Local governments across the US are under increasing pressure to modernize.

Residents expect simpler digital services, agencies need stronger cybersecurity, and cloud and ERP programs are moving from long-term roadmap items into active delivery. On top of it all, AI is also now forcing every public-sector technology leader to think differently about systems, data, governance, and risk.

But modernization isn’t a technology challenge alone. For many cities and counties, the biggest barriers are:

• Whether they have the specialists in their workforce required to deliver that modernization while keeping essential services running
• The cost of modernizing and transitioning from legacy systems being prohibitively high, according to 71% of state and local government IT decision-makers, limiting their ability to innovate
• AI now overtaking cybersecurity as the number one technology priority for the first time after 12 years at the top

Despite AI rising fast, for local government, it can’t be treated as a standalone project. AI readiness depends on the fundamentals: modern systems, secure infrastructure, governed data, cloud capability, strong delivery teams, and clear risk frameworks.

As Jason Pho, Director of Technology Recruitment, at Talent New York puts it:

“AI might be the headline, but modernization is the work underneath it. Local governments need the right technology people in place before they can safely scale new tools, automate processes or use AI in a meaningful way.”

The legacy risk sitting inside local government teams

As of March 2024, local governments have 14.4 million people employed, representing 72.3% of the total state and local government workforce. And many of these agencies rely on long-serving employees who know the systems, vendors, processes, workarounds, and historical decisions that maintain service operations. This built knowledge is both extremely valuable and vulnerable, with 13.5% of federal employees currently eligible to retire and more than half (54%) of HR respondents in state and local government expecting the largest wave of retirements in the next few years.

When experienced employees retire or move on, local governments not only lose headcount but system history, vendor context, undocumented processes, stakeholder relationships, and practical delivery knowledge that may never have been formally written down.

Jason explains:

“The real risk is not just losing a person. It’s losing 15 or 20 years of knowledge about how a system actually works. That knowledge is often what keeps a modernization program moving.”

A city replacing a legacy ERP system or moving critical infrastructure to the cloud needs people who understand both the old environment and the future state. If that knowledge leaves before it’s captured, modernization can slow, cost more, or become harder to govern.

Hiring speed is now part of the modernization equation

Local government technology teams are being asked to modernize critical systems while operating with already lean internal resources. And when hiring pathways are slow, unclear, or overly complex, the workforce challenge quickly becomes a delivery risk.

Strong technology candidates in the market are used to clear briefs, timely feedback, and faster decision-making, and if the process takes too long, cities and counties risk losing the people they need before they reach interview or offer stage.

This is especially important for roles tied directly to modernization, including:

• ERP and Oracle Cloud specialists
• Cybersecurity and Microsoft security professionals
• Cloud, infrastructure and data engineers
• Business systems analysts
• Project managers and PMO specialists
• Application support and helpdesk talent

In many programs, one missing project manager, security specialist, systems analyst, or cloud engineer can affect delivery timelines and stretch internal teams even further.

Hiring speed shouldn’t mean lowering standards, but removing unnecessary drag, tightening the brief, aligning decision-makers earlier, and giving candidates confidence in the open opportunity.

For local government, recruitment is no longer just an administrative process but an essential part of how modernization gets delivered.

A new opportunity to attract talent

As AI, automation, restructures and cost reduction reshape private-sector technology teams, candidates are also reassessing what they want from work. For many technology professionals, stability has become a much stronger motivator. Benefits, work-life balance, purpose and meaningful impact are also carrying more weight, creating a timely opportunity for local governments.

While local governments might not always compete with the private sector on salary alone, they can compete on stability, benefits, purpose, community impact, and the chance to modernize systems that residents and public servants rely on every day.

This is especially relevant for younger technology professionals. Research has found that younger state and local government employees are also often drawn to public-sector roles by job security, work-life balance, health insurance and community service. But attracting this audience still takes the right approach. Many younger candidates may not naturally consider local government technology roles unless the opportunity is positioned clearly and brought to them through the right channels.

For local governments, the opportunity lies in repositioning candidate messaging from “Come work in government” to “Help modernize the systems and services your community relies on.”

Jason shares:

“The strongest candidates aren’t only looking at compensation. Stability is playing a much bigger role, especially for technology professionals who have seen how quickly the private market can shift. Local government has a stronger story than many agencies realize, and that story needs to be positioned properly.”

For a cloud engineer, that means improving infrastructure behind essential local services. For a cybersecurity analyst, it means protecting resident data and public trust. For an ERP project manager, helping a city move away from outdated systems that slow service delivery.

What local governments should prioritize now

Modernization requires both project and workforce planning and cities and counties should be asking:

• Which roles are critical to delivery?
• Which internal employees hold the most legacy system knowledge?
• What knowledge needs to be captured before those people leave?
• Which skills are missing from the current team?
• Where would contract talent reduce delivery risk?
• How can we make the hiring process faster without lowering standards?

For some government agencies, the answer will be permanent hiring. For others, contract talent may be the faster and lower-risk way to support a critical phase of delivery, particularly around ERP migration, cybersecurity uplift, cloud transformation, infrastructure upgrades, or post-go-live support.

The key is to connect recruitment strategy directly to modernization risk.

City of Durham: Keeping an Oracle Cloud transformation moving

The City of Durham was replacing legacy technology with Oracle Cloud and needed specialist IT contractors who could support the program fast.

The transformation was business-critical, time-sensitive, and dependent on finding local technology talent with the right mix of Oracle, Microsoft security, and project delivery experience. Without the right people in place, the risk was clear: timelines could slow, internal teams could be stretched further, and the wider modernization program could lose momentum.

Talent worked quickly to identify local candidates who met the technical brief and were available within the required timeframe.

The result:

• Relevant local candidates identified within seven days of briefing
• Candidates available to start within two weeks
• 15 interviews carried out
• Three placements made across Oracle Technical, Microsoft Security Administrator, and Oracle Project Manager roles

This example reinforces the workforce challenge behind modernization. When specialist roles stay open, delivery risk increases, and when the right people are found, qualified and engaged quickly, modernization can keep moving.

The workforce will decide the pace of modernization

Modernization will not wait for local government hiring processes to catch up, and technology transformation will always depend on people.

For cities and counties, the next step is making sure workforce planning is built into modernization from the start. That means understanding where specialist capability is needed, where internal knowledge needs to be protected, and where faster access to technology talent can reduce delivery risk.

Local governments have a strong story to tell technology candidates, and the opportunity now is to make that story clear, move with purpose, and bring in the people who can help turn modernization plans into progress.

Your modernization plans depend on the people behind them.

As Government IT recruitment specialists, we help cities, counties, and public sector organizations secure the technology talent needed to modernize systems, protect critical services, and deliver progress for the communities they serve.

If you are planning your next phase of IT transformation, let’s talk about the people who will make it happen.