The Office of Data & Innovation (ODI) is seeking an Innovation Program Manager. You will serve as a member of the Governmental Affairs and Innovation Training team and will manage the operations, strategy, and delivery of CalAcademy, and several strategic programs such as the Governor’s Innovation Fellows, the Innovation Labs, and Engaged California.
Location: The employee’s workstation is located in Sacramento, CA. Travel may be required as needed to attend meetings, conferences, and/or training classes. This position provides telework opportunities in accordance with agency telework policies.
Annual salary: $94,464 – $117,372 based on experience and qualifications
Benefits: The state offers many benefits, including pension, health benefits (including after retirement), life insurance, employee assistance program, and much more.
Last day to apply: April 9, 2026
What you’ll do
- Provide ODI-wide Program Oversight and Strategic Leadership
- Oversee the planning, implementation, and evaluation of Efficiencies/Governor’s Innovation Fellows initiatives
- Provide Project Management and Delivery using ODI’s Product Approach
- Supervise and support CalAcademy team members in a collaborative, inclusive, and mission-driven work environment
- Engage state department leaders, program staff, and community stakeholders to co-create solutions, build shared understanding, and develop champions for innovation and engagement practices
- Oversee program budgets, contracts, procurements, and grants in partnership with ODI’s administrative and fiscal teams
You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.
Desirable qualifications
We encourage you to apply regardless of whether you think you meet 100% of the desirable qualifications.
- Ability to build and sustain cross-sector partnerships with government agencies, community organizations, researchers, and civic engagement partners
- Knowledge of or experience working within state government operations, including compliance with statutes, policies, and data governance standards
- Product and project management experience, including leading discovery, research, design, prototyping, and delivery using iterative, user-centered methods
- Experience developing and managing curricula for adult learners, including instructional design, learning outcomes, assessment tools, and continuous improvement processes
- Experience overseeing fellowship programs or cohort-based training initiatives, including concurrent projects with defined scope, timelines, and budgets
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, including coaching and workload refinement
- Experience facilitating workshops, trainings, or public-facing sessions for diverse audiences
- Demonstrated experience providing program-wide strategic leadership in a complex public-sector or mission-driven organization
- Demonstrated success applying equity-centered, human-centered design frameworks to program or service delivery
- Demonstrated skill in mentoring staff, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and learning-oriented team culture
- Strong stakeholder engagement and change management skills, including working with state leaders, program staff, and community partners
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparing briefings, reports, and materials for executive and external audiences
- Proven ability to design, oversee, and evolve multi-program portfolios, particularly in innovation, engagement, data, design, or technology initiatives
- Ability to develop program roadmaps, success metrics, and feedback loops, and to use data to inform decision-making and program refinement
About ODI
We deliver better services to Californians through technology and design. We do so through close partnership with other state departments. Our goal is to create programs and products that are more equitable and effective. We listen to Californians who use a program now or may do so tomorrow and learn about what they need.
We:
- Build tools and products
- Create and enhance digital services
- Conduct research
- Identify data solutions
- Offer training
We are a cross-discipline staff with blended backgrounds in:
- Design
- Engineering
- Product
- Operations
- Data
- Research
- Policy
- Strategy
Learn more about ODI’s vision and mission.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion at ODI
Diversity, equity, and inclusion help us deliver better government services to Californians.
- Fostering diversity inspires better ideas and more innovative thinking.
- Feeling included nurtures a shared sense of community. This drives us to take collective action on challenging problems.
- Prioritizing equity ensures we build solutions for people whose needs are often overlooked.
We acknowledge our history and present of implicit and structural injustice, bias, and discrimination. We see, hear, and accept each other and the lived experiences we bring to our work. We support each other in learning and developing so we can help all Californians thrive.
We understand this work is never done. That’s why we commit to constant improvement.