Senior Program Officer

CDC Foundation•Georgia, GA

14d•$90,000 - $105,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Program Officer serves as the day-to-day project lead for a large-scale, public health systems transformation initiative supporting implementation of a statewide grant program. This position is responsible for overall project management, operational oversight, client coordination, deliverable management, and integration of cross-functional teams supporting implementation, reporting, technical assistance, monitoring, communications, financial oversight, and staffing support. The Senior Program Officer serves as the primary client liaison and ensures contract activities are implemented efficiently, deliverables are completed on schedule, and project resources are aligned to meet evolving program needs. Working closely with client leadership, program staff, project partners, and internal teams, the Senior Program Officer provides strategic and operational leadership to support successful project execution, strong stakeholder partnerships, and continuous improvement. This role requires an experienced program leader who can effectively manage complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, coordinate cross-functional teams, monitor performance and risks, and drive high-quality results in a dynamic environment. The Senior Program Officer is responsible for fostering strong client relationships, facilitating collaboration across diverse partners, addressing implementation challenges, and ensuring all project activities align with program objectives, contractual requirements, and organizational standards for excellence.

Requirements

Master’s degree in public health or related field from an accredited college or university required (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
Minimum of 10 years managing complex, multistakeholder public health, health systems, or federally funded initiatives.
Experience managing multi-disciplinary teams and state agency partnerships.
Experience balancing strategic thinking with day-to-day execution.
Ability to make decisions that accomplish department and project strategic objectives.
Demonstrated experience leading large, multi-stakeholder projects involving cross-functional teams, multiple workstreams, and competing priorities.
Proven ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with senior leaders, state agency partners, contractors, and external stakeholders.
Experience serving as the primary point of contact for clients or partners, including facilitating meetings, managing communications, and resolving issues.
Strong project and operations management skills, including development of workplans, timelines, resource allocation and budget management, risk management, and quality assurance.
Demonstrated experience supervising and coordinating the work of multidisciplinary staff, consultants, and project teams.
Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and adapt to changing program needs.
Represents the CDC Foundation at technical, financial, strategic and/or operational meetings focused on the project.
Travels as needed to represent the designated project and the CDC Foundation (up to 20 percent annually).
Participates in and/or leads special projects and other duties as assigned.

Nice To Haves

Experience with enterprise resource planning systems and software packages used to manage day-to-day business activities such as program management and budgeting strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the coordinated management of multiple, time-bound, unique, and related projects to advance excellence in program implementation and public health practice.
Formulate program-related goals, objectives, operating policies, strategic plans, guidelines, governance, standards, and priorities to ensure consistency with organization, department, and division standard operating procedures.
Build strong partnerships and provide strategic implementation expertise that ensures impactful, efficient, and effective program implementation.
Hire, recruit, supervise, mentor, and serve as a technical partner for employees.
Serve as primary liaison to client’s program and operational staff.
Manage significant matters such as project implementation, reporting, contracting, technical content, budgeting, and evaluating project impact and performance.
Develop and maintain project workplans, timelines, and deliverable schedules.
Monitor project performance, risks, and implementation progress.
Coordinate cross-functional project team activities.
Facilitate regular client meetings.
Manage issue escalation and resolution.
Contribute to resource mobilization efforts for the assigned project.
Monitor workload distribution and staffing needs.
Support quality assurance across all deliverables.