Senior Program Manager

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.

As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.

Position summary

Nava is at the forefront of reimagining how our government serves its people, and we’re looking for a Program Manager to lead the delivery and client engagement efforts on a group of strategic contracts.

At Nava, members of the Program leadership team are responsible for client trust and relationships, team clarity and health, staffing, contract management / profit & loss, and organic growth. Details are in the What You’ll Do section below.

Nava's Program Managers have 10+ years of experience overseeing delivery outcomes and client relationships for a set of large-sized projects to create positive delivery environments.

What you’ll do

• Exceed the expectations of our government partners by cultivating strong, trusting relationships and maintaining high situational awareness at the agency level
• Proactively detect risks and work collaboratively with the delivery team and program stakeholders to effectively resolve them (issues can span delivery, process, culture, expectation setting, staffing, contract milestones, finances)
• Engage our clients on a continuing basis to ensure their needs are met or exceeded, understand their vision, collaboratively solve issues, and communicate our progress transparently
• Maintain awareness of the broader project landscape and potential for new opportunities and risks and grow your program accordingly with surge contract line item numbers (CLINs), option years, and negotiations with subcontractors.
• Collaborate across projects and across the organization to proactively anticipate and solve problems across delivery
• Support the creation of delivery environments built on mutual trust between government partners and our team
• Scale efforts through a team of project managers and other functional delivery leads
• Manage all the contracts and finances on within your portfolio in coordination with the finance team and coordinate necessary contract modifications
• Set and uphold standards for delivery excellence and client service
• Apply Nava's policies and guidance at the program level (E.g. utilization guidance)
• Participate in developing on and delivering company objectives and key results

Required skills

• Must have experience with Custom Software or Cloud infrastructure programs/projects
• Must work east coast hours and easily travel to Richmond, VA by direct flight, short connecting flight OR train/car
• Experience working with or for state government agencies, with solid understanding of government contracting, compliance, and importance of audit trails
• Experience with leading and growing agile development teams and the challenges of managing a project at scale, whether you inherited that team or built it from scratch
• Ability to demonstrate experience leading large-scale projects with significant complexity, including managing milestones, dependencies, and integrations with significant risk, uncertainty or scale
• Experience using agile frameworks like scrum, kanban, or SAFe and familiarity with agile development practices such as continuous integration and continuous delivery
• You are an empathetic communicator and relationship builder – you take a service-oriented approach to supporting the program team and our clients
• Adaptable problem solving and ability to deal with multi-dimensional challenges involving many organizations, processes, cultures, and technologies
• You are highly organized and care deeply about building and growing a sustainable, culture-conscious business
• A strategic approach to delivery planning and contract management over the medium-term and long-term
• An iterative approach to execution that emphasizes rapid team progress
• Ability to maintain broader situational awareness beyond the immediate team
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Desired skills

• Previous experience in managing Paid Family Leave Benefits Programs, either in-house or as a vendor
• Strong preference for experience working with Commonwealth of Virginia
• Experience working closely with or inside state government (or local government of major cities like NYC, LA, Chicago, or Houston)
• Proven track record of building and leading high-performing, agile technology teams of 50+ staff
• Experience launching new production systems with high public visibility
• Experience with long term, complex, and ambiguous IT modernization efforts
• Experience with using common project management tools like Jira and Confluence
• Track record of introducing and expanding agile transformation and pursuing best practices in project management with clients and stakeholders
• Experience managing projects that provide production operations and support alongside ongoing product/feature development

Compensation

$157,500—$177,300 USD

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

Legal authorization to work in the United States

Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired

Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future

May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract

Perks working with Nava

Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs

Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost

Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge

Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO

Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus

Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home

Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools

Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through a virtual visit program (depending on available providers)

Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest

401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan

Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities

Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs

Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses

Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills

Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs

Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team

Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable

Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care

Location

We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states:

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time.

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We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Nava is committed to providing equal employment opportunities without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, gender and/or gender identity or expression, color, creed, religion, religious creed, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran or military status, sex, sexual orientation, reproductive health autonomy, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, genetic information, domestic violence victim status, marital status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nava prohibits any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all employees, applicants, contractors, and temporary workers of Nava.