to design and deploy world-class innovative and digital services that solve pressing public interest challenges for the people of New Jersey. The team uses modern practices to deliver innovative solutions involving tech, talent, process, and policy with the support of the Governor, Chief Innovation Officer, and other senior leadership.
We encourage you to apply if you are excited to be an early member of our team who will drive meaningful change in how individuals, families, businesses, and communities interact with the state. This is an exciting time to join as New Jersey has a long history of innovation and there is now momentum and investment to reestablish NJ as an economic and innovation leader.
Joining our team
If you have significant hands-on experience designing and delivering modern, digital solutions and policy in complex environments, in a startup, or for very large user communities, we’d love to hear from you as we are actively seeking team members with these backgrounds who can dive into our current projects.
You will be joining a small, cross-functional team that operates as a startup in the NJ government and works closely together at every step. In your role, you will immediately help to shape our understanding of the challenges and begin to deliver solutions that will have a meaningful impact for New Jerseyans. The areas we cover will expand over time and currently include:
- creating tools to enable the public to participate in open policy making
- making modern career services and digital tools available to support job seekers in identifying, preparing for, and obtaining family-sustaining jobs
- improving the way entrepreneurs and business owners start, operate, and grow their businesses in the state (just figuring out what forms need to be submitted can be overwhelming)
- exploring policy innovation on issue areas such as economic development, technology governance, open data, open governance, autonomous vehicles, broadband, workforce development and more
Team members should be prepared and excited to:
- Join agile, cross-functional teams to develop solutions that meet the needs of real people
- Succeed in a highly ambiguous environment with little definition or structure
- Maintain strong domain expertise in their own role while jumping into other roles as needed
- Acknowledge and overcome constraints as they arise
- Collaborate with stakeholders in domains beyond technology such as legal, policy, and administrative roles
- Be committed and know how to develop metrics and experiments to test what works
- Enable the long-term success of our partners throughout the state
- Contribute to the overall development and success of the Office of Innovation and project teams
- Navigate complex situations to deliver meaningful, impactful results for users, stakeholders, and teammates
Roles
Product Design
Product designers who are ready to roll up sleeves and run different parts of the design process. Designers lead end-to-end research through execution of UX and UI using modern practices and tools to arrive at key insights and solutions that can be iteratively developed by the team and tested with users. As part of the team, designers:
- Lead the end-to-end human-centered design and research process for a key project
- Work with stakeholders to define the problem and create + execute a research plan
- Use both human-centered and data-driven research methodologies to generate insights and key learnings
- Design prototypes such as mockups and wireframes of varying fidelity to share with team members, stakeholders and users
- Work closely with developers to bring designs to life and iteratively improve solutions
Software Engineering
Software development engineers with experience using modern languages and practices who can translate a concept into solutions for users. Engineers are involved in all aspects of software development. As part of the team, engineers:
- Lead the development and delivery of modern solutions that meet the needs of users for a key project
- Work with designers and the team to translate findings and designs into product
- Iteratively release new product that can be tested with users
- Establish foundational infrastructure required for deploying solutions
- Coordinate development activities (including the establishment of development processes) and make technical decisions
- Provide counsel on technical matters in plain English to our team and stakeholders
- Coordinate and work with in-house technical teams in agencies, including those who support legacy systems, to execute on development projects
Digital Product and Project Management
Digital product and project managers who excel at leading cross-functional teams using data-driven decision making, human-centered design, agile methodologies, and modern practices. As part of the team, product managers:
- Lead end-to-end product and project management activities to enable the delivery of modern solutions that meet the needs of users for a key project
- Establish the project environment necessary to operate as a high performing cross-functional team in partnership with stakeholders
- Develop and communicate the vision, strategy, and product roadmap
- Lead end-to-end agile product development, including managing state requirements
- Communicate and collaborate with partners throughout the state to ensure we are enabling their long-term success
- Support team members by helping them clear any challenges they may encounter
- Drive open communication regarding the project with the public (e.g., blog posts)
Policy and Engagement Roles
The New Jersey State Office of Innovation is seeking an experienced public policy and community engagement professional to design, develop, implement and manage projects and initiatives for the Office’s portfolio of work related to innovation policy and public consultations. This professional will be expected to manage and/or support a diverse array of projects that require program and project management and coordination, policy research, and intergovernmental relations and external affairs support. The Office of Innovation is interested in professionals that are seeking either a permanent position, or a term-limited fellowship. Specific responsibilities and activities for this position include, but are not limited to:
- Design, develop and author policy memoranda, research briefs, reports and other documents related to diverse subject matters in both independent and collaborative settings
- Provide project management support for Office of Innovation projects and initiatives related to public consultations, innovation skills training, open data and open governance
- Cultivate robust public participation and user engagement in public consultation programs.
- In consultation and partnership with Office of Innovation leadership and key project stakeholders, identify and develop high-value strategic partnerships to amplify the promotion of engagement efforts.
- Research state government regulations and processes related to procurement and technology development, and assist with team/project compliance.
- Work collaboratively with cross-functional Innovation Lab teams to support ongoing Lab projects and initiatives.
- Monitor and leverage ongoing news, articles, and research related to government and private-sector innovations.
- Track ongoing legislative and policy activity in the State of New Jersey.
Eligibility
You must be authorized to work in the United States. Candidates may be required to pass a background check and complete additional steps as part of the application and onboarding process.
We are an equal opportunity employer.
We don't discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors.