Program Manager

Position Overview

Waterfront Training Solutions is seeking an experienced Program Manager to oversee multiple Department of War (DoW) training contracts, curriculum development efforts, and Navy training and manpower initiatives.

This position requires a hands-on leader with at least 10 years of project and program management experience who can manage contract execution, client communications, personnel, recruitment, financial reporting, and competing priorities across a matrixed organization. The Program Manager will coordinate employees supporting multiple contracts and align staffing, labor categories (LCATs), available hours, funding, and deliverables.

The successful candidate must possess a thorough understanding of Navy Type Commanders (TYCOMs), Navy training requirements, Navy manpower processes, and current DoW initiatives affecting training and workforce readiness.

Key Responsibilities

Program and Contract Management

• Manage multiple concurrent contracts and task orders, maintaining accountability for scope, schedule, budget, quality, and deliverables.
• Lead curriculum development and training modernization efforts from requirements analysis through design, development, review, delivery, and sustainment.
• Translate Performance Work Statements (PWS), Statements of Work (SOW), and contractual requirements into executable project plans, integrated schedules, staffing requirements, and team assignments.
• Coordinate tasking across contracts, establish priorities, and resolve resource conflicts in coordination with functional supervisors and company leadership.
• Monitor performance against milestones and deliverables; implement corrective actions when execution deviates from the approved plan.
• Maintain risk and issue registers, action trackers, decision records, and program documentation.
• Identify opportunities to improve execution, standardize processes, and support follow-on work.

Strategic Staffing, LCAT, and Hours Management

• Develop staffing plans that align employee qualifications with contractual LCAT requirements, workload, funding, and delivery schedules.
• Manage personnel allocations across a matrixed organization while maintaining clear accountability for assignments and deliverables.
• Monitor actual and planned hours, burn rates, remaining contract hours, available funding, and projected completion dates by contract, task, and LCAT.
• Prepare resource forecasts, estimates to complete, and staffing alternatives to address workload changes, vacancies, funding constraints, and schedule shifts.
• Evaluate proposed LCAT substitutions, labor mix adjustments, and conversions of contract hours; document cost and schedule impacts and coordinate required approvals.
• Account for leave, holidays, onboarding timelines, and other availability constraints when developing execution plans.
• Verify that personnel charge time to the appropriate authorized work and identify potential overruns, underutilization, and funding gaps early.

Client Communications and Contract Modifications

• Serve as a primary program point of contact for government clients, prime contractors, subcontractors, and internal stakeholders.
• Lead program reviews and communicate accomplishments, risks, staffing needs, financial status, and recommended actions clearly and professionally.
• Evaluate incoming tasking against authorized scope, funding, staffing, and schedules; elevate changes requiring contractual action.
• Prepare modification requests and supporting documentation for changes involving scope, funding, period of performance, deliverables, schedules, LCATs, labor hours, travel, and other contract requirements.
• Coordinate with company leadership, contracts personnel, and prime contractors to support modification development, negotiation, approval, and implementation.
• Maintain traceability between requested changes, contractual authorization, and updated execution plans.
• Exercise sound judgment in client communications and escalate issues requiring leadership involvement.

Navy Training and Manpower Integration

• Apply a thorough understanding of TYCOMs, OPNAV stakeholders, training organizations, and their responsibilities for requirements identification, validation, resourcing, and execution.
• Manage efforts involving Navy training requirements, manpower analysis, curriculum development, and workforce readiness.
• Connect training and manpower requirements to operational needs, personnel requirements, implementation schedules, and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain awareness of current DoW and Navy initiatives affecting training modernization, manpower, readiness, digital learning, and workforce development.
• Translate policy, contractual requirements, and stakeholder direction into practical execution plans and clearly defined team responsibilities.

Recruitment, Hiring, and Personnel Management

• Write and maintain job descriptions that accurately reflect contract requirements, LCAT qualifications, technical responsibilities, clearance requirements, and program needs.
• Coordinate recruitment across multiple contracts, including identifying staffing needs, reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, evaluating qualifications, and supporting candidate selection.
• Align hiring recommendations with approved staffing plans, compensation parameters, contract funding, and anticipated workload.
• Coordinate hiring actions with human resources and company leadership.
• Manage personnel assignments, workload distribution, performance expectations, and employee development in coordination with functional supervisors.
• Address staffing gaps, performance concerns, and competing demands promptly.
• Plan staffing transitions and continuity measures to minimize disruption to contract performance.

