Position Summary:
The Lead Information Technologist serves as the knowledge expert for the design, development, and implementation of application programs. Utilizes advanced concepts, techniques, and languages. Leads the programming team to ensure success of programs written.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Leads and guides team members on specific projects or tasks, ensuring that team members clearly understand their deliverables.
• Participates in Business Case Definition for new/enhanced products and services.
• Responsible for critical decisions that may affect the overall success of the team, process or program, and that could significantly impact the business area, key initiative and involve financial success or failure.
• Recommends enhancements to existing products and customer-specific jobs.
• Partners with sales and the customer to recommend new products and services.
• Develops and implements processes to prevent reoccurring problems.
• Recommends concepts, designs and standards in multiple programming languages, and platforms.
• Leads or functions as a key member on the definition, analysis and design of major applications or products.
• Contains analytical and/or technical expertise within a line of business or discipline.
• Informs appropriate personnel inside and outside of the Company about events that will affect them.
• Builds and maintains relationships with internal and external customers. Gains an understanding of the customer and their business.
• Evaluates ongoing production support costs and investigates cost reduction ideas.
• Addresses complex problems, initiates solutions and establishes workable guidelines and procedures.
• Leads the development of business processes and procedures.
• Designs and constructs common functions, services and databases, and ‘markets' to IT teams.
• Works with Infrastructure to build appropriate test environments.
• Performs integration testing.
• Can effectively plan and manage large system and infrastructure related project implementations.
• Writes reusable code segments such as objects or modules.
• Programs Inter-platform messaging and Application Program Interfaces (API's) between operating systems (e.g., UNIX-MVS, MVS-M204, MVS-PC).
• Creates complete project documentation to include job steps, input/output files, flowcharts, parameter definitions, job prerequisites, interfaces, operational instructions and troubleshooting information.
• Mentors all programmer/analysts.

Secondary Responsibilities:

• Makes presentations to customers or Polk representatives as requested.
• May represent Polk as a business expert at industry, community and academic events.
• Performs other duties as requested by management.

Relationships/Contacts:
Works closely with other departments within Information Technology, customers, and sales and production teams.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with five to seven years' related job experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Advanced multiple languages skills (depending on the department) in ALC, COBOL, JCL, MARG, PL/1, QUICK, C, C++, DHTML, HTML, Java, PL/SQL, Visual Basic, XML, Macros, and/or other Scripting Languages.
• Advanced knowledge of such platforms as IMS, M204, MVS, AIX, NT, UNIX, and Windows 9x.
• Strong conceptual thinking.
• Ability to effectively communicate technical or abstract concepts.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and communication skills.
• Understands of the purpose and functionality of the majority of Polk's products and organizational processes.
• Understands data files and common data processing functions.
• Understands the methodology to define, analyze and design an automated solution.
• Understands sequential, indexed, random and/or relational file access methods and how they can be applied.
• Proficient at using testing tools (Debugger).
• Proficient at using scheduling/process tools (e.g.: Control-M/D, KRON, Visual Source Safe, etc…)
• Knowledgeable of multiple file access methods, including databases.
• Advanced knowledge of hardware and operating system capabilities in multiple environments.
• Understands connections between platforms and how to move data between them. Ability to competently navigate/operate platform specific command sets, utilities, and tools (e.g: IEBCOPY, KRON, File Networking/Sharing).
• Can successfully operate language compilers, language interpreters, and system outputs (e.g.: JES logs, UNIX command outputs, log files).
• Knowledgeable in available file management systems and their use.
• Ability to use code debugging tools (e.g.,.Interdev)
• Has the ability to develop a financial business case.
• Excellent leadership/facilitation skills.
• Excellent presentation skills.