Senior Director of Program Delivery

Code for America

10d•Remote

About The Position

Code for America is a leading implementer of human-centered design and technology approaches, with a mission to help make government work well for everyone. Our projects include custom software development (e.g., building a new online child care application in Illinois), technology-enabled advisory services (e.g., supporting states to optimize automated Medicaid renewals systems), and scalable product development (e.g., building Summer EBT products for multiple states to use). At a time when the social safety net is under historic strain, Code for America is being called on to help millions of people access critical benefits like SNAP and Medicaid. The Senior Director of Program Delivery will ensure we rise to that challenge — ensuring our projects are delivered with discipline, clarity, and excellence. This leader will manage the Safety Net programs team, guiding them to deliver high-impact projects that meet the needs of governments, funders, and — most importantly — the people we serve. The Senior Director will be accountable for ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and with outcomes that strengthen the fabric of the safety net. Working in close partnership with the Executive Director of Safety Net Strategy, this leader will ensure day-to-day execution is consistently aligned with strategic priorities and responsive to emerging shifts in the safety net ecosystem. Together, these roles will provide the balance of vision and disciplined delivery needed to meet this historic moment. This role requires experience leading digital service or software delivery teams and applying strong delivery and relationship management practices. Candidates should also have experience delivering software or digital services with or for government partners, and a deep understanding of civic technology and human-centered principles. Finally, the person in this role must have the leadership skills to align complex, cross-disciplinary teams around ambitious goals. This role will report to the Chief Operating Officer and is expected to travel no more than 15% of the time. Code for America is based in California and can employ those who reside full-time within the United States. This is a remote position.

Requirements

Program Delivery Leadership: 8+ years of experience delivering on or leading digital services or software development teams, with accountability for on-time, on-budget, and outcomes-focused delivery.
Civic tech/government background: Proven track record working at the intersection of government and technology, ideally within civic tech, human-centered design, or public sector service delivery. Experience delivering software or digital services with or for government, ideally in human services.
Strategic partnership: Skilled at aligning execution with organizational strategy, working closely with peers in strategy, product, design, engineering, and revenue/partnerships.
Financial acumen: Ability to understand and manage project budgets, align with funding streams, and anticipate risks.
Communication: Exceptional facilitation, written, and verbal communication skills; able to synthesize complexity and influence across senior leadership and external partners.
People management: Experienced manager, with a track record of coaching and developing senior program leaders.
Stakeholder management: Skilled at building trusted relationships with government leaders and funders, and cross-functional collaborators
Multi-disciplinary collaboration: Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams where designers, policy experts, researchers, product managers, engineers and other technologists collaborate with government partners.
Change management: Experience leading teams through change, building buy-in for new processes, and ensuring adoption.
Operational discipline: A proven track record of designing and implementing systems that strengthen delivery practices across an organization. This can include building or implementing delivery playbooks and standards across multiple teams, overseeing cross-project staffing, escalation and risk mitigation systems, and implementing QA processes, documentation standards, and repeatable delivery rituals.
Tool fluency: Familiarity with delivery and resource management tools (e.g., Asana, Airtable, Jira) and comfort adopting or embedding new systems to improve delivery consistency.
Organization & detail: Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Nice To Haves

Delivery experience in safety net programs (SNAP and/or Medicaid), or transferable experience delivering technology within complex eligibility or benefits programs, with a demonstrated ability to work effectively across government and technology.
Prior experience leading large-scale safety net programs or portfolios in government or civic tech organizations.
Experience overseeing a portfolio of projects and managing delivery at scale in a professional services, nonprofit, or consulting environment.
Understanding of the broader safety net and civic tech ecosystem, with relationships that can strengthen Code for America’s positioning and partnerships.

Responsibilities

Own accountability for the successful delivery of the full Safety Net portfolio, ensuring projects meet timelines, budgets, and impact goals.
Proactively identify delivery and partnership risks, ensure clear escalation and timely resolution.
Embed delivery practices across the team by rolling out training, templates, how-to guides, and governance mechanisms (e.g., regular project check-ins, quality assurance reviews). Reinforce adoption through change management, coaching, and feedback loops so that standards are not only defined but consistently applied in practice.
Partner with the Partnerships team to ensure smooth handoffs and shared accountability across the lifecycle of an engagement.
Surface insights from government partners to inform organizational strategy and partnership development.
Collaborate with the Executive Director of Safety Net Strategy to ensure day-to-day execution is aligned with strategic goals and emerging shifts in the safety net ecosystem.
Serve as a credible delivery voice with government partners when direct engagement is needed to unblock delivery or reinforce confidence.
Engage early in the scoping process to assess feasibility, identify staffing and delivery risks, and ensure CfA commitments are grounded in what the team can actually execute.
Collaborate with the Partnerships team to ensure project scopes are realistic, aligned with Code for America’s delivery standards and impact goals, and incorporate input from delivery staff.
Refining scoping practices to streamline the process, reduce inefficiencies, and clarify roles, ensuring scopes are realistic and have strong and consistent delivery leadership in place to carry the work from cultivation to implementation.
Collaborate with the Director of Resource Management to ensure projects are staffed for success, and identify when new skills or roles will be required and collaborate with leadership to inform hiring and staff development plans.
Directly manage programs staff (Directors & Associate Program Directors), setting clear expectations and supporting their growth as program & delivery leaders.
Serve as an escalation point and thought partner on complex delivery and partnership challenges.
Help team members navigate ambiguity, resolve cross-functional challenges, and strengthen decision-making skills.
Build consistency in how work is delivered across projects, in close collaboration with other discipline leaders.
Other duties as assigned

Benefits

Leadership and teammates who share a strong work ethic and values, and who respect and care for one another
A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful environment
Laptop provided
A one-time $700 payment for remote environment setup; $200 stipend (in first paycheck) and up to $500 reimbursement, in accordance with our equipment policy
Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month
$500 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development; prorated at time of hire
Up to $500 of professional development funds can be rolled over each year, up to a maximum of $1000
Training / guidance for staff required to utilize AI as part of their role, plus opportunities for employees to gain AI-related skills to support job and career growth
Employees receive a 100% employer match on the first 3% of contributions.
Employees with 3+ years of service receive an additional 50% match on contributions between 3% and 5%, for a maximum employer contribution of 5%
At least one no cost health insurance option for full-time employees for employee-only coverage
A minimum of 80% of the cost of dependent coverage
Code for America employees may work remotely across the US
Code for America employees main residence must be within the US
Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday - Friday
Collaborative working hours: we aim to hold all internal meetings between 10 AM - 3 PM PT. We expect all Code for America staff to be available during these set working hours
Open personal time off (subject to manager approval), a minimum of 14 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day
Paid sick time; up to 96 hours annually
17 weeks of paid parental and family leave
3 weeks of paid sabbatical after 5 years of service