Project Manager Role

OpenDataJobs•Washington, DC

About The Position

Project Managers are accountable for delivering a defined body of work from charter through closeout. They set the plan, direct the team, and balance scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk to deliver what was promised. Projects may span software, data, cloud, and systems and use Agile, waterfall, or hybrid methods. The role includes building work breakdown structures and schedules, managing delivery cadence, tracking milestones and deliverables, managing risks, issues, and changes, and reporting actionable status. On federal engagements, Project Managers keep contract deliverables, acceptance criteria, and client reviews on track and coordinate handover to the people who will operate and support the delivered work. They serve as the project’s single point of accountability, working between clients, delivery teams, and program leadership, making project-level tradeoffs and escalating decisions beyond their authority. Project Managers create project charters, plans, work breakdown structures, integrated schedules, budgets, cost forecasts, and resource plans. They maintain risk, issue, change, and decision logs; prepare status reports, sponsor briefings, and client reviews; and manage deliverable acceptance, lessons learned, and closeout records, including when a project ends early. The role suits someone who can turn ambiguity into a plan, recognize when plans no longer reflect reality, lead without needing to be the technical expert, identify risks through effective questions, communicate bad news early with options, and keep teams focused as priorities change. This is a role-level description rather than a specific opening. Compensation, benefits, work location, employment terms, and opening-specific qualifications are determined by each opening.

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 their ceremonies, artifacts, and measures.
Skill in risk, issue, dependency, and change management, with 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

A Project Management Institute credential such as Project Management Professional (PMP) or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), if required by a specific opening.
A Scrum certification, if required by a specific opening.
Experience with earned value management, if required by a specific opening.
Knowledge of federal contracting and a particular mission, if required by a specific opening.
Experience relevant to application development, data platform modernization, cloud migration, systems integration, analytics delivery, or AI adoption, depending on the opening.

Responsibilities

Manage technology projects from initiation through delivery and closeout.
Define project scope and develop charters, plans, work breakdown structures, schedules, budgets, cost forecasts, and resource plans.
Direct project teams and run delivery cadence using Agile, waterfall, or hybrid methods.
Track milestones and deliverables and balance scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk.
Manage risks, issues, dependencies, changes, and decisions; determine what to escalate.
Prepare status reports, sponsor briefings, and client reviews that communicate project status and decision needs.
Keep federal contract deliverables, acceptance criteria, and client reviews on track when applicable.
Coordinate handover of delivered work to the people responsible for operating and supporting it.
Manage deliverable acceptance, lessons learned, and closeout records, including for projects ended early.
Work between clients, delivery teams, and program leadership; make project-level tradeoffs and escalate decisions that require broader authority.