Lead Project Manager

We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Project Manager for a hybrid assignment with our Sacramento, California based client providing strategic leadership and hands-on execution for a large-scale, complex technology implementation. This individual will serve as the primary driver of the initiative, establishing a clear strategic vision, aligning multiple teams and stakeholders, and ensuring that project objectives move forward with urgency, accountability, and direction.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned, confident, and highly proactive project leader who is comfortable stepping into an environment with multiple teams, competing priorities, and limited coordination. This person must be able to quickly assess the current state, establish structure and governance, define the path forward, and actively drive internal teams and external vendors toward successful implementation.

This is not a passive project management role. The Lead Project Manager must be willing to be hands-on, challenge teams, when necessary, remove roadblocks, hold stakeholders accountable, and ensure decisions and deliverables are completed on schedule.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Execution

* Develop and communicate a clear strategic vision, implementation roadmap, and execution strategy for a large-scale technology initiative.

* Translate strategic objectives into actionable project plans, milestones, workstreams, and measurable outcomes.

* Establish structure and direction across teams that require greater coordination, alignment, and accountability.

* Serve as the primary driver of project execution, proactively identifying what needs to happen next and ensuring teams follow through.

* Provide decisive leadership in resolving competing priorities, dependencies, risks, and implementation challenges.

* Maintain a strong focus on execution while balancing long-term strategic objectives with immediate project needs.

Program & Project Management

* Lead end-to-end project management across planning, execution, monitoring, implementation, and close-out phases.

* Provide leadership and expertise across the Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL) and associated project activities.

* Develop, maintain, and actively manage integrated project plans, schedules, budgets, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables.

* Lead large, complex, multi-year technology initiatives with multiple interconnected workstreams.

* Establish project governance, reporting structures, decision-making processes, and escalation paths.

* Identify risks, issues, and roadblocks early and drive mitigation and corrective actions through completion.

* Ensure project objectives are achieved on time, within budget, and in accordance with applicable requirements and standards.

Cross-Functional Team Leadership

* Lead and coordinate cross-functional business, technology, operational, and project teams to create alignment around implementation objectives.

* Bring structure and direction to teams that may currently be operating independently or without clearly defined coordination.

* Establish clear roles, responsibilities, ownership, dependencies, and expectations across project workstreams.

* Drive accountability by actively following up on commitments, decisions, action items, and deliverables.

* Facilitate difficult conversations and confidently challenge stakeholders when additional action, clarity, or accountability is required.

* Remove organizational and project barriers that could prevent teams from meeting implementation objectives.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

* Serve as a primary liaison between internal teams, executive stakeholders, external vendors, subcontractors, and other project participants.

* Work closely with the software implementation vendor to coordinate implementation activities, timelines, dependencies, deliverables, and issue resolution.

* Ensure internal teams and external vendors operate against a unified implementation strategy and integrated project plan.

* Establish clear expectations and accountability for vendor performance and deliverables.

* Facilitate executive and stakeholder discussions to resolve issues, make decisions, and maintain forward momentum.

* Build productive relationships across business and technical teams while maintaining the authority necessary to drive project outcomes.

Governance, Communication & Reporting

* Lead project governance meetings, executive briefings, steering committee discussions, and working sessions.

* Prepare and deliver clear status reports, executive presentations, project documentation, and decision materials.

* Provide leadership with visibility into project health, progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, and areas requiring intervention.

* Maintain accurate project documentation and ensure decisions, action items, risks, and issues are appropriately tracked.

* Apply project management best practices, including PMBOK, Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid approaches, based on project needs.

Requirements:

* 8 years of experience in project/program management.

* 7 years of experience supporting State or government agencies.

* 6 years of experience leading large and/or complex IT projects.

* Demonstrated experience leading multi-million-dollar, multi-year technology initiatives of $5M or greater.

* Demonstrated experience providing leadership across Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL) stages.

* Proven ability to develop a strategic project vision and translate that vision into an actionable implementation strategy.

* Demonstrated success leading complex software or technology implementations involving multiple business and technical teams.

* Strong experience coordinating internal teams and third-party technology or implementation vendors.

* Proven ability to establish project structure, improve cross-functional coordination, and drive teams toward common objectives.

* Demonstrated ability to hold stakeholders accountable, resolve roadblocks, manage competing priorities, and drive decisions through completion.

* Exceptional executive communication, stakeholder management, organizational, negotiation, and leadership skills.

* Strong experience managing project scope, schedules, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, and deliverables.

* Proficiency with Microsoft Project and project management/collaboration tools such as Jira and Smartsheet.

* Experience leading large-scale technology implementations within State government.

* Experience managing enterprise software implementation vendors and coordinating vendor activities with internal business and technology teams.

* Experience taking leadership of complex initiatives requiring stronger governance, coordination, and strategic direction.

Preferred:

* Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, Public Administration, or a related field.

* Master's degree in Business, Public Administration, Information Technology, or a related field.