Program Manager

Are you a leader? Energetic? Ever worked as part of a program that is Agile? Are you interested in being an agent of change on a team committed to achieving client-focused, mission-driven excellence?

Steampunk seeks a Program Manager who is creative and is a hands‑on expert with delivering innovative technology solutions, including AI/ML-enabled capabilities.

This individual will own the day-to-day running of the program: leading the full delivery team, serving as the primary client point of contact, and holding end-to-end accountability for project outcomes. Responsibilities include team leadership for the complete life cycle of solution development and delivery, running Agile Project Management practices across the team, coordinating with product owners and stakeholders on prioritizing the backlog, creating release schedules and roadmaps based on assessment recommendations, and establishing technical practices and release management standards that align with the customer's process.

This individual will also ensure the team is following, and effective at, Agile scrum processes, will drive high client satisfaction, and will bring practical experience managing AI-focused project delivery, including responsible AI governance, model lifecycle management, and integration of AI/ML capabilities into existing systems.

You are the client's main point of contact, the team's leader, and its coach and mentor.

You will also:

• Own and manage the day-to-day operations of the program, including staffing, tasking, schedule, and delivery quality.
• Manage and maintain successful/results-oriented relationships with the client, serving as the primary client-facing owner of the engagement, and identify and pursue new opportunities with existing clients.
• Develop and drive high-level strategic initiatives, manage the full project delivery team (including remote staff), and facilitate technical discussions to troubleshoot project implementation issues, including issues specific to AI/ML model development, deployment, and monitoring.
• Assess the current organization and delivery environment and recommend optimal Agile practices tailored to the client, including practices suited to AI/ML experimentation and iterative model development (e.g., MLOps-aligned sprint structures).
• Oversee Agile Scrum practices across the team, attending ceremonies and ensuring Scrum Master support is effective, whether performed directly or by team members.
• Remove blockers to ensure project success.
• Coach the Product Owner and team on backlog refinement and prioritization, including translating AI/ML use cases and data requirements into actionable user stories.
• Handle challenging client situations and offer technical and business guidance and direction to client executives, including guidance on responsible and secure use of AI technologies.
• Lead the automation of operational workflows to improve service resilience, reduce manual labor, and ensure consistency, leveraging AI-enabled automation and analytics tools where appropriate.
• Develop and maintain system documentation, scripts, and configuration artifacts to support compliance and continuity requirements, including documentation of AI model provenance, data lineage, and governance controls.
• Collaborate with government stakeholders and engineers to ensure performance, scalability, security, and responsible use of AI within the hosting environment.
• Lead and manage all staff on the program, monitor performance, and own hiring/staffing decisions for the team.
• Evaluate project feasibility, eliminate non-productive tasking, and find creative ways to ensure project delivery and, if feasible, accelerate delivery, including assessing where AI/automation can responsibly accelerate…