Head of Product Delivery & PI Planner

TISTA Science and Technology Corporation•Rockville, MD

3d•Remote

About The Position

TISTA is seeking a senior delivery leader for Product Line Management Support on its prime contract for the Department of Veterans Affairs Supply Chain Management DevSecOps task order. The role leads delivery across the VA supply chain and logistics Product Line, including the Sub-Product Line Leads for Prosthetics, Expendable Inventory Management, and Healthcare Technology and Asset Management, as well as the Intake Team. It owns quarterly PI Planning end to end, the Product Line Strategic Roadmap, the Program Backlog, and the Quarterly PI Report. Beyond the contract, the position serves as TISTA's product delivery practice lead for the SCM Domain. It owns reusable PI Planning, intake and estimation, and roadmap practices; represents TISTA to VA Product Line leadership; and develops future Sub-Product Line Leads and Release Train Engineers. The role is based at TISTA's Rockville, Maryland facility or remotely within the continental United States, with up to 25% CONUS travel. TISTA describes its work as meaningful and mission-driven, supporting Veterans and VA supply chain and logistics. The company highlights learning and internal mobility, and offers healthcare and other benefits.

Requirements

At least 12 years of IT delivery experience.
At least 5 years leading product line, portfolio, or release train delivery across multiple concurrent products on federal IT programs.
At least 5 years in SAFe leadership roles such as Release Train Engineer, Solution Train Engineer, or Portfolio Lead, facilitating PI Planning and managing cross-team dependencies at scale.
At least 3 years leading multidisciplinary teams of 20 or more across architecture, engineering, data, test, security, and release functions.
Experience facilitating end-to-end PI Planning for multiple ARTs or product lines, including capacity planning, dependency management, and planned-versus-actual reporting.
Experience with VA OIT product line management, including the VIP Guide, PLM Transformation Playbook, VA PARS, TRM, and ATO/A&A processes.
Experience leading concurrent legacy sustainment and modernization delivery sequenced against enterprise program dependencies.
Knowledge of SAFe PI Planning, ART and Solution Train coordination, Scrum of Scrums, Inspect and Adapt, and Lean Portfolio Management.
Knowledge of roadmap and backlog management, Epic-to-Feature-to-Story decomposition, and Requirements Analysis Proposal development and estimation modeling.
Ability to define, interpret, and report Agile and DORA metrics.
Experience with Jira, Confluence, GitHub, ServiceNow, SharePoint, Smartsheet, MS Project, and Power Apps or Power Automate for intake workflows.
Knowledge of risk and issue management, VA PARS, and POA&M tracking.
Working knowledge of DevSecOps pipelines, cloud platforms, integration patterns, and legacy VistA coexistence sufficient to govern delivery across the four delivery paths.
Required certification: SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) or SAFe Program Consultant (SPC).
Required certification: SAFe Agilist (SA) or SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM).
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
Must obtain a Tier 2 / Moderate Risk Background Investigation under VA Handbook 0710 and be able to obtain a VA PIV credential.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.
SAFe Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) certification.
PMP or PgMP certification.
ITIL 4 Foundation certification.
Security+ or equivalent, with understanding of ATO/RMF.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the Sub-Product Line Leads and Intake Team as an integrated delivery organization, and serve as the primary day-to-day delivery counterpart to VA Product Line leadership, Product Managers, and Product Owners.
Own delivery performance for Product Line Management Support, including on-time, accepted delivery of product line deliverables; report status, risks, and recommendations to the IT Program Manager.
Chair the product line leads forum and Scrum of Scrums, serve as the escalation point between Sub-Product Line Leads and the IT Program Manager, and coordinate day-to-day delivery with Team TISTA partner.
Own quarterly PI Planning end to end, including agendas, pre-read materials, backlog readiness, capacity planning, dependency identification and resolution, PI risk register, SWOT alignment, PI Planning Summary Report, and Quarterly PI Report of planned versus actual objectives.
Own the Product Line Strategic Roadmap and Program Backlog, consolidate Sub-Product Line roadmaps into a sequenced plan, and re-baseline as VA priorities change.
Sequence sustainment, modernization, enhancement, and decommissioning work into deployment windows aligned to EHRM, FMBT/iFAMS, and EAM/CMMS schedules.
Direct the Agile Services (RTE) function on PI execution, Inspect and Adapt, and ART-level metrics, and set Agile and DORA metrics standards across Scrum Teams.
Direct the Intake Team and ensure the Intake SOP, INTAKE Tool, and Intake Workspace are live within 20 days of award and each request receives an Intake within five days covering scope, level of effort, skill sets, team sizing, labor mix, risks, and timeline.
Ensure each Intake passes architecture reuse and security boundary reviews before approval and is cascaded into Sub-Product Line backlogs after contract modification signature.
Partner with the Deputy IT Program Manager to translate approved INTAKEs into staffing plans and Scrum Team activations.
Track and manage Authority to Operate activities across the product line with Cyber Security leads and report ATO and Section 508 status monthly.
Assist VA with defining application requirements, decomposing Epics into Features and User Stories, and identifying impacts to legacy and dependent systems as capabilities are introduced or retired.
Own product line risk and issue analysis in VA PARS and Jira, and support Program Management Review briefing slides.
Own innovation trend analysis, including baseline metrics, modernization roadmap structure, AI-driven analytics use cases, software obsolescence, and technical refresh planning per the VA TRM.
Identify and shape account growth through Scrum Team activations and new products entering the portfolio; contribute to TISTA proposals, orals, and technical challenges as delivery approach lead.
Manage the Sub-Product Line Leads and Intake Team, define screening criteria for delivery hires, and maintain the bench so Scrum Teams can stand up within the activation window.
Own and improve TISTA's PI Planning playbook, intake and estimation model, and roadmap templates; support corporate process improvement, CMMI, and ISO activities.