Program Specialist #2

HighPoint; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 132,000; Full time

Job summary

HighPoint in Washington, DC seeks a seasoned Program Specialist #2 to support policy development, grants administration, performance monitoring, data analysis, and recipient engagement across federal programs. You will analyze program data, draft guidance, and help ensure alignment with federal requirements while providing practical solutions to grant recipients.

The role requires strong written communication, dashboard design, and training delivery, with travel up to 10–20% as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in federal grants management, program administration, compliance monitoring, program evaluation, data analysis, or related government support functions.
• Ability to travel up to 20%
• Experience developing dashboards, reports, and data visualizations.

Responsibilities

• Provide programmatic, administrative, and operational support to strengthen policy development, grants administration, monitoring, and overall program effectiveness across DCDDP programs.
• Manage and oversee a portfolio of grant-funded projects, ensuring compliance with federal requirements, performance expectations, reporting obligations, and program objectives.
• Draft and maintain policy documents, program guidance, memoranda, Federal Register notices, OMB clearance packages, SOPs, and other documentation.
• Develop and manage grants administration communications supporting pre-award and post-award activities, including award documentation, amendments, recipient notifications, and program guidance materials.
• Design and maintain monitoring tools, dashboards, risk assessment frameworks, and performance tracking mechanisms.
• Analyze, validate, and synthesize program performance, compliance, and reporting data to identify trends, risks, improvement opportunities, and recipient support needs.
• Prepare reports, data visualizations, performance summaries, congressional reporting materials, annual reports, and briefings that support leadership decision-making.
• Provide technical assistance and training to grant recipients on reporting requirements, performance reporting systems, data collection tools, and compliance expectations, including PPR, OLDC, and GrantSolutions.
• Support program evaluation and data collection efforts by developing questionnaires, data collection instruments, and documentation required for PRA and OMB approval processes.
• Coordinate meetings, events, stakeholder engagement activities, reporting processes, and cross-functional initiatives while ensuring compliance with federal information security, privacy, and records management requirements.

Skills

Grants management

Data analysis

Performance monitoring

Policy development

Dashboards & reporting

OMB clearance processes

PRA compliance

Stakeholder engagement

Technical training

Written communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Public Administration/Public Policy/Business Admin/Data Analytics/Statistics/Program Evaluation/Political Science

Tools

GrantSolutions

OLDC

Job description

Program Specialist #2

HighPoint professionals focus on helping government agencies and companies implement their most critically strategic initiatives. The role of Program Specialist #2 contributes to HighPoint by supporting policy development, performance monitoring, recipient engagement, data analysis, and grants administration activities while providing technical assistance and operational support to federal staff and grant recipients.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide programmatic, administrative, and operational support to strengthen policy development, grants administration, monitoring, and overall program effectiveness across DCDDP programs.
• Manage and oversee a portfolio of grant-funded projects, ensuring compliance with federal requirements, performance expectations, reporting obligations, and program objectives.
• Draft and maintain policy documents, program guidance, memoranda, Federal Register notices, OMB clearance packages, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and other administrative and programmatic documentation.
• Develop and manage grants administration communications supporting pre-award and post-award activities, including award documentation, amendments, recipient notifications, and program guidance materials.
• Design and maintain monitoring tools, dashboards, risk assessment frameworks, and performance tracking mechanisms to support grant oversight and portfolio management.
• Analyze, validate, and synthesize program performance, compliance, and reporting data to identify trends, risks, improvement opportunities, and recipient support needs.
• Prepare reports, data visualizations, performance summaries, congressional reporting materials, annual reports, and briefings that support leadership decision-making and stakeholder communications.
• Provide technical assistance and training to grant recipients on reporting requirements, performance reporting systems, data collection tools, and compliance expectations, including PPR, OLDC, and GrantSolutions.
• Support program evaluation and data collection efforts by developing questionnaires, data collection instruments, and documentation required for Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and OMB approval processes.
• Coordinate meetings, events, stakeholder engagement activities, reporting processes, and cross-functional initiatives while ensuring compliance with federal information security, privacy, and records management requirements.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REQUIREMENTS:

• Strong knowledge of federal grants management, program administration, compliance monitoring, and performance measurement practices.
• Experience analyzing programmatic, performance, and compliance data to support reporting, decision-making, risk assessment, and continuous improvement efforts.
• Ability to develop dashboards, reports, data visualizations, tracking tools, and performance metrics that support program oversight and accountability.
• Strong understanding of federal reporting requirements, grant lifecycle management, OMB clearance processes, and Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements.
• Excellent written communication skills with experience drafting policy documents, guidance materials, reports, memoranda, briefings, and executive-level correspondence.
• Experience providing technical assistance, trainings, webinars, and stakeholder support related to grants management and reporting systems.
• Strong organizational, project management, and multitasking skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with leadership, grant recipients, federal staff, and external stakeholders while maintaining a high level of professionalism.
• Knowledge of federal information security, privacy, records management, and compliance requirements, including FIPS 199 safeguarding standards.
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail and commitment to quality and accuracy.

EDUCATION AND YEARS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, Public Policy, Business Administration, Data Analytics, Statistics, Program Evaluation, Political Science, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in federal grants management, program administration, compliance monitoring, program evaluation, data analysis, or related government support functions.
• Ability to travel up to 10-20%

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $120,000-$132,000

ABOUT HIGHPOINT:

HighPoint is a growth-oriented firm that provides a unique, differentiated employee culture relative to our Federal market peers. We leverage this growth-oriented and employee-focused culture to attract and retain a higher grade of talent than our peers to be an employer of choice.

HighPoint helps government agencies elevate the citizen experience (CX) by improving the touchpoints through which citizens interact with government. We were founded in 2006 by Ben Lanius with the spirit of transforming how agencies connect with and empower citizens to deliver on mission-critical objectives.

At HighPoint, our focus is on delivering results that matter. We support and modernize our federal customer's mission critical systems and functions. Agility is at our core: it is the mantra that drives us to succeed. We work quickly, analytically and deliver on agency priorities.

HighPoint is a privately held company with a team of over 130 passionate professionals spread across 12 states in the U.S.

HighPoint Digital, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.

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, or local law.

HighPoint Digital, Inc. will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with HighPoint's legal duty to furnish information.