Strategic Project Manager

12 Months

Denver, CO (Hybrid - once a week ideally on tuesday)

• 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, 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.
• Familiarity with state government, the CJB, or CICJIS data exchanges.
• 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

• 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…