Ascension is seeking an experienced Senior IT Project Manager / Task Leader to lead complex information technology, modernization, system integration, data, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and professional-services projects supporting Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

The successful candidate will provide disciplined project leadership across the full System Development Life Cycle and will be accountable for planning, scheduling, budgeting, risk management, quality, stakeholder coordination, performance monitoring, and delivery. This position is especially important because MCPS intends to use the contract as an enterprise-wide vehicle for acquiring specialized IT services through future Statements of Work and Requests for Resumes.

Ascension is looking for a highly organized, analytical, and self-directed leader who can bring structure to complex or evolving assignments. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working with technical specialists, business owners, school-system stakeholders, vendors, and executive leadership while maintaining visibility into project scope, schedule, cost, risks, dependencies, quality, and performance.

The candidate should be capable of anticipating problems, developing practical solutions, resolving competing priorities, and communicating project status clearly. This individual must also understand that work performed in a public-school environment requires sound judgment, confidentiality, accessibility, data privacy awareness, and sensitivity to the needs of students, educators, administrators, and other stakeholders.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior IT Project Manager / Task Leader will lead one or more MCPS technology initiatives from planning through implementation, transition, and closeout. Assignments may involve enterprise cloud applications, software development, systems modernization, intelligent automation, business intelligence, data science, GIS, infrastructure, cybersecurity, web systems, electronic document management, training, or related IT consulting services.

The Project Manager will translate task-order requirements into an actionable project management approach, establish governance and reporting processes, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, and ensure that technical work remains aligned with MCPS priorities. The role will apply Project Management Body of Knowledge principles and may incorporate Agile, Scrum, DevOps, iterative development, or hybrid delivery methods depending on the nature of the assignment.

The position may serve as the primary day-to-day interface among Ascension, MCPS project leadership, technical teams, subcontractors, and other stakeholders. The Project Manager will be expected to maintain accurate project records; prepare weekly productivity and performance reports; oversee deliverable reviews; manage issues, risks, changes, and dependencies; and ensure that work products satisfy contractual, technical, quality, security, privacy, and accessibility requirements.

MCPS specifically requires project management services to follow PMBOK-aligned practices, including disciplined schedule, budget, and performance reporting. The solicitation also requires weekly electronic productivity reports and identifies senior or lead personnel as potential Task Leaders when they possess appropriate supervisory or project-leadership experience.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

• Lead project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, transition, and closeout activities for assigned MCPS technology initiatives.
• Develop and maintain the project management plan, integrated master schedule, work breakdown structure, milestones, dependencies, resource plan, and deliverable calendar.
• Translate Statements of Work, technical requirements, and customer priorities into actionable tasks, assignments, acceptance criteria, and performance measures.
• Establish project governance processes, communication protocols, decision-making authorities, escalation paths, and reporting cadences.
• Coordinate the work of technical specialists, developers, analysts, cybersecurity personnel, quality assurance staff, trainers, vendors, and subcontractors.
• Monitor project scope, schedule, budget, staffing, quality, risks, issues, changes, and performance against approved baselines.
• Identify schedule conflicts, technical dependencies, resource constraints, delivery risks, and emerging issues before they affect project outcomes.
• Develop risk registers, issue logs, action-item trackers, decision logs, change-control records, and mitigation or contingency plans.
• Facilitate project kickoff meetings, status reviews, technical working sessions, sprint reviews, risk meetings, stakeholder briefings, and lessons-learned sessions.
• Prepare weekly productivity reports summarizing tasks completed, deliverables produced, hours expended, risks, issues, decisions, and upcoming activities.
• Present concise project-status briefings, dashboards, recommendations, and decision materials to MCPS leadership and other stakeholders.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and maintain alignment among business owners, technical teams, executive sponsors, users, and external partners.
• Review deliverables for completeness, consistency, accessibility, technical quality, and compliance before submission to MCPS.
• Coordinate peer reviews, quality-control reviews, Independent Verification and Validation activities, and corrective-action follow-up when required.
• Apply PMBOK, Agile, Scrum, DevOps, SDLC, change-management, and quality-management practices appropriate to each assignment.
• Ensure project activities comply with MCPS security, privacy, accessibility, records-management, and data-protection requirements.
• Support compliance with FERPA, COPPA, the Maryland Student Privacy Act, ADA Section 508, Non-Visual Access requirements, and applicable State IT security standards.
• Oversee project documentation, configuration control, version management, acceptance records, meeting records, and knowledge-transfer materials.
• Coordinate staffing adjustments and personnel substitutions while maintaining continuity and compliance with MCPS approval requirements.
• Mentor project team members and reinforce accountability, clear communication, collaborative problem-solving, and timely execution.
• Resolve performance, coordination, and delivery problems using documented corrective actions and escalation procedures.
• Support implementation, release readiness, user acceptance, training, organizational transition, and post-deployment stabilization.
• Maintain confidentiality and protect MCPS systems, student information, employee information, project documentation, and other sensitive data.

Customer Problems This Position Is Expected to Address

The Senior IT Project Manager / Task Leader will help MCPS:

• Coordinate complex projects involving multiple technical domains and stakeholder groups.
• Maintain clear ownership, accountability, and visibility across project activities.
• Prevent schedule slippage, uncontrolled scope growth, cost overruns, and unresolved technical dependencies.
• Integrate business, technical, security, privacy, quality, accessibility, and training requirements into one coordinated delivery approach.
• Improve executive visibility through accurate reporting, dashboards, risk analysis, and decision support.
• Ensure that technical solutions are tested, documented, accessible, secure, maintainable, and ready for operational use.
• Facilitate timely decision-making and resolution of issues that could affect schools, administrative offices, employees, or students.
• Establish repeatable project processes and documentation that MCPS can continue using after an assignment is completed.

Tools and Processes Likely to Be Used

The specific tools will be established by each task order, but candidates should be prepared to work with:

• Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Azure DevOps, or comparable scheduling and work-management tools.
• Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Power BI or comparable project and performance-reporting platforms.
• ServiceNow or other IT service-management and workflow tools.
• Risk registers, issue logs, decision logs, action trackers, change-request forms, and deliverable registers.
• Agile/Scrum ceremonies, sprint planning, product backlogs, Kanban boards, and release planning.
• PMBOK-based project-management processes.
• SDLC, DevOps, CI/CD, configuration-management, quality-assurance, and IV&V processes.
• Section 508 and Non-Visual Access review procedures.
• Root-cause analysis, corrective-action planning, lessons learned, and continuous-improvement methods.