A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

The Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) oversees most major technology projects for the City of Philadelphia (CoP), ensures continuity of the City's technology operations, and finds new ways to help the public interact meaningfully with technology. OIT uses technology to help City employees do their work better and helps residents get what they need from municipal government.

What We Offer:

Impact - The work you do here matters to millions.

Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it?

Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs

Benefits - We care about your well being

About the project you’ll be working on:
Forms are an essential way Philadelphians interact with City government, and sometimes, they’re the only entry point into a City program or service. If a form isn’t designed and written plainly or proactively inclusive in its terminology and format, then residents are turned away from accessing assistance before they even begin the process. Even though forms are an important touchpoint for City service delivery, the quality of them varies from one office to the next. 
OIT is looking to enhance digital service delivery, minimize technical debt, close security gaps, and improve residents’ baseline interactions with City government by creating a team focused on forms. This work, funded by the Operational Transformation Fund, will take part in three parts: 
Part 1: Prototyping a forms practice in OIT (January – February 2023) The purpose of part 1 is for OIT to perform deep discovery work to better understand departments and OIT’s shared forms needs, and with that information, prototype a forms practice area within OIT and in collaboration with City departments.
Part 2: Testing and implementing digital forms standards at the City (May 2022 – January 2023) The purpose of part 2 is to gather resident and community feedback around digital forms. 

Part 3: Finalizing OIT’s Digital Forms practice (March - June 2023) The purpose of part 3 is to finalize the digital forms practice in OIT using the findings and recommendations from the usability testing and pilot evaluation. 

This work will answer the question, “How can we operationalize our digital forms practice at the City of Philadelphia, so resident interactions with forms can be more accessible, secure, and consistent across departments?”

About your position:

This position will be a part of the newly formed Digital Forms team within OIT. This team will work closely with the teams responsible for the City’s digital transformation efforts: Content Strategy, Software Engineering, and User Experience. Together, the teams have worked on projects such as phila.gov and the resource finder framework, which allow our City department partners to provide information and services to Philadelphians.

As the content strategist on the forms team, you'll work closely with the team to inventory, audit, and categorize existing City forms, produce content best practices for City forms, and lead project documentation efforts. 

Please note this position is a full-time, 15-month opportunity from April 2022 to June 2023, and that the City of Philadelphia requires all new hires to be fully vaccinated.  (See the Qualifications and Additional Information sections for other requirements.)

Essential functions
In this role, you will: 
●    Develop content best practices for forms.
●    Document content standards and ensure they are applied effectively.
●    Create instructional content and training materials, according to content standards.
●    Participate in training City departments on form best practices.
●    Provide content expertise in the design and development of form templates [information architecture (content organization and labeling within forms), instructions, error and validation messaging, etc.]
●    Work openly and collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team to effectively implement content recommendations.
●    Evolve content efforts based on insights gleaned from evaluation.
●    Offer and take constructive feedback around project output and process.
●    Develop project timelines based on tasks and level of effort to complete tasks.
●    Proactively manage self and project to ensure deadlines are met.
●    Communicate the status of work, challenges, and successes clearly and honestly.
●    Problem-solve through ambiguity and when challenges arise.

Competencies, knowledge, skills, and abilities
Competencies 
●    Excellent communicator. Ability to take a complex subject and break it down into crisp, simple language.
●    Empathetic. Ability to imagine navigating City services and programs from the perspective of typical residents – and identify actionable content improvements.
●    Analytical/systems-thinker. Ability to envision how content fits together, even how it crosses department lines.
●    Relationship-builder: Ability to work with a variety of people and personalities, listen and ask questions, and cultivate relationships that promote collaboration.
●    Curious: Ability to practice active listening, ask questions to get at the root of a problem, be open to receiving/giving constructive feedback, and have a sincere interest in learning new skills or growing old ones.
●    Rigorous: Driven by thoughtful, quality, and detail-oriented processes, project output, and client/team interactions.
●    Organized: Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects, estimate timelines, rework a project approach based on unforeseen challenges, work well under pressure, and set/meet reasonable deadlines.
●    Action-oriented: Ability to see opportunities, navigate barriers, be self-directed, and problem solve solutions that enhance the City’s deliverables, processes, and practices.
●    Resilient: Ability to have a sense of humor, learn from mistakes, and/or return to work after experiencing a setback.
Knowledge, skills, and abilities
●    Experience with information organization and architecture.
●    Experience with content inventories and audits.
●    Experience in digital form design.
●    Experience as a trainer or teacher.
●    Experience with content management systems.
●    Conversant in user experience design best practices.

Candidates should have:
●    At least three years of full-time, or equivalent part-time professional experience as a content strategist.
●    Know enough about the basics of design and development processes to effectively collaborate across disciplines.

Nice-to-have skills:
●    Bilingual 
●    Strong visual design aesthetic

We’re interested in hiring the best possible candidate for the role. We recognize that experience, education, and qualifications can be attained in a variety of ways and that many skillsets are transferable. If you feel you’re a good fit, please don’t hesitate to apply.

Please include:
●    Resume
●    A cover letter explaining why you’re passionate about participating in the design of the City of Philadelphia’s digital forms presence. 
●    At least three samples of work relevant to the position. 

Please note: Applications will not be considered without a cover letter.

Salary Not to Exceed: $90,000

Did you know?

• We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer
• 25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Please note that effective September 1, 2021 the City of Philadelphia is requiring all new employees to present proof of vaccination against COVID-19. 

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to faqpchr @phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx