Senior Project Director

What You’ll Do

• Lead and oversee a large, complex, multi-million-dollar federal contract, providing overall strategic, operational, and programmatic leadership and maintaining accountability for performance, staffing, deliverables, schedules, finances, communications, quality, and risk management.
• Serve as the senior-level interface with the CB, COR, ACF, and Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) leadership, and other government stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on program strategy, implementation, performance, and emerging risks.
• Develop and maintain integrated project management processes and tools, including work plans, schedules, resource plans, performance measures, executive reporting, and risk and issue management.
• Manage contract finances, including budgeting, forecasting, expenditures, invoicing, profitability, and overall financial performance.
• Lead workforce planning, staffing, recruitment, onboarding, staff development, performance management, and retention while fostering a collaborative, accountable, and high-performing culture focused on quality, responsiveness, continuous improvement, and exceptional client service.
• Provide leadership, oversight, and quality assurance for TA services, deliverables, and activities supporting state, Tribal, territorial, and federal child welfare information systems.
• Guide work related to CCWIS and legacy Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems; Title IV-E planning and implementation; Advance Planning Documents (APDs); federal reporting programs, including AFCARS, NYTD, NCANDS, and Prevention Services Data; and data governance and quality initiatives.
• Support compliance with ACF and OCIO governance requirements, including project intake, stage-gate reviews, Integrated Project Team activities, and project-health reporting, and other federal oversight processes.
• Prepare and deliver status reports, executive briefings, management reviews, meeting materials, and other contract communications while facilitating coordination among government leaders, program and policy staff, technical teams, contractors, and other partners.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, business, public administration, social work, or a related field.
• 15+ years of progressive project, program, or contract leadership experience in child welfare, human services, information technology, or a closely related field, including:
  • Significant experience managing large, complex, multi-million-dollar federal projects or contracts, with responsibility for personnel, activities, schedules, costs, risks, deliverables, communications, and quality.
  • At least 10 years of experience supporting child welfare or closely related human services programs, with demonstrated knowledge of federal child welfare requirements, policy, data, and information technology.
  • Demonstrated experience leading large multidisciplinary, geographically dispersed teams.
• Demonstrated experience managing annual contract budgets greater than $10 million, including expenditures, forecasting, invoicing, and financial oversight.
• Demonstrated knowledge of child welfare information system modernization, including CCWIS, Title IV-E automation, and the relationship among child welfare practice, federal requirements, data, and technology.
• Demonstrated knowledge of CCWIS, legacy Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information Systems, and federal child welfare reporting programs, including AFCARS, NYTD, and NCANDS.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the Advance Planning Document (APD), state procurement, independent verification and validation, agile delivery, and information technology governance.
• Experience working directly with senior government clients and coordinating across program, policy, operational, and technical stakeholders.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the level of suitability or public trust required by the contract, identified in the supporting contract summary as HHS Level 5 Public Trust.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in information technology, business, public administration, social work, or a related field.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Executive leadership experience on a large federal child welfare, human services, or related contract.
• Experience supporting ACF, the CB, and/or OCIO in a senior advisory or contract leadership capacity.
• Experience managing a federal prime contract, major federal task order, or a comparable state, Tribal, or territory contract.
• Experience providing TA to federal, state, Tribal, or territorial human services agencies.
• Experience implementing or overseeing large-scale public-sector information systems.
• Experience with organizational change management, human-centered design, data governance, or modernization-readiness planning.

Required Professional Skills

• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic, operational, and fiscal leadership for large, complex federal contracts with multiple workstreams and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to serve as a trusted advisor to senior officials, manage high-level client relationships, and align a range of stakeholders around shared objectives.
• Ability to translate complex child welfare policy, program, data, and technology requirements into clear, actionable guidance for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Strong executive briefing, presentation, and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly and represent the program with credibility.
• Strategic, collaborative, and practical leadership style that creates clarity, accountability, and shared purpose across multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to balance client needs, project requirements, timelines, resources, and financial constraints while maintaining mission alignment and high-quality outcomes.