Program Management Office (PMO) Director

Novalink Solutions • Olympia, WA

2d

About The Position

The Workers’ Compensation System Modernization (WCSM) Program aims to replace a 40 ‑year ‑old, highly fragmented legacy environment (100+ systems, 40+ languages) used by the Insurance Services Division to administer workers’ compensation in Washington State. The program is moving from a mainframe ‑centric model to a cloud‑first, more agile model, modernizing business processes and online services for claims, employer services (state fund and self ‑insured), and external partners such as medical and vocational providers. The program was paused in 2025 due to limited progress and restarted in January 2026 under WaTech leadership, with a waved implementation roadmap (starting with Waves 0 and 1 in the 2025–27 biennium).

The PMO Director will partner with the WCSM Program Director to evaluate program objectives and structure, recommend a restructured operating model, and establish a new WCSM PMO within WaTech. The role’s purpose is to implement foundational project management controls, plans, and standards that improve decision ‑making, operational efficiency, and delivery across the program’s portfolio of modernization projects.

Requirements

• active PMP (or equivalent)
• 10+ years of program/project management on similarly large efforts
• at least 5 years leading large‑scale projects
• experience with large IT/business modernization portfolios
• experience with state or local government
• experience with complex business transformations
• experience with vendor management
• experience with standard PMO processes (risk/issue, change, budget, schedule, status)
• experience with tools like Microsoft Project
• demonstrated ability to lead diverse teams and build trust with executives and oversight bodies

Nice To Haves

• workers’ compensation professional certification
• demonstrated use of AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini) to make project management more efficient

Responsibilities

• Establish, lead, and maintain the PMO; define and maintain templates, tools, processes, and standards; build program‑level reporting, metrics, and trend analysis; and coordinate with contracted resources to manage critical paths.
• Plan large projects and sub‑projects, build integrated work plans and schedules, manage resources and budgets, oversee multiple concurrent projects, monitor and escalate risks and issues, and ensure structured project closeout with lessons learned.
• Stand up and operationalize program governance bodies (steering committee, change control board, architecture and automation governance boards) and ensure timely, accurate status and escalation for decisions.
• Ensure adequate project budgeting, standard expenditure reporting, and effective use of state and federal funds; lead procurement, contract, and vendor management practices; support vendor integration and SOW execution/deliverable review.
• Lead communications workstreams, ensure consistent information flow across state government stakeholders, facilitate key meetings, and build strong partnerships with impacted groups to support planning and change management.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed