Program Director

eSimplicity•Columbia, MD

36d•$156,500 - $187,700•Remote

About The Position

The Program Director will provide executive leadership for eSimplicity’s support of a large-scale federal data and analytics modernization program. The program includes mission-critical production services and long-horizon modernization across cloud platform operations, governed data assets, analytics products, public-facing reporting, APIs, user support, documentation, and AI-enabled capabilities. This role is responsible for overall program performance, strategic alignment with the customer, contract and budget governance, stakeholder escalation, and delivery health. The Program Director will operate in a transparent, collaborative delivery model with customer product owners, contracting stakeholders, security and privacy stakeholders, data owners, product teams, and partner organizations. This role is ideal for a candidate who thrives in a dynamic environment and is adept at navigating a complex, evolving program that must simultaneously sustain production operations and drive long-horizon modernization across a multi-year period of performance.

Requirements

10+ years in IT consulting, with significant agile project/program management experience in the federal government space.
All candidates must pass public trust clearance through the U.S. Federal Government. This requires candidates to either be U.S. citizens or pass clearance through the Foreign National Government System which will require that candidates have lived within the United States for at least 3 out of the previous 5 years, have a valid and non-expired passport from their country of birth and appropriate VISA/work permit documentation
Bachelor’s degree
Demonstrated ability to lead large, complex, multi-team cloud data, analytics, platform, or digital services programs in close partnership with Government or enterprise stakeholders.
Experience providing executive-level program governance, stakeholder escalation, risk management, delivery transparency, performance reporting, and budget or contract oversight.
Deep understanding of CMS policies, regulations, and security and privacy expectations, with direct experience in Medicaid, CHIP, or comparable federal data and reporting programs.
Strong grasp of program financials, staffing, and subcontract management, with a track record of maintaining budget integrity and operational excellence.
Ability to lead teams operating through SAFe Agile or comparable multi-team agile delivery models, including PI Planning, cross-team coordination, backlog transparency, demos, retrospectives, and continuous improvement.
Working understanding of cloud operations, DevSecOps, data engineering, metadata maturity, business intelligence and analytics, public-facing reporting, API services, AI governance, user support, documentation, and change management.
Ability to oversee delivery in customer-approved systems of record for work management, source control, documentation, collaboration, dashboarding, observability, and reporting.
Knowledge of federal security, privacy, accessibility, data-use, and Government data-rights expectations applicable to systems handling sensitive Government information.
Ability to comply with customer-specific security, privacy, accessibility, quality, training, and data-handling requirements for assigned systems and data.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting federal, public sector, healthcare, or other regulated data, analytics, oversight, reporting, or public transparency programs.
Experience leading enterprise data platform, governed self-service analytics, public dashboard, API, AI/ML, or cloud modernization programs.
Familiarity with modern cloud platforms, data platforms, data catalogs, infrastructure-as-code tools, source control, work management tools, collaboration platforms, BI tools, identity services, observability platforms, and security tooling.
Experience with cost management, continuity planning, transition-in and transition-out activities, joint operating agreements, and cross-vendor or cross-program coordination.
Preferred certifications may include PMP, PgMP, SAFe Lean Portfolio Management, SAFe Release Train Engineer, SAFe Agilist, FinOps, cloud, data governance, or security certifications.

Responsibilities

Provide executive accountability for program performance, strategic alignment, contract and budget governance, stakeholder escalation, and overall delivery health.
Lead an integrated, multi-team delivery model that maintains coverage across platform foundations, cloud operations, security, data supply chain, metadata, governed data asset operations, analytics experience, dashboard governance, public-facing products, AI and advanced platform enablement, external exchange, APIs, partner integrations, user success, documentation, and change management.
Maintain a highly collaborative operating model that gives customer personnel continuous visibility into code, documentation, backlogs, metrics, dashboards, risks, decisions, and operational status in approved systems of record.
Oversee program deliverables and management artifacts, including roadmap and PI Planning packages, monthly status, risk, and performance reporting, quality inputs, staffing and retention information, transition-in and transition-out readiness, and continuity planning.
Provide leadership over applicable coverage areas, including cross-cutting program leadership, architecture coordination, product management, engineering operations, data operations, support operations, domain expertise, and enterprise stakeholder engagement.
Promote reuse, portability, documentation quality, customer ownership of artifacts, and sustainable operations across code, infrastructure, analytics products, runbooks, AI configurations, metadata, service guides, and transition materials.
Serve as the primary interface to client leadership, product owners, and security stakeholders, cloud and platform partners, product teams, and directed policy or operations groups owning stakeholder escalation and maintaining a collaborative, responsive, and trusting relationship.
Collaborate with government partners on the strategic direction of the program, confirming alignment with agency data strategy imperatives and measurable progress toward program goals.
Ensure program management practices make outcomes measurable across service reliability, data quality, delivery flow, engineering health, security and compliance, user success, analytics adoption, cost transparency, AI services, AIOps, and metadata maturity.
Foster a badge-less culture of innovation and continuous improvement, driving cross-functional team success and coordinating across related programs and platform teams.