Program Manager (PMP Required)

ArdentMC; Atlanta, Tallahassee (GA, FL); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Ardent is seeking a Program Manager with PMP to lead and oversee a cybersecurity program for the state of Florida. This is a remote role with travel to Tallahassee as needed, coordinating with OCIG, agency OIGs, and technical leads to deliver on milestones and deliverables.

You will manage scope, governance, risk, and reporting across a multi-agency environment, ensuring compliance and timely execution of all program objectives. A PMP and 10 years of relevant experience are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field; Master’s preferred.
• Active PMP certification.
• 10+ years of technology or cybersecurity program delivery experience, including multi-stakeholder government programs.
• Experience managing deliverable-based contracts, schedules, risk, and executive reporting.
• Experience coordinating cybersecurity assessment, continuous monitoring, audit-support, or control-validation work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with C-suite and government stakeholders.
• Knowledge of NIST CSF, risk-management concepts, and testing practices.

Responsibilities

• Serve as single accountable contact for OCIG and coordinate PM functions.
• Plan kickoff activities and document scope, roles, decisions, action owners, risks, deadlines.
• Own Master Project Plan and track milestones, staffing, testing, access readiness, risks.
• Coordinate system access through OCIG and Agency OIG channels; log access.
• Enforce scope discipline with written authorization for changes.
• Provide daily updates during testing, bi-weekly reviews, monthly plan submissions, escalate vulnerabilities.
• Oversee submission of ten deliverables in editable and PDF formats; log comments and acceptance.
• Certify understanding of ingested materials; align agency risks to sequencing and priorities.
• Lead closeout reporting, lessons learned, and executive briefings.

Skills

PMP

Program management

Multi-agency coordination

Risk management

Executive reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Job description

Ardent is seeking a Program Manager w/ PMP to join our team.

***Salary Range from $120k to $145k + growth incentive***

This is a remote position with frequent travel expected to Tallahassee, FL - candidates from Florida and nearby states are preferred.

Position Description:

Ardent is seeking a Program Manager to lead and oversee program delivery for a cybersecurity assurance program for the state of Florida. This position serves as the primary interface among company leadership, OCIG, agency OIGs, and technical leads. The role integrates project governance, access coordination, risk management, reporting, quality controls, and contractual deliverable acceptance across a potentially broad multi-agency environment.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Serve as the single accountable point of contact for OCIG and coordinate project management functions with the OCIG Contract Manager or designee.
• Plan and conduct kickoff activities; document scope, roles, decisions, action owners, dependencies, communication protocols, risks, and approved deadlines in draft and final minutes.
• Own the Master Project Plan and maintain approved milestones, staffing, testing waves, access readiness, risks, dependencies, decisions, corrective actions, and acceptance status.
• Coordinate system access only through OCIG and Agency OIG channels; maintain the System Access Log and track approvals, authorized personnel, training, background screening, access periods, and obstacles.
• Enforce scope discipline. Ensure no procedure, tool deployment, technique, system access, or scope change occurs without written authorization and incorporation into approved plans or Rules of Engagement.
• Provide daily updates during active testing, bi-weekly program reviews, monthly project-plan submissions, and immediate escalation of critical vulnerabilities or deconfliction events as approved.
• Oversee timely submission of all ten deliverables in required editable and PDF formats; log government comments and manage correction through acceptance.
• Certify understanding of ingested materials and ensure agency risks inform sequencing, resource allocation, and testing priorities.
• Maintain independence, objectivity, confidentiality, public-records sensitivity, and separation of factual AUP results from advisory recommendations.
• Lead closeout reporting, lessons learned, final project-plan completion, and executive briefings.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, information systems, engineering, business, project management, or related field; master’s degree preferred.
• Active Project Management Professional (PMP).
• 10 years of progressively responsible technology or cybersecurity program delivery experience, including multi-stakeholder government programs.
• Demonstrated management of deliverable-based contracts, integrated schedules, project risk, quality controls, access dependencies, and executive reporting.
• Experience coordinating cybersecurity assessment, continuous monitoring, audit-support, compliance, or control-validation work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to present evidence-based information to C-suite, Board, Inspector General, or senior government stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of NIST CSF, NIST risk-management concepts, cybersecurity control testing, and professional assurance practices.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Active Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
• Experience supporting an Office of Inspector General, internal audit organization, or independent verification and validation program.
• Familiarity with IIA Global Internal Audit Standards, GAO Government Auditing Standards, Rule 60GG-2, F.A.C., and Florida public-records constraints.
• Experience coordinating work across numerous agencies or distributed operating environments.

Due to the nature of the work we support, all candidates in consideration for this role must be willing to undergo and maintain a government-issued background investigation process. We highly encourage all Veterans and those with disabilities to apply.

Ardent is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other basis protected by state, local, or federal law.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Ardent’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.