He worked as a group home direct support staff while in graduate school at the University of Mississippi, and later served as a behavior specialist and as a director of residential programs moving people out of a large institutional setting in Mississippi. Allen returned home to Georgia and spent five years in the Georgia IDD provider community before joining DBHDD in 2007.

Allen came to DBHDD as an investigator and later served as senior investigations manager. In 2015, Allen served as a Regional Service Administrator in Region 1 before being promoted to director of field operations. In December 2023, Allen was asked to serve as Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations North (Regions 1, 2, & 3).

Allen holds a Master of Arts in clinical psychology from the University of Mississippi and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Georgia. He and his wife, Michele, are the proud parents of three children and grandparents of four grandchildren.