Senior Strategist; Program Manager (Ft. Meade)

LINK; Fort Meade (MD); On-site; USD 112,000 - 151,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Internet stipend

Commuter stipend

Healthcare benefits

401K

Paid Time Off

Job summary

LINK is seeking a Senior Strategist; Program Manager to oversee government and commercial contracts in the Fort Meade area. You will lead cross-functional teams, manage budgets, schedules, and client relationships while driving strategic outcomes and high-quality deliverables.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years in strategic communication or program management, TS clearance with SCI, PMP preferred, and experience with human-centered design and agile delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communication, English, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in strategic communication, public affairs, program management, or strategy development
• 7+ years program/project management experience including familiarity with Agile methodologies and project delivery best practices
• Top Secret Clearance with SCI required
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Government contracting experience
• PMP certification preferred
• Minimum active Secret clearance required
• Experience with human-centered design and design thinking principles
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with clients to understand challenges, capture requirements, and define KPIs/OKRs
• Collaborate with clients through meetings and workshops to co-create solutions
• Perform high-quality research to inform strategic direction
• Apply human-centered design and design-thinking principles to complex problems
• Work iteratively by gathering feedback to refine solutions
• Identify opportunities to create tangible business value through assessments and high-level requirements
• Develop and maintain strong client relationships and manage external stakeholders
• Oversee multiple client engagements with alignment and strategic impact
• Lead end-to-end project management for assigned contracts from planning through delivery
• Manage budgets, timelines, risks, and deliverables to ensure success
• Identify opportunities to extend current contracts and develop new business

Skills

Strategic communication

Program management

Agile methodologies

Security clearance

Government contracting

PMP certification

Human-centered design

Design thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communication, English, Business, or related field

Job description

Who We Are:

LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent industry partners. At LINK, we partner with engineers, futurists, and thought leaders to untangle complexity, discover opportunity, and communicate clearly with visual stories.
Let us be your partners in change.

Location: We are actively hiring in the Fort Meade, Maryland area.

About The Opportunity

The Senior Strategist; Program Manager (PM) is responsible for overseeing the successful delivery of assigned government and commercial contracts, managing cross-functional teams, and maintaining strong client relationships. This role ensures projects meet quality standards, timelines, and budget objectives while driving strategic outcomes. Acting as a trusted consultant and advisor, the Program Manager leads comprehensive project strategies, identifies opportunities to create business value, and guides teams to deliver impactful, client-focused solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Communication, English, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in strategic communication, public affairs, program management, or strategy development
• 7+ years program/project management experience including familiarity with Agile methodologies and project delivery best practices
• Top Secret Clearance with SCI required
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining a strong focus on accuracy and attention to detail
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate in a clear, approachable, and knowledgeable manner
• Government contracting experience
• PMP certification preferred
• Minimum active Secret clearance required
• Experience with human-centered design and design thinking principles
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously

Responsibilities

Senior Strategist responsibilities include:

• Partner directly with clients to understand challenges, capture requirements, and define missions, visions, goals, and KPIs/OKRs.
• Collaborate with clients through well-designed meetings and workshops to co-create solutions and gather critical inputs.
• Perform high-quality primary and secondary research to inform strategic direction.
• Apply human-centered design and design-thinking principles to complex problem sets.
• Work iteratively by proactively gathering feedback from clients and internal partners to refine solutions.
• Identify opportunities to create tangible business value through current-state assessments and high-level requirement definition.
• Develop and maintain strong client relationships, including managing external stakeholders and converting new requests into business opportunities.
• Oversee multiple client engagements, ensuring alignment, clarity, and strategic impact across projects.

Content, Storytelling & Project Execution

• Elevate content quality and thought leadership in partnership with the Strategy Competency Manager, ensuring strong standards for deliverables.
• Translate ideas into compelling strategic narratives, campaigns, and solutions.
• Identify content structures, hierarchies, and visual concepts for storytelling products, including content maps and wireframes.
• Collaborate with design teams to develop infographics, charts, diagrams, presentations, and other visual products that convey complex information clearly.
• Manage multiple internal project teams, organizing assignments and tracking progress, deadlines, and deliverables from both operational and financial perspectives.

Program Manager Responsibilities Include

• Lead end-to-end project management for assigned contracts, from strategic planning through delivery, developing comprehensive approaches that create tangible business value based on client requirements and stakeholder feedback
• Manage and report project budgets, timelines, risks, travel requirements, and deliverable quality to ensure successful outcomes
• Identify opportunities to extend current contracts and develop new business with related clients

Client Relationship & Advisory Services

• Serve as primary client relationship manager and trusted consultant, providing expert guidance
• Lead client engagements, including visioning sessions, discovery engagements, and review sessions
• Collaborate directly with clients and stakeholders to understand challenges and design solutions
• Facilitate regular stakeholder meetings, manage expectations and resolve conflicts.

Team Management & Development

• Oversee project-specific onboarding and integration of new team members
• Supervise project teams, delegating work while maintaining the vision for deliverables.
• Allocate tasks and time based on budget and team capacity.
• Provide coaching and mentoring focused on delivery excellence and client satisfaction.
• Conduct monthly performance evaluations to inform Competency Managers’ formal reviews.
• Coordinate with Competency Managers on skill development, career growth, and project-specific resource allocation.
• Track team utilization, profitability, and manage subcontractor performance.
• Oversee team member transitions and off-boarding at project completion.

Project Execution & Quality Management

• Run agile management cadence with project teams to ensure effective delegation of tasks, workload management, and on-time delivery
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate ideas into compelling campaigns, solutions, strategies, and stories
• Oversee creation of infographics, charts, diagrams, presentations, and other visual products for print and digital formats
• Apply consulting, human-centered design, and design thinking principles to research and execution processes
• Ensure deliverable quality on projects through direct oversight and review processes
• Document lessons learned and best practices to enhance organizational knowledge

Compliance & Deliverables Management

• Ensure timely delivery of contractual deliverables and monthly status reports
• Maintain compliance with contract requirements including security clearances, access control, required forms, travel requests and reports, and waivers.
• Coordinate with Team Leads and business operations team to produce monthly invoicing and reporting

Work Schedule

• Onsite schedule, 3-5-days per week
• Full time, 40 hours per week
• Some travel required to attend relevant events and conferences, and participate in LINK team events

Salary: We're committed to offering competitive compensation. While the salary range for this position is $112,000-$151,000, your final offer may be adjusted based on factors like experience and location.

Benefits

• $100 monthly internet/cell phone stipend
• $150 monthly commuter stipend for eligible participants
• LINK sponsored healthcare benefits including medical, dental, vision
• Company-paid Short Term Disability Insurance
• 401K with employer contribution of up to 4%
• 11 Federal Holidays per year
• 15 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year
• Paid Holiday Time Off (Christmas Eve through the New Year)
• Annual bonus plan participation
• Annual profit sharing participation
• $2,000 Learning and Development program reimbursement
• Technology package that includes a LINK-owned MacBook Pro, monitor, mouse and keyboard

LINK is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable state, local, and federal law. If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact Human Resources to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.