Strategic Project Manager

VIVA USA Inc; Denver (CO); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

VIVA USA Inc seeks a Strategic Project Manager to lead the replacement of its probation case management system across 23 judicial districts. You will manage governance, vendors, data migration, and change management with stakeholders from justice and technology domains.

The role requires coordinating requirements, procurement, and design, while ensuring compliance, transparency, and user-centric delivery in a hybrid, in-state travel model.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; additional relevant experience may substitute for the degree year for year.
• Ten years of progressively responsible project management experience, including at least five years leading large, complex technology implementations with multiple vendors and stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated experience managing a multi-year schedule.
• Experience leading enterprise system replacements that included data migration and organizational change management.
• Ability to pass a criminal background check.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full project lifecycle, from requirements and procurement through design, build, data migration, testing, statewide rollout, and decommissioning of ICON/JPOD.
• Develop and maintain the master schedule, budget, scope baseline, and benefits realization plan.
• Translate the Branch's strategic goals for probation into clear project objectives and measurable success criteria.
• Support the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of a solution vendor under state procurement rules.
• Hold vendors and internal teams accountable for quality, schedule, and cost.
• Track client statutes, Chief Justice Directives, and probation standards affecting system requirements; build them into the solution.
• Coordinate with legal, policy, and research staff so the system supports required reporting, risk and needs assessments, and evidence-based practices.
• Engage chief probation officers, officers, supervisors, judges, court staff, and partner agencies across all 23 judicial districts; lead human-centered design activities and feedback loops.
• Direct organizational change management, training, communications, and go-live support.
• Make sure client-facing parts of the system are accessible, plain-language, and equitable for justice-involved individuals.
• Identify, track, and mitigate risks and issues; escape decisions promptly.
• Plan cutover so probation supervision is never interrupted.
• Report status, risks, and outcomes to leadership.

Skills

Project management

Systems thinking

Communication

Facilitation

Empathy

Analytical thinking

Integrity

Resilience

Benefits realization

Governance

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in project management / information systems / public administration / criminal justice / business

Job description

Position summary

Strategic Project Manager to lead the replacement of its legacy probation case management system. This role bridges technical infrastructure, legislative and policy compliance, and the daily experience of probation officers, judicial staff, and justice‑involved individuals across client's 23 judicial districts. The position will operate within a multi‑level governance framework, supporting executive decision‑making, managing stakeholder alignment, and facilitating issue escalation across business, technology, and judicial leadership.

Strategic leadership and governance

• Lead the full project lifecycle, from requirements and procurement through design, build, data migration, testing, statewide rollout, and decommissioning of ICON/JPOD.
• Develop and maintain the master schedule, budget, scope baseline, and benefits realization plan.
• Translate the Branch's strategic goals for probation into clear project objectives and measurable success criteria.

Vendor and procurement management

• Support the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of a solution vendor under state procurement rules.
• Hold vendors and internal teams accountable for quality, schedule, and cost.

Legislative and policy compliance

• Track client statutes, Chief Justice Directives, and probation standards affecting system requirements, and build them into the solution.
• Coordinate with legal, policy, and research staff so the system supports required reporting, risk and needs assessments, and evidence‑based practices.

Stakeholder engagement and change management

• Engage chief probation officers, officers, supervisors, judges, court staff, and partner agencies across all 23 judicial districts, urban and rural alike.
• Lead human‑centered design activities, such as field observation, user testing, and feedback loops with frontline staff.
• Direct organizational change management, training, communications, and go‑live support.
• Make sure the client‑facing parts of the system are accessible, plain‑language, and equitable for justice‑involved individuals.

Risk, quality, and reporting

• Identify, track, and mitigate risks and issues; escape decisions promptly.
• Plan cutover so probation supervision is never interrupted.
• Report status, risks, and outcomes to leadership.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in project management, information systems, public administration, criminal justice, business, or a related field. Additional relevant experience may substitute for the degree year for year.
• Ten years of progressively responsible project management experience, including at least five years leading large, complex technology implementations with multiple vendors and stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated experience managing a multi‑year schedule.
• Experience leading enterprise system replacements that included data migration and organizational change management.
• Ability to pass a criminal background check.

Preferred qualifications

• Project Management Professional (PMP), PgMP, or equivalent certification.
• Agile and change management certifications.
• Experience with Waterfall Project methodology.
• Experience applying Waterfall governance and procurement controls in conjunction with Agile solution delivery.
• Experience implementing case management systems for courts, probation, parole, corrections, or other justice agencies.
• Experience with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or configurable SaaS platform implementations in the public sector.
• Experience working with geographically distributed users in both urban and rural settings.

Knowledge, skills, and abilities

• Project and program management: command of predictive, Agile, and hybrid methods, and the judgment to choose between them.
• Systems thinking: ability to understand how technology, policy, operations, and people interact, and to see downstream effects of design choices.
• Communication: clear, plain‑language writing and speaking for audiences ranging from judges and legislators to frontline officers and vendors.
• Facilitation and influence: ability to build consensus among stakeholders with competing priorities, without direct authority.
• Empathy for users: genuine interest in how probation officers and clients experience the system, and the discipline to design around their needs.
• Analytical skills: ability to interpret data, evaluate trade‑offs, and make sound decisions under uncertainty.
• Integrity and discretion: sound handling of confidential criminal justice information and sensitive organizational matters.
• Resilience: steady leadership through ambiguity, setbacks, and the pressures of a high‑visibility public project.
• Benefits orientation: understanding of business outcomes and the ability to support measurement of adoption and value realization objectives.
• Governance and executive engagement: ability to operate within complex governance structures, prepare executive decision materials, facilitate escalations, and support leadership decision‑making across multiple organizational levels.
• Change management: ability to support organizational readiness, stakeholder engagement, communications, training, and user adoption activities.

Working conditions

This is a hybrid position. Regular in‑state travel to judicial districts, including rural districts, may be required, especially during training and rollout. Occasional work outside normal hours is expected around go‑live and cutover events.

Notes

Hybrid

You will be asked to come into the office once a week, ideally on Tuesdays.

VIVA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants have an equal opportunity for placement, and all employees have an equal opportunity to develop on the job. This means that VIVA will not discriminate against any employee or qualified applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status