Senior Project and Portfolio Manager

Lynker is seeking an experienced Senior Project and Portfolio Manager to establish and operate a centerwide project management portfolio at the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The position will help SWPC replace its existing Annual Operating Plan (AOP) process with continuous planning across fiscal years, while supporting required annual planning and reporting. The manager will turn the developing portfolio process into a practical, consistently used way to plan work, track delivery, and support leadership decisions.

This is a hands‑on implementation and management role. The manager will be responsible for integrated planning and tracking across the portfolio, developing plans with designated project leads and sponsors, maintaining reliable resource and schedule information, and bringing unresolved conflicts to SWPC leadership. Detailed planning will follow authorization and match each project’s stage and complexity. The role requires experience introducing project management practices in an organization where those practices are new.

SWPC operates around the clock to monitor and forecast space weather that affects critical technologies on Earth and in space. The portfolio includes scientific models and observations, software and infrastructure modernization, research transitions to operations, forecast and customer services, training, workforce initiatives, and events. Operational responsibilities take precedence when determining project capacity. The Ideal Senior Project and Portfolio Manager will be able to work a hybrid schedule, working 2-3 days per week from the NOAA office in Boulder, CO, and the remaining 2-3 days per week from home.

• Develop and implement a phased transition from the AOP process to the portfolio. Reconcile existing projects and commitments, preserve required NOAA and NWS milestone reporting, and recommend how ongoing work enters the new process.
• Translate SWPC’s Project Portfolio Lifecycle into usable procedures, templates, responsibilities, review schedules, and decision records. Propose solutions for unresolved process details and obtain Government approval before implementation.
• Apply predictive, Agile, or hybrid methods according to the work. Keep documentation proportionate to complexity and risk, and help SWPC focus available capacity on a limited set of projects through completion.

• Administer SWPC’s approved portfolio system and linked records. Maintain unique project IDs, consistent phases and decisions, reliable roster and assignment data, and traceable links among concepts, plans, milestones, costs, and leadership actions.
• Maintain controlled templates, field definitions, update responsibilities, and version history within SWPC’s quality management system. Validate calculations and imports, protect access, and reduce duplicate data entry across portfolio and annual reports.

• Administer the portfolio from idea submission and concept development through evaluation, planning authorization, plan development, execution authorization, execution, and closure. Record the accountable lead, sponsor, status, next decision, and conditions for each effort.
• Help concept leads describe measurable outcomes, scope boundaries, mission and user value, timing drivers, strategic alignment, resource needs, delivery uncertainties, and readiness for adoption. Help divide overly broad efforts into useful projects with clear completion points.
• Support evidence‑based management scoring using SWPC’s approved rubric. Keep priority and readiness assessments…