Assistant Director, IT Project Portfolio Management

Commonwealth of VA Careers; Virginia; On-site; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

The Assistant Director of IT Project Portfolio Management at Northern VA Community College leads the PMO, owns the IT project management practice, and partners with academic services, student services, finance, HR, and facilities to translate priorities into delivered projects.

Reporting to the Director of IT Business Operations, the role ensures governance, templates, dashboards, and documentation for portfolio oversight.

Qualifications

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and a heavy workload in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to read, interpret, and communicate project procedures, technical requirements, and business processes.
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail, documentation accuracy, and adherence to deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with technical teams and troubleshoot issues related to project dependencies, system changes, or cloud transitions.
• Knowledge of core project management practices, software development lifecycle, documentation standards, and governance processes.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a project team.
• Ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and work effectively under pressure.
• Knowledgeable of PMO frameworks and delivery methodologies.
• Ability to lead cross-functional or matrixed project teams whose members report to other units.
• Ability to implement and interpret technical policies, processes, or project governance standards.
• Proficiency in Microsoft suite of products.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate daily project activities, schedules, deliverables, and status reporting across multiple concurrent projects.
• Supervises a small staff of one to two project management professionals while personally managing the College's most complex and highest-visibility technology projects.
• Directs technical staff drawn from other IT units, functional subject matter experts from across the College, and external vendor resources.
• Serve as a communication bridge between technical and business teams, including developers, analysts, product managers, QA, and security.
• Support planning, scope clarification, resource coordination, and execution activities - especially for cloud-based initiatives and system transitions.
• Track dependencies, risks, issues, and timelines; escalates concerns with clear, actionable recommendations.
• Contribute to the creation, improvement, and maintenance of PMO project management governance, standards, templates, dashboards, and documentation.
• Provide guidance to ensure consistency in documentation, tracking, reporting, and governance.
• Coordinate with business analysts on requirements and with technical teams on dependencies, integration points, and environment readiness.
• Communicate project updates to stakeholders with transparency around progress, milestones, risks, and impacts.
• Assist with portfolio-level reporting and PMO process improvements to strengthen delivery maturity.
• Evaluate technology constraints, system impacts, data considerations, and integration requirements during planning.
• Make regular requests from employees for updates and input on college decisions and share feedback with supervisors for inclusion in the NOVA Brief.

Skills

Multitask management

Prioritization

Documentation

Communication

Collaboration

PMO knowledge

Cloud transition experience

Adaptability

Requirements interpretation

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

SharePoint

MS Project

MS Planner

Microsoft Office

Job description

Title: Assistant Director, IT Project Portfolio Management

Agency: Northern VA Community College

Location: Fairfax County - 059

FLSA: Exempt

Hiring Range: $100,000 - $115,000

Full Time or Part Time: Full Time

Job Description

The Assistant Director of IT Project Management is the leader of the College's IT Project Management Office. Reporting to the Director of IT Business Operations, the Assistant Director establishes and owns the College's IT project management practice - methodology, intake, prioritization, governance reporting, and portfolio oversight - and is accountable for the successful delivery of the IT project portfolio. The position operates with substantial independence and partners directly with academic services, student services, finance, human resources, and facilities to translate institutional priorities into scoped, resourced, and successfully delivered projects.

Duties and Tasks

• Coordinate daily project activities, schedules, deliverables, and status reporting across multiple concurrent projects.
• Supervises a small staff of one to two project management professionals while personally managing the College's most complex and highest-visibility technology projects.
• Directs technical staff drawn from other IT units, functional subject matter experts from across the College, and external vendor resources.
• Serve as a communication bridge between technical and business teams, including developers, analysts, product managers, QA, and security.
• Support planning, scope clarification, resource coordination, and execution activities - especially for cloud-based initiatives and system transitions.
• Track dependencies, risks, issues, and timelines; escalates concerns with clear, actionable recommendations.
• Contribute to the creation, improvement, and maintenance of PMO project management governance, standards, templates, dashboards, and documentation.
• Provide guidance to ensure consistency in documentation, tracking, reporting, and governance.
• Coordinate with business analysts on requirements and with technical teams on dependencies, integration points, and environment readiness.
• Communicate project updates to stakeholders with transparency around progress, milestones, risks, and impacts.
• Assist with portfolio-level reporting and PMO process improvements to strengthen delivery maturity.
• Evaluate technology constraints, system impacts, data considerations, and integration requirements during planning.
• Make regular requests from employees for updates and input on college decisions and share feedback with supervisors for inclusion in the NOVA Brief.

Minimum Qualifications

Required KSAs

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and a heavy workload in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to read, interpret, and communicate project procedures, technical requirements, and business processes.
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail, documentation accuracy, and adherence to deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with technical teams and troubleshoot issues related to project dependencies, system changes, or cloud transitions.
• Knowledge of core project management practices, software development lifecycle, documentation standards, and governance processes.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a project team.
• Ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and work effectively under pressure.
• Knowledgeable of PMO frameworks and delivery methodologies.
• Ability to lead cross-functional or matrixed project teams whose members report to other units.
• Ability to implement and interpret technical policies, processes, or project governance standards
• Proficiency in Microsoft suite of products.

Minimum Work Requirements

• Experience managing information technology projects, including full life-cycle responsibility for scope, schedule, budget, risk, and stakeholder management.
• Experience supervising or serving as a team lead for project management and/or technical staff.
• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise-scale technology projects with multiple stakeholder groups.
• Experience supporting or coordinating system transitions, digital modernization, or enterprise-level initiatives.
• Experience establishing or maturing a project management office, including methodology development and tool implementation.
• Experience with tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, SharePoint, or MS Project/MS Planner.
• Experience providing customer service, stakeholder communication, or user support.
• Experience with cloud ecosystems (Azure, AWS, SaaS platforms), integration patterns, and system modernization concepts.

Additional Considerations

• Experience in higher education or a public sector environment
• Experience in a large and complex organization
• Experience with TeamDynamix ITSM
• Knowledge of industry standards and best practices for ITSM and ESM.
• Any specific functional and/or technical training or certification in IT-related sciences
• Certifications or training in project management or IT-related disciplines (e.g., CAPM, PMP, Agile/Scrum, ITIL).