Senior Program Manager

The Ascendancy Group; Virginia Beach, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ascendancy Group (TAG) seeks a senior Program Manager to lead complex government programs and contracts. This role is customer-facing and works with executive leadership, government customers, and partners to drive performance from capture to closeout.

The position requires managing budgets, schedules, staffing, and compliance, with liaison duties across multiple internal teams and external stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of program management or related leadership experience.
• Minimum 5 years managing complex government programs.
• Minimum 3 years supporting DoD/IC or government contracting.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams in fast-paced environments.
• Experience with FAR/DFARS requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned programs, contracts, task orders, and strategic operational initiatives.
• Interface with customers, KOs, CORs, TPOCs, subcontractors, and TAG leadership.
• Manage program execution from proposal through transition, execution, and closeout.
• Develop and maintain program execution, staffing, transition, risk, management, and communication plans.
• Ensure contractual requirements, deliverables, milestones, budgets, schedules, staffing, and quality standards are met.

Skills

Program management

Leadership

Customer-facing

Communication

Budget management

Risk management

Scheduling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Description

The Ascendancy Group's Mission

To be the unequaled provider of special operations forces (SOF) and Intelligence Community focused technical, service, and training-based solutions.

Opportunity

Join The Ascendancy Group’s (TAG) Headquarters Operations team as a Program Manager. This senior, customer-facing role leads complex government programs, contracts, task orders, and strategic initiatives supporting TAG’s mission, growth, and federal customers.

The Program Manager works directly with executive leadership, customers, internal support teams, and external partners to drive contract performance from capture and proposal development through transition, execution, and closeout.

Overview

The Program Manager provides leadership and accountability for assigned programs, including customer satisfaction, staffing, budget, schedule, quality, risk, compliance, and contractual deliverables. This position serves as a key liaison among TAG, government customers, Contracting Officers (KOs), Contracting Officer Representatives (CORs), Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs), subcontractors, and internal teams.

Security Requirement:

Active U.S. Government Secret security clearance required at the start of employment and must be maintained throughout the period of performance.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Lead assigned programs, contracts, task orders, and strategic operational initiatives.
• Serve as the primary interface with customers, KOs, CORs, TPOCs, subcontractors, and TAG leadership.
• Manage program execution from proposal and award through transition, performance, follow-on opportunities, and closeout.
• Develop and maintain program execution, staffing, transition, risk, management, quality, control, and communication plans.
• Ensure contractual requirements, deliverables, milestones, budgets, schedules, staffing, and quality standards are met.
• Oversee and mentor Project Managers, project coordinators, and operational staff; establish priorities and resolve barriers to execution.
• Coordinate with Recruiting, Finance, Contracts, Operations, Facility Security, and executive leadership on staffing, financial performance, invoicing, security, compliance, and program profitability.
• Monitor budgets, funding, labor utilization, forecasts, cost-to-complete estimates, risks, and schedule or performance variances.
• Prepare executive briefings, customer updates, status reports, dashboards, risk assessments, and recommendations.
• Review Statements of Work, Performance Work Statements, task orders, modifications, staffing requirements, and deliverable schedules to ensure requirements are understood and executable.
• Identify and mitigate program risks, staffing challenges, compliance concerns, customer issues, and schedule or budget deviations.
• Lead program reviews, customer meetings, transition meetings, status meetings, and executive-level briefings.
• Ensure compliance with contract requirements, company policies, and applicable FAR/DFARS requirements.
• Support capture and proposal efforts, including staffing strategy, technical and management inputs, pricing coordination, proposal reviews, and transition planning.
• Improve processes that strengthen program performance, compliance, and customer satisfaction.

Position Requirements:

• U.S. citizen with an active Secret security clearance.
• Minimum 8 years of program management, project management, operations management, or relevant leadership experience.
• Minimum 5 years managing complex programs, projects, contracts, task orders, or operational initiatives with responsibility for schedule, budget, staffing, deliverables, and performance.
• Minimum 3 years supporting the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, federal government, government contracting, or SOF-related organizations.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Management, Program Management, Operations, Finance, Communications, Organizational Leadership, or a related field.
• Experience leading multiple concurrent programs/projects and cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience managing schedules, budgets, resource plans, risks, milestones, deliverables, and performance metrics.
• Experience providing executive-level reports, briefings, dashboards, and recommendations to leadership and customers.
• Experience serving as a customer-facing representative and reviewing contractual documents, including Statements of Work, Performance Work Statements, task orders, and modifications.
• Experience supporting proposal development, capture, transition planning, staffing plans, or post-award contract execution.
• Working knowledge of FAR and DFARS requirements related to government contract performance.
• Strong leadership, communication, organization, problem-solving, and follow-through skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and Teams.
• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and make sound recommendations under pressure.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP, PgMP, DAU, FAC-P/PM, Agile, Scrum, Lean Six Sigma, or comparable project/program-management certification.
• Master’s degree in business, management, operations, finance, leadership, or related discipline.
• 10+ years of program management, operations leadership, military leadership, or government-contracting experience.
• Experience with Cost-Plus, Time-and-Materials, Firm-Fixed-Price, or hybrid government contracts.
• Experience with contract start-ups, transitions, rebids, recompetes, closeouts, subcontractors, vendors, or geographically dispersed teams.
• Active Top Secret clearance preferred.

The Ascendancy Group (TAG) was founded on and thrives based on relationships, reputation, and trust.

We are passionate about everything we do. One hundred percent of our government-focused teammates are former members of the Department of Defense or the Intelligence Community who still believe in supporting our nation. We offer like-minded individuals the opportunity to continue working in small teams on unique and challenging problem sets that further our nation's security.