Project Manager Role

OpenDataJobs • Washington, DC

1d

About The Position

Project Managers own delivery of a defined body of work, taking projects from charter through closeout. They set plans, direct teams, and balance scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk to deliver agreed outcomes. Projects may span software, data, cloud, and systems, and use Agile, waterfall, or hybrid methods.

The role includes building work breakdown structures and schedules, leading delivery cadence, tracking milestones and deliverables, managing risks, issues, and changes, and reporting actionable status. On federal engagements, Project Managers also keep contract deliverables, acceptance criteria, and client reviews on track, and coordinate handover to the teams responsible for operations and support.

A Project Manager is the single point of accountability for a project, working between clients, delivery teams, and program leadership. The role calls for making project-level tradeoffs and escalating decisions that cannot be made within the project. Unlike a Data Program Manager, who coordinates several projects as a program, the Project Manager is accountable for the success of one project.

The position produces project charters, plans, work breakdown structures, integrated schedules, budgets, cost forecasts, resource plans, risk and decision records, status reports, sponsor briefings, client reviews, acceptance records, lessons learned, and closeout documentation.

Requirements

• Experience managing technology projects from initiation through delivery, including scope, schedule, budget, and quality.
• Working command of Agile, waterfall, or hybrid delivery methods and the associated ceremonies, artifacts, and measures.
• Skill in risk, issue, dependency, and change management, including judgment about what to escalate.
• Proficiency with project tools such as Jira, Microsoft Project, or comparable scheduling and tracking software.
• Proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint.
• Clear writing, confident briefing, and steady stakeholder management in regulated or mission-critical environments.

Nice To Haves

• Project Management Institute (PMI) credential, such as Project Management Professional (PMP) or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), where required by a specific opening.
• Scrum certification, where required by a specific opening.
• Experience with earned value management, where required by a specific opening.
• Knowledge of federal contracting and a particular mission, where required by a specific opening.

Responsibilities

• Take projects from initiation and charter through delivery and closeout.
• Set project plans and direct the delivery team while balancing scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk.
• Build work breakdown structures, schedules, budgets, cost forecasts, and resource plans.
• Run the delivery cadence and track milestones and deliverables.
• Manage risks, issues, dependencies, changes, and decisions; escalate matters that cannot be resolved at the project level.
• Report project status and provide sponsor briefings and client reviews that support decision-making.
• Keep federal contract deliverables, acceptance criteria, and client reviews on track where applicable.
• Coordinate handover of delivered work to the people who will operate and support it.
• Manage deliverable acceptance, lessons learned, and closeout records, including when work ends early.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: No Education Listed