Department Operations Lead

MITRE; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 157,000; Full time

Job summary

A public interest non-profit organization is seeking a Department Operations Lead in San Diego. In this role, you will coordinate project execution, manage financial tasks, and support departmental initiatives. The ideal candidate has strong organizational skills, financial management experience, and proficiency with Microsoft tools. This full-time position requires on-site work and offers a salary range of $105,000 - $131,000 - $157,000 annually.

Qualifications

• Typically, an Associate’s degree in a relevant business discipline with 7 years of experience; or a Bachelor’s degree with 5 years.
• Demonstrated experience in spend plan development and financial management.
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the department's primary integrator for portfolio execution.
• Organize and coordinate portfolio activities.
• Support programs spend plan development and financial management.

Skills

Project coordination

Financial management

Microsoft Excel

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Collaboration tools

Knowledge management

Education

Associate's degree in Business or equivalent experience

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

SharePoint

Tableau

Job description

Overview

Why choose between doing meaningful work and having a fulfilling life? At MITRE, you can have both. MITRE is a not-for-profit corporation chartered to work for the public interest, with no commercial conflicts to influence what we do. Our R&D centers work for the government to create lasting impact in cybersecurity, healthcare, aviation, defense, and enterprise transformation. We offer competitive benefits, professional development opportunities, and a culture of innovation that emphasizes adaptability, collaboration, technical excellence, and partnerships. If this sounds like the choice you want to make, choose MITRE and make a difference with us.

The MITRE National Security Sector (MNS) and its National Security Engineering Center (NSEC) FFRDC solve the nation’s most complex security challenges across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, interagency partners, industry, and allies. The Naval Division (N230) is seeking a Department Operations Lead for the new Expeditionary & Hybrid Fleet Department, which advances expeditionary, land, and amphibious science and technology, and integrates uncrewed and autonomous systems with crewed vessels. This role ensures portfolio-level alignment, coordination, and execution of work that delivers lasting impact to the Navy, Marine Corps, and Joint Force.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Serve as the department’s primary integrator for portfolio execution, enabling leadership and staff to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Organize, schedule, and coordinate portfolio activities, including technical reviews, sponsor engagements, staff planning, and deliverables.
• Support programs spend plan development, cost-driver and trade-off analysis, forecasting, and financial management for department projects.
• Coordinate with Division Business Operations to document, review, and improve portfolio operating procedures, project planning norms, and roll out Division initiatives.
• Drive project management best practices across work planning, financial management, cost control, and timely delivery of required project reports to work program sponsors in collaboration with project leaders and business operations staff.
• Assist project leaders in understanding, articulating, and implementing government defense dollar ceiling and exclusion guidance into Project Work Statements (PWS), ensuring exclusion work types are reflected in project billable structure.
• Prepare comprehensive management reporting leveraging financial summaries and dashboards using tools such as Microsoft Excel, Tableau, and other BI platforms.
• Support business administration, business intelligence (BI), and business operations to ensure effective portfolio oversight.
• Lead information management and knowledge management activities to capture, organize, and share deliverables, decisions, and lessons learned.
• Leverage collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, PowerPoint, and Office Suite to coordinate across distributed teams.
• Provide clear and timely communication on portfolio health, execution status, and project risks to leadership and sponsors.
• Track interdependencies, risks, and progress across projects; recommend solutions and escalation paths as needed.
• Assist with staff onboarding, training coordination, and capability development planning.
• Support proposal coordination and pipeline development by capturing lessons learned and aligning with emerging mission needs.

Basic Qualifications

• Typically, an Associate’s degree in a relevant business discipline (e.g., Business Administration, Finance, Management, Information Systems) with 7 years of experience; or a Bachelor’s degree with 5 years; or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
• Demonstrated experience in spend plan development, financial management, and monitoring project execution.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Office Suite, PowerPoint, and collaboration platforms (Teams, SharePoint).
• Experience in business administration, business operations, and management reporting.
• Strong organizational, project coordination, and communication skills with proven ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Familiarity with Naval or DoD operations, expeditionary concepts, or hybrid fleet initiatives.
• Active Secret Clearance
• U.S. Citizenship is required to be considered for a security clearance per U.S. Government eligibility requirements.
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with MITRE budgeting and reporting tools (MiHub, LEIA, EDP queries) and/or portfolio planning and management systems such as Clarity and/or Salesforce.
• Familiarity with Tableau or other BI/visualization tools to support portfolio management and department forecasting.
• Experience supporting program management offices, government acquisition programs, or FFRDC environments.
• Knowledge of Naval, Marine Corps, or Joint operational concepts.
• Demonstrated success in project and program management, including financial execution oversight and performance tracking.
• Proven ability to build relationships with senior sponsors and stakeholders, aligning priorities to deliver mission impact.

Security/Clearance

This requisition requires the candidate to have a Secret clearance, or to obtain one within one year from the date of hire.

Salary, Location, and Inclusion

Salary compensation range and midpoint: $105,000 - $131,000 - $157,000 Annual. Work Location Type: Onsite.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

Accommodations

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Benefits information may be found here.