Program Manager - DEL

Leidos•Fort Belvoir, VA

2d•$107,900 - $195,050•Onsite

About The Position

Leidos is seeking an experienced Program Manager to lead and grow the DTRA Experimentation Lab (DEL) Program in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. As key personnel, the Program Manager provides overall program leadership and serves as the primary integrator between the Leidos team and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Research and Development (RD) Directorate. The role ensures customer projects, service desk requests, and operational priorities are tracked, coordinated, and completed on schedule while maintaining high standards of customer service and mission support. The Program Manager translates evolving mission needs into executable technical and operational outcomes, communicates with technical personnel and senior nontechnical stakeholders, and coordinates across DTRA customers and stakeholders, including the RD Directorate, DTRA J6, facilities stakeholders, and DTRA cybersecurity offices. The Program Manager leads the program’s technical approach, day-to-day operations, infrastructure sustainment, cybersecurity coordination, and modernization initiatives. Modernization focus areas include artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), engineering-task automation, and improvements to reliability, efficiency, security, and mission effectiveness. The role works with Leidos finance, contracts, and technical leadership to maintain appropriate staffing and execute within the contract budget, while supporting technical innovation and meeting the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Responsibilities also include planning budgets for staffing and overseeing software licenses, hardware, infrastructure, and anticipated travel requirements, as applicable. The successful candidate leads with credibility, accountability, sound technical judgment, empathy, integrity, and mission focus. They empower Leidos and partner personnel, enable government customers and other performers, identify and manage program risks, and drive measurable outcomes. The role requires decisive leadership, clear recommendations, the ability to explain financial, technical, and security-related decisions, and disciplined execution in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment. DTRA’s mission is to enable the Department of Defense, the Interagency, and International Partners to counter and deter Weapons of Mass Destruction and Improvised Threat Networks. DEL serves as DTRA’s focal point for IT integration, innovation, and collaboration; supports customers’ missions and cross-RD advanced research and development initiatives; maintains awareness of and competence in trending technologies; and provides opportunities to leverage existing RD assets for operational and technical requirements. Success includes achieving modernization and operational milestones on schedule and within contract and budget constraints; communicating technical risks, tradeoffs, and impacts to support informed stakeholder decisions; mitigating technical, operational, financial, contractual, and organizational risks; maintaining continuous Authority to Operate (ATO) authorization and cyber credibility during modernization and migration; and sustaining trusted relationships across Leidos, subcontractors, and government partners.

Requirements

BA/BS or equivalent experience and at least 5 years of prior relevant experience, or a master’s degree and at least 3 years of prior relevant experience; specific experience, education, and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Experience autonomously guiding complex projects and operations across multiple related IT disciplines throughout the project lifecycle.
At least 2 years of experience supervising or leading teams or projects.
Active DoW Secret-level security clearance at the time of consideration.
Ability to obtain Top Secret clearance and eligibility for SCI at the time of consideration.
Ability to lead with technical credibility, accountability, sound technical judgment, empathy, integrity, and mission focus.
Ability to communicate effectively with technical personnel and senior nontechnical stakeholders and to provide clear recommendations in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience serving as the single accountable voice in contested environments.
Experience estimating technical and operations costs.
Experience identifying and assessing business impacts of proposed changes to a technical solution or enterprise operation.
Experience operating at senior levels with accountability for enterprise outcomes.
Experience effectively integrating subcontractor partners into the mission.
Ability to negotiate successfully and influence others to understand and accept new concepts, practices, and approaches.
Comfort operating in ambiguity, leading through influence in shared-accountability environments, and making difficult recommendations.

Responsibilities

Lead the DEL program and provide overall leadership as key personnel and primary integrator between Leidos and DTRA’s RD Directorate.
Track, coordinate, and ensure timely completion of customer projects, service desk requests, and operational priorities.
Lead the program’s technical approach, day-to-day operations, infrastructure sustainment, cybersecurity coordination, and modernization initiatives.
Pursue improvements involving AI-enabled capabilities, Infrastructure as Code, engineering-task automation, reliability, efficiency, security, and mission effectiveness.
Translate mission needs and complex technical and operational realities into actionable guidance for senior government stakeholders and other customers.
Coordinate across DTRA customers and stakeholders, including the RD Directorate, DTRA J6, facilities stakeholders, and DTRA cybersecurity offices.
Work with Leidos finance, contracts, and technical leadership to maintain appropriate staffing and execute within the established contract budget.
Plan budgets for staffing needs and oversee software licenses, hardware, infrastructure, and anticipated travel requirements, as applicable.
Support technical innovation and ensure performance meets the contract’s Performance Work Statement.
Identify, assess, manage, and mitigate technical, operational, financial, contractual, and organizational risks.
Ensure modernization, migration, and engineering activities comply with RMF requirements, ATO constraints, and approved cybersecurity risk tolerances in partnership with cyber and compliance leadership.
Manage POA&Ms and CORA findings proactively and support continuous ATO authorization and cyber credibility.
Build and sustain trusted relationships across Leidos, subcontractors, and government partners.
Empower Leidos and partner personnel and enable government customers and other performers.
Provide clear recommendations and explain the rationale behind financial, technical, and security-related decisions.
Lead with accountability, sound technical judgment, empathy, integrity, and mission focus in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.