The Role
About Nava
Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.
As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.
Position summary
Nava is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager / Contract Lead to lead a key strategic program with an external customer. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in both Agile and traditional project management, a data-driven approach to delivery, a proven track record of stakeholder management and maturing delivery processes including risk and change management.
You'll partner with the Program Manager and cross functional leads to develop transparent reporting systems, scalable processes, and quality standards that enable consistent, high-impact execution. Success requires excellent communication, strong technical acumen, exceptional client relationship-building skills, and the ability to work independently.
This hybrid role reports to the Senior Director of Project Management and requires 2–3 days per week on-site in New Jersey.
What you’ll do
- Support the Program Manager to lead cross-functional delivery teams of design, product, engineering, and project management.
- Organize, direct, and manage contract operations support functions in support of the Program Manager.
- Own budget management, financial execution, and forecasting for the programLead the Project Management team in implementing Agile delivery frameworks across 9 scrum teams.
- Build and maintain strong client relationships through proactive communication, transparency, and strategic partnership.
- Develop, track, and report against program-level roadmap and milestones using an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) for parallel delivery efforts.
- Establish and mature scalable delivery processes and quality standards that ensure consistent, high-impact execution.
- Design delivery performance metrics and dashboards for internal and external stakeholders.
- Create and maintain reporting artifacts and escalation channels for proactive risk and opportunity management.
- Implement and manage change management processes for the contract.
- Work independently to identify and resolve challenges with minimal direction.
- Additional duties as needed in support of the Program Manager or Director of Project Management.
Required skills
- Project Management: Agile Delivery Framework/CSM, traditional PM methodologies including Integrated Master Schedules (IMS), P&L Management, Change and Quality Management.
- Technical & Tools: Jira/Atlassian Products, GitHub, Mural, Visio, Google Suite, data visualization tool (Tableau, Power BI, Looker), MS Office Suite and MS Teams, Slack.
- Years of experience: 8-10 years of managing IT implementation projects, 5 years managing project management teams, 2-3 years platform, and cloud-based modernization projects.
- implementation/deprecation, 3-5 years of experience with risks, opportunities, issues, and change management.
- Education: Bachelor of Science and/or Bachelor of Arts; 15 years of experience in lieu of degree.
Desired skills
- Project Management: PMI PMP or SAFe Certification, Process Improvement.
- Technical Skills & Tools: DevOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, and system integration concepts, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), release and change management, modern software development practices, advanced skill in data visualization tool (Tableau, Power BI, Looker)
- Years of experience: 10+ years of direct IT Project Management; 3+ years platform implementation/deprecation, 5+ years managing project management teams, 5+ years of experience with risks, opportunities, issues, and change management.
- Education: B.S. in engineering, computer science, IT Systems Management; 15 years of experience in lieu of degree.
Other requirements
All roles at Nava require the following:
Legal authorization to work in the United States
Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired
Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future
May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract
Perks working with Nava
Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs
Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost
Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge
Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO
Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus
Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home
Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools
Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through UnitedHealthcare’s virtual visit program
Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest
401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan
Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities
Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs
Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses
Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills
Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs
Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team
Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable
Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care
Location
We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time.
Stay in touch
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Please contact the recruiting team at [email protected] if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.
We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.
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The Company
What We Do
Nava is a public benefit corporation working to radically improve how government serves people. Formed as a team of designers and engineers in the effort to fix HealthCare.gov in 2013, Nava now works with Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs. With a strong research practice and a depth of experience scaling digital services, Nava helps more than sixty million people access critical government services.
We’re thinkers and designers of civic technology. We work holistically across engineering, research, design, and operations to proactively envision the services of a better future. We build with empathy and inclusion, and as we come from many backgrounds and countries ourselves, we seek and value different perspectives. We’d love for you to come join us.
