Program Manager - Mission Critical Operations

AECOM • Arlington, VA

2d • $180,000 - $225,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

AECOM is seeking Program Manager - Mission Critical Operations, a key level role for mission critical operations. This role will operate at cross section between multiple divisional personnel, senior leadership, program management, and key stakeholders.

Key focus areas include:
Program Management and Staff Advancement
Develop Best practice implementation for scalable operations
Program governance with seamless change management
Employee Development
Strategic Planning and Organizational Structure
Sustainable operations through defined process management
Resiliency and redundancy for mission critical operations
Operational maturity through continuous improvement
Business Development
Opportunity assessment and proposal management
Client development and stakeholder alignment
Industry knowledge and technology solutions
This role will provide senior leadership and strategic oversight for the successful delivery of mission critical programs to include data center projects, large scale energy users, and 24/7/365 uptime operations.
The role has been established to strengthen leadership readiness for critical data center pursuits and a create structured organizational approach to resilient program management. This role operates at the intersection of business development, client management, and project delivery, ensuring that client pursuits are competitive, programs are executed efficiently, and financial and operational objectives are achieved.
Partner closely with executive leadership, program managers, client account managers, and discipline leaders to support revenue growth, client satisfaction, and operational excellence across mission critical and data center programs. This position is ideal for a highly organized, business-minded leader with deep experience in managing complex data center/mission critical programs and supporting major proposal pursuits.
The role sets the overall direction for the program, establishing the governance structures, delivery environment, and management systems required to achieve client, project, and operational outcomes. Acting as the primary leader for program-wide integration and performance, supports functional leads across all aspects of delivery to ensure coordinated, safe, compliant, and efficient execution. The role promotes innovation, technology integration, and sustainability while fostering a collaborative, high-performing, and safety-led culture. The Mission Critical lead contributes to talent development, capability building, and organizational knowledge sharing within the mission critical sector.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of related experience or demonstrated equivalency of experience and/or education, including 2 years of leadership experience.
• Proven experience delivering programs within mission critical environments, managing complex data center operations.
• Demonstrated capability integrating multidisciplinary teams across technical, project delivery, operational readiness, and stakeholder management functions.
• Professional program or project management certification (e.g., PMP) preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build and mentor performing program leadership teams.
• Experience with managing US Federal Government projects and cleared environments
• Relevant experience leading contacts, managing people, budgets, schedules, overseeing subcontractor performance, and working with stakeholders and governing agencies.
• Experience with asset validation, commissioning, and lifecycle management of facility MEP systems.
• Expertise in building operational maturity for program development and participation in Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) assessments.
• Demonstrated business development proficiency through program growth, proposal management, client development, and stakeholder alignment.

Nice To Haves

• Clearance preferred – TS/SCI with CI polygraph.
• 12 years of related experience with 5+ in a leadership role.
• Strong understanding of safety culture, regulatory compliance, assurance, and governance expectations.
• OSHA 30 certification with experience creating a strong safety culture.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior leadership and strategic direction across the mission critical program lifecycle, ensuring alignment with project objectives, client needs, regulatory requirements, and organizational priorities.
• Establish and maintain robust program governance frameworks to enable effective decision-making, assurance, and executive oversight in safety-critical environments.
• Direct and integrate senior delivery leaders accountable for technical, commercial, operational readiness, stakeholder, and systems delivery across the program.
• Lead, coach, and develop program leadership and delivery teams, supporting high performance, capability development, succession planning, and knowledge transfer.
• Proactively identifies potential program problems or opportunities, analyzes the issues using all appropriate resources, develops alternatives and arrives at the most optimum approach to mitigate problems or exploit opportunities.
• Leads cross-functional teams and coordinates activities across multiple departments to ensure program objectives are met.
• Establishes and maintains strong relationships with key stakeholders, including clients, vendors, and executive leadership.
• Implements and oversees risk management strategies to identify, assess, and mitigate potential program risks.
• Drives continuous improvement initiatives to enhance program management processes and methodologies.

Benefits

• AECOM benefits may include medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, disability benefits, paid time off, leaves of absences, voluntary benefits, perks, flexible work options, well-being resources, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, service recognition awards, retirement savings plan, and employee stock purchase plan.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees