Collaborative Project Order lead

Unissant; Herndon (VA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Unissant, Inc. is seeking a CPO Lead to oversee a senior, cleared delivery portfolio in a highly classified environment. You will guide execution across engineering, data, cloud, and mission support, engaging customer leadership and ensuring disciplined performance with executive oversight.

You will manage staffing, schedules, and subcontractors while driving capture strategy and growth objectives in a national security context. Strong leadership and communication are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree is required; preferred fields include Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Operations Management or related field.
• MBA/Master's Degree in a related field is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead execution of a classified customer portfolio supporting mission operations, engineering, data, and modernization initiatives.
• Serve as the senior point of contact for customer engagement, governance, and day-to-day delivery oversight.
• Manage integrated program activities across scope, staffing, milestones, and subcontractor coordination.
• Drive performance management through schedule reviews, issue resolution, risk management, and executive reporting.
• Partner with technical leads to align mission needs with delivery plans and resources.
• Ensure compliance with security, reporting, and operational requirements in a sensitive environment.
• Support growth objectives by contributing to capture strategy, staffing readiness, and transition planning.

Skills

Program leadership

Executive communication

Risk & performance management

Customer engagement

Staffing & team leadership

Security clearance

Proposal & capture

Agile/SAFe leadership

Engagement with executives

Education

Bachelor's Degree

MBA/Master's Degree

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Unissant, Inc. delivers innovative capabilities to the agencies that keep our nation healthy and safe. We apply our domain expertise, data acumen, and technology know-how to achieve breakthrough results for our clients. Working collaboratively, we advance missions and careers through a focus on honesty, integrity, and dependability. We continuously look for talent, excited to join that effort. To learn more about our exciting organization, please visit us at www.unissant.com.

We are seeking a CPO Lead to join our team and support our client.

The ideal candidate is a senior cleared leader with experience managing mission-critical delivery in classified environments. This individual will combine strong program execution skills with the ability to lead technical teams, engage customer leadership, and ensure disciplined performance across a high-visibility national security portfolio.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead execution of a classified customer portfolio supporting mission operations, engineering, data, and modernization initiatives.
• Serve as the senior point of contact for customer engagement, internal program governance, and day-to-day delivery oversight.
• Manage integrated program activities across scope, staffing, priorities, milestones, and subcontractor coordination.
• Drive performance management through schedule reviews, action tracking, issue resolution, risk management, and executive reporting.
• Partner with technical leads to align mission needs with delivery plans, resource requirements, and operational objectives.
• Ensure compliance with customer security, reporting, and operational requirements in a sensitive environment.
• Support growth objectives by contributing to capture strategy, staffing readiness, transition planning, and customer relationship management.

Work Experience and Job Skills:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience managing complex federal, DoD, or Intelligence Community programs.
• Demonstrated experience leading mission-critical work in classified environments with distributed technical teams.
• Proven ability to manage program performance across cost, schedule, staffing, quality, and customer satisfaction objectives.
• Experience supporting NRO, NGA, or other Intelligence Community organizations is strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of program execution in secure environments, including customer engagement, team leadership, and delivery accountability.
• Ability to communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, technical teams, and program staff.
• Experience managing engineering, data, cloud, or mission support portfolios is preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and standard program management tools is required.

Education:

• Bachelor's Degree is required. Preferred field of study in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Operations Management, or related field of study.
• MBA/Master's Degree in a relevant field of study preferred.

Certificates, Licenses and Registrations:

• PMP certification or equivalent program management credential is required.
• Agile, SAFe, or related leadership certification is preferred.

Communication Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written skills, ability to present proposals and performance data, comfortable interfacing all levels of organization.
• Ability to write clear and concise creative content in a highly confidential manner.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to lead customer meetings, operational reviews, and high-level program discussions.

Clearance Requirements:

• This position requires the candidates to be a U.S. Citizen.
• Active TS/SCI clearance is required; polygraph eligibility or current polygraph is strongly preferred based on customer need.

Travel:

• Local travel within the National Capital Region may be required for customer meetings and program reviews.
• Additional travel may be required based on mission and contract needs.

Environmental Requirements:

• Mainly a routine office environment.
• May be required to lift up to ten (10) pounds.
• Flexible in working extended hours.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the individual(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required. Unissant management reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other duties as necessary. In addition, where applicable and available, reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions of this position.

Please note: Candidate(s) will be required to go through pre-employment screening.

Unissant, Inc. is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer! (EOE; M/F/Disability/Vets)