Job description
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
The Senior Project Manager supports the delivery of complex projects and products using the appropriate agile project management methodology, learning & iterating frequently, while driving delivery excellence at team and program levels. As a liaison between client stakeholders and their project team, you will communicate transparently with stakeholders to build trusted client relationships and deliver timely value with high quality.
You will work with cross-functional contract leadership and teams to define delivery plans, process and tooling that align to and enable proactive and effective delivery execution for roadmaps spanning all product areas . You will lead the collaborative planning process and prioritize the work that needs to be done against the capacity and capability of multiple cross-disciplinary teams, including engineers, designers, and product managers, as well as shared service areas such as policy, testing and other supporting delivery operations teams within Nava. You will ensure contract compliance across all product areas, guaranteeing delivery in accordance with client-approved operational support model processes, including those for governance and oversight and periodic reporting. Lastly, you will actively and openly share knowledge of best practices, in service of Nava’s culture and mission: Be Active Stewards, Pursue the Root Cause, Think Long-Term, Build Together, Inclusion is Essential and Progress Takes Work.
What you’ll do
- Operate with leadership excellence in three core competency areas: team cohesion and health, ownership of technical and value delivery for approved work, and contract level planning, control and governance
- Work with sense of urgency, ready to stand up new processes and execute agile methodologies and best practices
- Operate with flexibility, proactivity and skilled discernment with respect to team oversight and coaching, executive briefing and client relationship management
- Facilitate communication and information exchange between external partners and the project team
- Be an Agile evangelist; drive value delivery, empower teams, role-model servant leadership, maintain accountability at all levels, default to open with respect to communication and working style
- When/if required, facilitate sprint ceremonies in accordance with agile development practices; Sprint planning, Standups, Refinement, Sprint retrospective
- Own the results and evolution of the program’s epic life cycle for delivering product features to production and value to clients and users
- Proactively remove roadblocks from the team’s path to keep project work on track
- Depending on the project, this role may require on-call duties and/or management of on-call and related processes and SOPs with other contract leadership peers
- Proactively communicate with client decision makers and stakeholders to report status and metrics, and produce forecasts, as required
- Oversee and facilitate risk management program-wide to ensure timely discovery, tracking, mitigation and resolution
- Ensure that the project is staffed appropriately to complete the work required
- Ensure that all project teams are providing timely delivery of approved work
- Manage the team’s capacity against their workload — ensuring that time off is marked on the calendar, and ensuring that for each sprint, each individual does not take on too much work
- If applicable, meet with direct reports regularly
- Guide direct reports when they are stuck in their IC duties
- Mentor direct reports, helping them with their career path
- Manage time off, expenses, administrative work
Required skills
- At least 8-10 years of experience as a Project Manager managing medium to large custom software development projects leveraging Agile methodologies, with 5 years (minimum) direct experience with agile development practices
- Experience with both the use and management of issue management and other ticketing systems
- Experience with Agile planning systems and methods
- Experience managing client relationships (managing milestones and dependencies, stakeholder awareness of goings on within the team, stakeholder communication)
- Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, GitHub, AzureDevOps, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Teams, and/or other industry-standard tools
- Experience leading complex projects, including managing milestones, dependencies, and integrations with significant risk, uncertainty, or scale
- Previously worked with product, design, and engineering teams as a cohesive unit and maintaining open lines of communication in a multi-disciplinary environment
- Previous experience using agile frameworks like scrum, kanban, or SAFe and familiarity with agile development practices such as continuous integration and continuous delivery
- Scrum Master or Product Manager in a complex software development environment with multiple stakeholders
- Highly skilled in facilitating communication and managing the psychological safety of a team
- Ability to create training materials
Desired skills
- Experience with project management in a government context (state or federal)
- Experience working on iterative projects using prototypes, product pilots, and user research
- Track record of introducing and expanding agile transformation and pursuing best practices in project management with clients and stakeholders
- Ability to create training materials
- Experience launching new production systems with high public visibility in a fast-changing regulatory environment, such as healthcare/healthcare IT
- Familiarity with Medicare/Medicaid benefits distribution and other technical program delivery components
- Experience working with development teams building custom software
- Familiarity with tools like Aha!, Modern Requirements, and similar
- Experience with dashboard design and data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker, etc.)
- The ability to work Alaska hours (PST minus one hour [UTC9/AKST])
$126,000 - $139,500 a year
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, Delaware, 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.
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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.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Nava is committed to providing equal employment opportunities without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, gender and/or gender identity or expression, color, creed, religion, religious creed, age, national origin, ethnicity, disability, veteran or military status, sex, sexual orientation, reproductive health autonomy, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, genetic information, domestic violence victim status, marital status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nava prohibits any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all employees, applicants, contractors, and temporary workers of Nava.