Contractor Onboarding and Access Coordination

• Coordinate onboarding with human resources, security personnel, prime contractors, and government sponsors.
• Understand and coordinate Common Access Card (CAC) processing requirements, including DD Form 1172-2, applicable System Authorization Access Request Navy (SAAR-N) forms, sponsor coordination, and submission tracking.
• Verify completion of required onboarding documentation, training, clearance verification, and access prerequisites.
• Track CAC issuance and government account and system access requirements through completion.
• Incorporate onboarding and access timelines into employee start dates, staffing plans, and billable work assignments.

Invoice Validation and Program Reporting

• Collect, consolidate, and thoroughly review team submissions, including invoice inputs, monthly status reports, travel requests, trip reports, and after-action reports.
• Reconcile invoice packages against approved timesheets, contractual rates, LCATs, authorized hours, travel expenses, and supporting documentation.
• Identify billing discrepancies, missing documentation, and inconsistencies; coordinate corrections before submission.
• Consolidate individual status updates into complete monthly reports addressing accomplishments, deliverable progress, labor utilization, risks, issues, and planned activities.
• Review travel requests for mission relevance, funding availability, required approvals, and compliance with applicable contract and company requirements.
• Verify that trip reports and after-action reports clearly document objectives, activities, outcomes, decisions, lessons learned, and follow-up responsibilities.
• Cross-check invoices and reports against work performed, reporting periods, contractual requirements, and approved expenditures.
• Maintain submission schedules, enforce internal review deadlines, and prepare accurate, complete packages for leadership approval and submission to prime contractors or government clients.

Required Qualifications

• At least 10 years of progressive project and program management experience, including responsibility for multiple concurrent projects or contracts.
• Current Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Active Secret security clearance at the time of hire, with the ability to maintain the clearance throughout employment.
• Demonstrated experience managing federal defense contracts involving training, curriculum development, manpower, or workforce readiness.
• Thorough understanding of scope management, integrated scheduling, resource allocation, cost management, risk management, quality management, and change control.
• Demonstrated experience managing cross-contract staffing and competing priorities within a matrixed organization.
• Strong working knowledge of LCAT requirements, labor mix planning, contract hours, financial forecasting, and personnel utilization.
• Thorough understanding of contract modification processes and the effects of changes to scope, funding, schedules, staffing, and deliverables.
• Thorough understanding of Navy TYCOM relationships, Navy training requirements, Navy manpower processes, and current DoW initiatives relevant to the position.
• Experience writing job descriptions, recruiting personnel, interviewing candidates, and coordinating hiring for government contract positions.
• Experience managing personnel assignments, performance expectations, staffing transitions, and coordination with human resources.
• Working knowledge of contractor onboarding procedures, including CAC processing, DD Form 1172-2, SAAR-N documentation, and government sponsor coordination.
• Demonstrated experience consolidating and validating contract invoices, monthly status reports, travel documentation, trip reports, and after-action reports.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex program issues and manage challenging client conversations.
• Proficiency with project scheduling tools, Microsoft Excel, collaboration platforms, and program reporting.
• Ability to work onsite at WTS headquarters in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting OPNAV, TYCOMs, Navy training commands, or other Navy requirements and resource stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Navy Training System Plans (NTSPs), the OPNAVINST 1500.76 series, and applicable Navy instructional systems development guidance.
• Experience overseeing interactive courseware, eLearning, performance support products, or other digital training solutions.
• Experience supporting proposals, developing rough order of magnitude estimates, and planning follow-on work.
• Experience managing subcontractor performance and coordinating execution with prime contractors.

How to Apply

Submit your resume to [email protected]. Resumes should clearly demonstrate experience managing multiple contracts, cross-functional teams, contract modifications, labor resources, recruitment, and program reporting, along with relevant Navy training and manpower experience.

All interviews will be conducted onsite at WTS headquarters in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Pay: $88,000.00 - $105,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person