COTS Systems Engineer - TS required - Washington DC & Hybrid

Bow-Wave-LLC; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Bow-Wave-LLC is seeking a full-time GovTA Subject Matter Expert (SME) to serve as Program Manager Senior in Washington, D.C. The ideal candidate will provide expert-level support and strategic oversight for the FBI’s Time and Attendance (T&A) and payroll reporting systems, primarily GovTA.

Responsibilities include serving as the primary SME for GovTA, interacting with software vendors, overseeing implementation of new features, and ensuring compliance with federal regulations. Candidates should possess extensive experience in federal program management and related technologies.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience, with at least 3 years in federal program management or SME role.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale system implementations, upgrades, or modernization projects.
• Knowledge of federal payroll, time and attendance, OPM, and HR regulations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary SME and liaison for all technical matters related to GovTA.
• Work with the GovTA software vendor on related items.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders to resolve issues and implement best practices.

Skills

Program Management

Stakeholder Management

Troubleshooting

Communication

Relational Databases

Federal Payroll Knowledge

Education

Related degree in Business, IT, Information Systems, or Computer Science

Tools

PostgreSQL

Oracle

AWS

Job description

Position Overview

8+ yrs functional experience required

The FBI requires a full-time GovTA Subject Matter Expert (SME) to serve in the role of Program Manager Senior. The individual will provide expert‑level support, strategic oversight, and assist with general program management in conjunction with HR for the FBI’s Time and Attendance (T&A) and payroll reporting systems, primarily GovTA. This role will assist in ensuring compliance with federal timekeeping, payroll, and financial regulations while driving improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and customer support across a large enterprise environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary SME and liaison for all technical matters related to GovTA.
• Work with and interact with the GovTA software vendor on items related to the product.
• In conjunction with government PMs, work with other agency groups to support the T&A system.
• Assist in providing strategic direction and program management for GovTA, ensuring alignment with federal regulations and agency policies.
• Oversee testing, implementation, and deployment of new system features, patches, and upgrades.
• Assist in developing roadmaps and process documentation for GovTA projects.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders, including HR, payroll, finance, etc., to resolve issues and implement best practices.
• Provide advanced troubleshooting and problem resolution for system and process issues impacting timekeeping and payroll operations.
• Train, mentor, and provide knowledge transfer to government staff and other team members.

Required Qualifications

• Related degree in Business, IT, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience, including at least 3 years in a federal program management or SME role supporting GovTA, WebTA, or equivalent federal timekeeping/payroll systems.
• Demonstrated experience working with relational databases (PostgreSQL, Oracle), cloud (AWS), and Linux‑based infrastructures.
• Demonstrated experience leading large‑scale federal system implementations, upgrades, or modernization projects.
• Strong knowledge of federal payroll, time and attendance, OPM, and HR regulations.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with proven ability to brief senior executives as needed.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a large, complex, and fast‑paced environment.

Desired Qualifications

• Previous experience supporting agencies of 20k+ employees.
• Knowledge of federal audit, compliance, and reporting standards related to time and attendance.
• Experience integrating GovTA with other financial, HR, or ERP systems (e.g. NFC, etc.).