Job Description

This position is part of the Student Assessment Division of Texas Education Agency (TEA) that facilitates the Texas Assessment Program. The Texas Assessment Program provides valuable student performance data to districts, campuses, and parents of over 4 million students enrolled in the Texas public school system.

The Project Manager, Assessment Technology serves as a strategic liaison between TEA, vendors, and Texas school districts to ensure that online assessment platforms and related applications (such as TIDE, TDS, CRS, and associated APIs) are designed, tested, and maintained to meet the diverse needs and capabilities of districts statewide. The position ensures all online testing technology remains accessible, stable, and sustainable across Texas districts, regardless of size or infrastructure limitations.

This role is responsible for leading efforts to build and refine system specifications, coordinating user acceptance testing (UAT), verifying readiness for each testing window, overseeing data exchanges between assessment systems, improving automation, providing guidance on secure and efficient API data workflows, and partnering with internal and external teams to produce clear user documentation, technical guides, and training resources.

The Assessment Technology Project Manager operates with considerable independence and initiative, reporting to the Principal Director of Test Administration within the Student Assessment Division. The role currently managed one employee. This position is critical to maintaining accessible, stable, and sustainable online testing technology for all Texas districts regardless of size or infrastructure limitations.

This position requires up to 5% travel, based on business needs, to support program initiatives, collaboration, and operational priorities.

Flexible work location within the state of Texas may be considered for qualified candidates.

Please note that a resume, tailored cover letter, and short answer responses are required attachments for applying to this position. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Essential Functions
Job duties are not limited to the essential functions mentioned below. You may perform other functions as assigned.

1) Vendor Collaboration & Specification Development: The Project Manager collaborates with TEA and vendor technical teams to build and refine system specifications for TIDE, TDS, CRS, and other assessmentrelated tools, ensuring these specifications reflect districtlevel realities such as network capacity, hardware availability, bandwidth constraints, and staff support levels. In this role, the Project Manager represents the district technology perspective during requirements, gathering sessions and user acceptance testing cycles, advocates for backward compatibility and low system requirements to maintain accessibility across all Texas districts, and participates in roadmap discussions to ensure district priorities and classroom realities drive future system enhancements.
2) Quality Assurance & Release Readiness: The Project Manager coordinates with TEA and vendors to ensure user acceptance testing (UAT) is conducted and signed off for every release, maintains and executes administrationspecific checklists to verify readiness for each testing window, including STAAR, TELPAS, and Alternate assessments, tracks and records all changes, issues, and postrelease findings to inform future improvements and version control, and develops and maintains a ¿lessons learned¿ archive to guide new feature requests and specification updates.
3) System Integration & Data Management: The Project Manager reviews and validates data exchanges between assessment systems and districts, collaborates with vendors to improve automation and reduce redundant manual work, and simplifies data imports and exports. Additionally, the Project Manager provides guidance on secure and efficient API data retrieval to ensure outputs are meaningful and manageable for district users, and supports the development of sample API calls, schemas, and bestpractice data workflows that districts can easily implement.
4) Documentation, Communication, & Training: The Project Manager partners with the division's publications team and vendors to improve and streamline user documentation, technical guides, and release notes. They translate technical specifications into clear, accessible guidance for district technology coordinators and test administrators, review and edit user guides, technical specifications, and FAQs for clarity and accuracy before statewide distribution, and contribute to the development of video tutorials, checklists, and districtfacing resources that simplify technology implementation. Additionally, the Project Manager collects and synthesizes feedback from district technology staff across the state to identify barriers to testing readiness and maintains records of system issues, feature requests, and usability trends for future development planning.
5) Team Management & Supervision: The Project Manager effectively leads and manages a highperforming team.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Graduation from an accredited fouryear college or university
Degree field(s): Information Technology, Education Technology, Computer Science, or related field
Experience: At least five [5] years of experience in education
Substitutions: An advanced degree may substitute for two years of required experience

Other Qualifications

• Share the belief that all Texas students can achieve at high levels and are able to succeed in college, career, or the military
• Experience with statewide assessment systems or other largescale technology deployments in K12 environments
• Experience with district technology infrastructure, including network setup, firewalls, content filters, device management, and software deployment
• Familiarity with TIDE, TDS, CRS, and their interactions with district SIS systems
• Knowledge of API integration, REST principles, and dataexchange formats (CSV, XML, JSON)
• Strong communication and documentation skills to translate between technical and nontechnical audiences.

New hires, rehires, and internal hires will typically receive a starting salary between the posted minimum and the average pay of employees within the same classification. Offers are based on the candidate's experience and qualifications and consider internal pay equity across employees performing similar work.

The top half of the posted salary range is generally reserved for candidates whose qualifications exceed the role's requirements. The maximum of the range is typically reserved for candidates who significantly exceed the required and preferred qualifications.

Benefits

TEA employees receive a comprehensive benefits package through the State of Texas and the Employee Retirement System of Texas (ERS), supporting health, financial security, and worklife balance.
Benefits include:

• Retirement through ERS and employerpaid health insurance for eligible employees
• Optional dental, vision, and dependent coverage
• Paid state holidays, vacation leave, sick leave, and longevity pay
• Wellness programs, employee assistance programs, and professional development opportunities
• Eligibility for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program

To learn more about benefits available to State of Texas employees, please review the State of Texas Employee Benefits brochure and visit the TEA Compensation and Benefits page .

Military/Veteran Information

Applicants eligible for Military Employment Preference will be considered in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

To explore how military experience may align with this role, applicants may review Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) codes within the State's Position Classification Plan. Please refer to the Military Crosswalk and select the occupational category that most closely corresponds with the classification listed in this job posting.

Additional Information

To learn more about working at TEA, including hiring timelines, process details, and candidate resources, please visit the Careers at TEA page .

Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to accept phone calls or respond to all email inquiries. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

To help ensure you receive updates regarding your application, please add [email protected] and @tea.texas.gov to your safe sender's list.

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