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Ascension is seeking an experienced Project Manager to serve as a key member of our federal consulting team supporting the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The Project Manager will provide day-to-day management, coordination, and execution support for mission-critical technical support services that improve PHMSA’s safety programs, operational capabilities, analytical processes, and regulatory decision-making.

This role is ideal for a highly organized and proactive project management professional who thrives in a complex federal environment, can coordinate multidisciplinary technical teams, and possesses the ability to translate program objectives into actionable plans, schedules, deliverables, and measurable outcomes.

The successful candidate will bring demonstrated experience managing federal projects, coordinating stakeholders, tracking performance, mitigating risks, and ensuring high-quality delivery of technical products. The individual will play a critical role in supporting PHMSA’s mission to enhance transportation safety through improved program management, data-driven decision-making, process improvement, and technical analysis.

Candidates who excel in this role are detail-oriented, accountable, collaborative, and comfortable operating independently while engaging with government executives, technical experts, analysts, and cross-functional teams.

Summary of Contractor Role

The Project Manager will support Ascension’s execution of PHMSA technical support requirements by managing assigned projects, coordinating contractor resources, maintaining project schedules, monitoring risks, and ensuring timely completion of deliverables.

The Project Manager will support multiple technical service areas, including:

• Mission/program analysis and operational improvement;
• Data management and analytics initiatives;
• Technical communication and stakeholder engagement;
• Organizational performance assessments;
• Engineering and technical analysis activities; and
• Special projects supporting PHMSA’s hazardous materials and pipeline safety mission.

The Project Manager will serve as a primary point of coordination between Ascension’s technical staff and Government stakeholders, ensuring project activities remain aligned with contract objectives, schedules, quality standards, and customer expectations.

The role requires a professional who can manage ambiguity, anticipate challenges, develop practical solutions, and maintain momentum across concurrent workstreams. The Project Manager will apply industry best practices in project management, quality assurance, risk management, process improvement, and stakeholder communication.

The PHMSA SOW identifies the Project Manager as a key personnel role responsible for day-to-day management of assigned tasks, coordination of contractor personnel and resources, schedule and deliverable tracking, quality oversight, risk identification and mitigation, and Government stakeholder communication.

Position Responsibilities / Expected Activities

The Project Manager will:

• Manage day-to-day execution of assigned PHMSA projects, ensuring activities remain aligned with approved objectives, schedules, and deliverables.
• Develop and maintain project plans, work plans, schedules, milestone trackers, and performance management tools.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary contractor teams, technical specialists, analysts, engineers, and subject matter experts supporting PHMSA initiatives.
• Facilitate project kickoff meetings, recurring status meetings, technical discussions, and stakeholder coordination sessions.
• Prepare meeting agendas, briefing materials, status reports, executive summaries, presentations, and other customer-facing communications.
• Track project milestones, dependencies, action items, deliverables, staffing requirements, and resource utilization.
• Monitor project risks, issues, assumptions, and constraints; develop mitigation strategies and communicate concerns proactively.
• Support quality assurance and quality control activities to ensure deliverables meet Government requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Coordinate responses to Government comments and incorporate feedback into revised deliverables.
• Maintain project documentation, including schedules, decision logs, issue trackers, risk registers, and knowledge repositories.
• Apply project management methodologies, including traditional, Agile, and hybrid approaches, based on customer needs.
• Support development of process improvements, standard operating procedures, workflows, performance metrics, and operational improvements.
• Monitor performance metrics and assist in developing dashboards, reports, and management tools supporting program visibility.
• Ensure deliverables comply with Federal requirements, including Section 508 accessibility requirements where applicable.
• Communicate effectively with PHMSA leadership, CORs, technical leads, and contractor personnel regarding project status, challenges, and accomplishments.

The role supports PHMSA requirements for project task planning, integrated schedules, progress meetings, status reporting, risk management, and deliverable coordination.