Senior Program Manager Alexandria, VA R-00190558

ESR Healthcare; Alexandria (VA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Referral bonus $2,000

External Referral Program Eligible

Job summary

Leidos is seeking a Senior Program Manager in Alexandria, VA to lead a high-impact defense program. You will own the program's cost, schedule, and performance, and guide agile delivery of a COTS product with close collaboration with product and technical leads.

The role requires TS/SCI clearance eligibility, strong communication, and experience managing complex, classified environments. Expect travel to support reviews and engagements while driving execution excellence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field with 12+ years of experience; Master's with 10+ years may substitute.
• Experience leading agile software development teams (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban) and delivering to an operational user base.
• Proven success managing software development programs with full cost, schedule, and technical accountability.
• Experience executing programs in classified environments with security constraints.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the single point of accountability for program execution, including cost, schedule, technical baseline, risk, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Lead agile software delivery of an existing COTS product—owning release planning, backlog prioritization, sprint cadence, increment reviews, and definition of done with product owner and technical lead.
• Manage the program financial baseline, including EAC/ETC development, monthly financial reviews, variance analysis, funding and staffing plans, and AOP commitments.
• Engage with the customer's program office and mission users to translate needs into prioritized requirements and ensure delivery excellence.
• Balance COTS product baseline integrity with mission-specific customization; determine what is configured, extended, or contributed back to core product.
• Communicate clearly with leadership, employees, peers, and customers to ensure transparency of goals and risks.
• Own risk and opportunity management, including mitigation planning and escalation of issues threatening cost, schedule, or outcomes.
• Collaborate across Leidos—engineering, security, contracts, finance, talent acquisition, and product organization to maximize mission and business outcomes.
• Ensure program compliance with security requirements, classification guidance, contractual obligations, and program management standards.
• Support organic growth by identifying follow-on opportunities and contributing to capture and proposal efforts.
• Travel as required for customer engagements and program reviews.

Skills

Agile leadership

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Risk and issue management

Decision making

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or Business

Master's Degree (optional)

Job description

Senior Program Manager Alexandria, VA

R-00190558

Location: Alexandria, VA

Category: Proj and Prog Management

Schedule (FT/PT): Full Time

Travel Required: Yes, 25% of the time

Shift: Day

Remote Type: No Remote

Clearance: Top Secret/SCI

External Referral Program: Eligible

Referral Bonus Amount: $2,000

Sector: Defense

Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as the single point of accountability for program execution, including cost, schedule, technical baseline, risk, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Lead agile software delivery of an existing COTS product—owning release planning, backlog prioritization, sprint cadence, increment reviews, and definition of done in partnership with the product owner and technical lead.
• Manage the program financial baseline, including EAC/ETC development, monthly financial reviews, variance analysis, funding and staffing plans, and achievement of Annual Operating Plan (AOP) commitments.
• Engage directly with the customer's program office and mission users to build trusted relationships, translate mission optimization needs into prioritized requirements, and ensure delivery excellence and satisfaction.
• Balance COTS product baseline integrity against mission-specific customization—working with the product organization to determine what is configured, extended, or contributed back to the core product.
• Communicate clearly and proactively with leadership, employees, peers, and customers to ensure transparency and shared understanding of goals, risks, dependencies, and outcomes.
• Own risk and opportunity management, including identification, mitigation planning, and escalation of issues that threaten cost, schedule, or mission outcomes.
• Lead with a focus on team cohesion, collaboration, and a high-performance culture aligned to Leidos values and mission outcomes.
• Coordinate cross-functional efforts across Leidos—engineering, security, contracts, subcontracts, finance, talent acquisition, and the COTS product organization to integrate capabilities and maximize mission and business outcomes.
• Ensure program compliance with all applicable security requirements, classification guidance, contractual obligations, and Leidos program management standards.
• Support organic growth by identifying follow-on and adjacent opportunities, contributing to capture and proposal efforts, and demonstrating past performance that strengthens recompete position.
• Travel as required to support customer engagements, program reviews, and execution activities.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or a related field and 12+ years of relevant experience; Master's Degree and 10+ years of relevant experience. (Four additional years of related experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.)
• Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Top Secret/SCI clearance; must be willing and able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI/Poly and program access.
• Demonstrated success managing software development programs with full cost, schedule, and technical accountability.
• Hands-on experience leading agile software development teams (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban, or similar), including backlog management, release planning, and iterative delivery to an operational user base.
• Experience executing programs within classified environments, including working within security constraints, classification guidance, and accredited development enclaves.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and relationship-building skills—able to influence and align diverse stakeholders including customers, technical teams, and internal leadership.
• Proven ability to analyze, solve, and execute complex technical and business challenges while instilling confidence among customers, staff, and senior leadership.
• Demonstrated experience interviewing, hiring, staffing, and developing multi-disciplinary project teams.
• Bias for action with a willingness to personally engage at the point of execution—removing friction, driving decisions, and delivering outcomes at speed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering, integrating, configuring, or extending a COTS or commercial software product in a government or mission environment.
• Experience with mission planning, mission optimization, resource allocation, scheduling, or operations research–based decision support solutions.
• PMP, PgMP, Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), or equivalent certification.
• Experience with DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, cloud or hybrid deployment, and software ATO/accreditation processes in classified environments.
• Experience supporting Special Access Programs (SAPs) or other highly controlled environments.
• Working knowledge of multiple contract types (FFP, CPFF, T&M) and their impact on agile delivery and program financial management.
• Experience managing subcontractors, product vendors, and teaming partners across the Defense Industrial Base (DIB).
• Experience briefing senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success growing scope on an existing program through delivery performance and customer trust.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.