Program Manager

Program Manager
Onsite 3 days/wk
Local to Columbus preferred

Description:
Diversified Systems is searching for a Program Manager to direct, control, and administer programs and projects within the organization. The Program Manager is ultimately responsible for the execution of assigned projects and management of the project team. The Program Manager's primary responsibility is to drive initiatives from start to finish and ensure that each program or project is completed on schedule and that the final product meets the business, technical, and established quality requirements.

The Program Manager must have proven experience with a technical specialty across large and complex implementations and systems.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the complete lifecycle of projects, including initiation, planning, requirements gathering, execution, and closure.
• Ensure project compliance with established agency and project management standards and procedures.
• Develop a detailed program/project plan, including identification of project needs and definition of tasks and milestones, all based on scope, budget, and resources.
• Be accountable for delivery of all work tasks identified in the program/project plan.
• Capture and report required program/project management metrics.
• Ensure all changes to scope follow established change procedures and are documented.
• Manage the scope of the program/project and gain agreement and approval of scope changes with the project sponsor and affected stakeholders.
• Manage and track program/project progress against the program/project plan.
• Monitor project milestones and phases to ensure the project is on schedule. Take corrective actions if a project begins to slip its schedule.
• Prepare weekly status reports for the program/project team, project sponsor(s), team leads, group leads, and appropriate stakeholders.
• Plan, organize, prioritize, and manage multiple work efforts across teams.
• Tailor and baseline all program/project templates.
• Schedule or monitor status reviews, peer reviews, program/project management inspections, and software quality assurance work product and process reviews with the appropriate designated resources.
• Notify team leads of project timelines, milestones, phases, work requests, and target dates.
• Communicate and work with users, external partners/vendors, and other State agencies as necessary.
• Analyze and distribute reports on program/project metrics associated with work items.
• Obtain approval and sign-off of the program/project plan from the project sponsor and all affected program/project stakeholders.
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and the project sponsor.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all program/project-related issues and resolution of issues.
• Anticipate issues and proactively address them.
• Coordinate and present proposals to agencies as necessary.
• Identify and manage program/project risk, develop risk mitigation strategies, and track risks to closure.
• Develop and facilitate achievement of program/project service commitments and performance metrics.
• Ensure that tasks provide value, support the strategic direction of the program/project, and meet service commitments. Conduct reviews with stakeholders.
• Conduct the final program/project management evaluation review with stakeholders for approval upon program/project completion.
• Communicate effectively with customers and software/hardware suppliers supporting the State as appropriate.
• Balance workload with program/project team members' capacity.
• Communicate with team members on how their work assignments relate to and help achieve program/project objectives.
• Plan program/project-specific training and orientation needs.

Requirements:

• 10 years of Project/Program Management experience required.
• 10 years of experience with full lifecycle implementation projects from requirements definition through implementation required.
• 4-year college degree or equivalent technical study highly desired.
• Certification in Program or Project Management (PMP, PMI-ACP, Prosci Change Management, ITIL) required.
• Experience leading implementation or enhancement projects for SaaS, PaaS, and COTS vendor platforms required.
• Ability to effectively communicate with written and verbal communication to all levels of an organization, from front line staff to C-level executives required.
• Ability to manage complex, multi-system programs over extended periods of delivery cycles required.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams across business, legal, compliance, IT, and vendors required.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills applied to multi-system impact analysis, risk mitigation, and cross-agency coordination required.
• Proficiency in use of project management software required.
• Extensive experience managing vendor-led projects including triage, prioritization, contracts, SLAs, and backlog grooming required.
• Experience coordinating multi-vendor environments and cross-platform integrations required.
• Experience managing Agile projects with the use of Azure DevOps required.
• Experience integrating APIs across government systems or multi-vendor platforms required.
• Experience managing IT projects in regulated environments, including compliance, licensing, medical systems, and audit-driven applications required.
• Experience with data privacy, security, and compliance considerations required.
• Experience with web platform redesigns or public website development, especially involving system integrations highly desired.
• Experience in data modeling or BI/reporting tools highly desired.
• Experience with QR code/product labeling technologies highly desired.
• Familiarity with medical or cannabis regulatory technology highly desired.
• Government and/or Public Sector project experience highly desired.
• Experience with seed-to-sale or inventory tracking systems highly desired.
• Experience with public-facing data portals or dashboards highly desired.
• Experience with licensing systems, case management systems, or compliance operations highly desired.
• Experience supporting public-facing portals with high-volume constituent or licensee interactions highly desired.
• Experience managing projects involving significant policy or legislative changes highly desired.
• Experience with state government procurement processes, RFP development, and vendor selection highly desired.
• Change management experience highly desired.
• Business analysis experience highly desired.
• Conflict resolution skills highly desired.

About Diversified Systems
Founded in 1990, Diversified Systems is an award-winning Technology Services corporation providing all levels of IT project consulting services nationwide. DSI is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with regional offices in the American Midwest and East Coast. We offer our consultants a number of flexible and competitive compensation benefit packages.

Diversified Systems is committed to the principles of equal employment. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities, and all other employment laws and regulations.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
DSI values authenticity and is committed to making sure our employees and partners are valued and respected. At DSI, we believe building a diverse culture is important because we know when people work together, we can achieve better results as a team. DSI realizes that everyone comes from various backgrounds. We celebrate these differences because our employees are our greatest asset as we strive to best meet the needs of those we serve. As part of our ongoing efforts, DSI is focused on advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion by setting high standards to continually evolve our culture. This includes but is not limited to recruiting, community involvement, client delivery, and career development.