Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension is seeking a Deputy Program Manager / Operations Lead to support the Navy’s Information Technology Governance and Mission Support effort for Military Sealift Command’s C4/IT Systems Directorate. This role supports the execution, coordination, reporting, and day-to-day management of contract workstreams across IT governance, portfolio management, data management, financial management, and information management functions.

This position is ideal for a project management professional who can integrate multiple workstreams, manage staffing and schedule visibility, coordinate with Government and contractor stakeholders, and help the Program Manager identify and resolve issues before they affect performance. The Navy requirement includes contract program management, C4/IT portfolio management, data governance, financial management, and organizational governance support, with MSC N6 responsible for C4/IT lifecycle planning, operations, sustainment, and governance across ashore and afloat systems.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Deputy Program Manager / Operations Lead will support the Program Manager in managing daily contract execution, coordinating assigned task areas, tracking deliverables, managing action items, supporting staffing plans, and preparing status reports and briefings for Government review. The role will help ensure work is performed on time, within scope, and in accordance with contract requirements, performance standards, quality expectations, and Government-approved processes.

The ideal candidate should be organized, detail-oriented, responsive, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced federal IT mission support environment. The candidate should be able to manage competing priorities, coordinate across technical and non-technical teams, support escalation management, and maintain accurate project documentation. This role will support monthly reviews, Contract Management Reviews, performance measurement, risk and issue tracking, deliverable coordination, and quality control. The PWS requires monthly reviews to discuss task status, prior progress, plans, issues, risks, and action items, and requires monthly performance reporting that includes resource usage, risks, issues, deliverables, and project schedule/performance status.

Expected Day-to-Day Activities

• Coordinate daily execution across assigned task areas, including Contract Program Management, C4/IT Portfolio Management, and Information Management / Organizational Governance.
• Support the Program Manager in maintaining the Contract Management Plan, staffing plan, performance trackers, issue logs, risk logs, action item trackers, and deliverable calendars.
• Track workstream status, upcoming deadlines, staffing needs, resource usage, and Government requests.
• Prepare and update weekly, monthly, and quarterly status materials, including meeting agendas, minutes, action item summaries, and briefing inputs.
• Monitor deliverable development and submission timelines to support on-time CDRL delivery.
• Coordinate with task area leads, analysts, financial management staff, data governance staff, and documentation specialists to integrate status updates into consolidated reporting.
• Identify execution risks, staffing concerns, schedule delays, quality issues, and unresolved action items; recommend mitigation or escalation actions.
• Facilitate meetings with internal teams and Government stakeholders, capture decisions, and follow up on assigned actions.
• Support Contract Management Reviews by preparing task status, performance metrics, variance explanations, risk updates, and forward-looking work plans.
• Assist with quality control reviews to ensure documentation is accurate, complete, properly formatted, and aligned with Government expectations.
• Support governance reporting, stakeholder coordination, policy/process updates, internal control activities, QMS/MIC reporting, and cross-functional communication requirements under Task Area 5.
• Maintain project files, version control, meeting artifacts, and performance records in Government-approved repositories.
• Use project management tools and Microsoft Office products to support schedules, trackers, dashboards, briefings, and executive reporting.