Program Management Office (PMO) Tower Director

Overview

Introduction:

The PMO Tower Director is the single contractor-side leader accountable for program governance across the contract. This leader runs the Program Management Office (PMO), which governs how the program executes: compliance, tracking and monitoring, metrics and analytics, scheduling, quality and standardization, staff onboarding, deliverable review, and program communications.

This leader is the right hand to the Program Director and must drive collaboration across its peers in Data Center Operations, Financial Operations, Business Office Integration, and Service Delivery Integration, because every tower’s commitments, risks, and performance roll up through the PMO. The PMO governs and supports delivery, and the towers own and execute it.

 

Position Summary:

The PMO Tower Director is the single contractor-side leader accountable for program governance across the contract. This leader runs the Program Management Office (PMO), which governs how the program executes: compliance, tracking and monitoring, metrics and analytics, scheduling, quality and standardization, staff onboarding, deliverable review, and program communications.

This leader is the right hand to the Program Director and must drive collaboration across its peers in Data Center Operations, Financial Operations, Business Office Integration, and Service Delivery Integration, because every tower’s commitments, risks, and performance roll up through the PMO. The PMO governs and supports delivery, and the towers own and execute it.

 

The PMO Tower Director leads:

• Program governance, operating rhythm, and decision and escalation paths.
• The integrated master schedule and dependency management across towers.
• The deliverable calendar, quality review, and acceptance tracking.
• Performance measurement, including key performance indicator (KPI) and acceptable quality level (AQL) tracking and forecasting.
• Program risk, issue, and action management.
• Contract compliance and audit readiness.
• Quarterly program reviews and executive reporting.
• Program dashboards, metrics, and analytics.
• Process standardization, templates, and document control.
• Staff onboarding, roster management, background investigations, and required training.
• Subcontractor and partner performance tracking.
• Program communications and knowledge management.

The Director runs the PMO as one integrated office that gives the Program Director, TISTA leadership, and the client a single, trusted view of program health. All work stays within the Government’s authority over approvals, policy, prioritization, and acceptance.

 

Responsibilities

PMO Tower Director Performance Expectations:

Execute the governance structure, operating rhythm, tools, templates, and staffing.

Maintain one integrated schedule and deliverable calendar that every tower works from, with internal due dates set ahead of contract dates.

Give the Program Director early warning on at-risk deliverables, KPIs, and AQLs, with enough time to recover before a miss.

Keep every reported metric traceable to its source, calculation, and evidence, with calculation methods agreed with the Government.

Produce quarterly program reviews and executive reports that are accurate, consistent, and decision-ready.

Keep staffing, onboarding, background investigations, suitability, and required training current and audit-ready.

Ensure every deliverable passes PMO quality review and is complete, accurate, on time, and ready for Government review and acceptance.

Maintain clear boundaries between contractor recommendations and Government decision, approval, and acceptance authority.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the principal contractor-side leader for program governance and PMO outcomes.
• Lead the PMO team, including program managers, project managers, schedulers and project controls, risk and compliance, quality assurance, analytics, deliverable management, onboarding, and communications staff. Embed PMO leads within towers where workload demands it.
• Lead development and maintenance of the program management plan, integrated master schedule, deliverable register, risk and issue register, action log, decision log, and staffing plan.
• Run the deliverable process end to end: calendar, internal due dates, quality gates, transmittal, acceptance tracking, root cause analysis of rejections, and document control.
• Track KPIs and AQLs across all towers, forecast period-end performance, flag at-risk measures early, and coordinate recovery plans and corrective actions with Tower Directors.
• Maintain the program’s KPI registry and data dictionary so every measure has a defined calculation, data source, owner, and evidence.
• Build and maintain program dashboards and reporting, using interim tools where needed and moving to Government-owned platforms as they mature.
• Produce the quarterly program review and monthly status and performance reports, and prepare the Program Manager and Tower Directors to present them.
• Lead program risk management and compliance, including the program risk register, audit readiness, and readiness for Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) reviews and Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) evaluations.
• Standardize how the program works across towers, including templates, standard operating procedures, RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) charts, reporting formats, and quality standards.
• Manage staff onboarding and offboarding: roster accuracy, background investigations, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials, system access, required training, and evidence for Government review.
• Track subcontractor and partner performance, utilization, and hours against plan, and raise issues early.
• Lead program communications and knowledge management so staff, partners, and stakeholders work from the same information.
• Coordinate with TISTA’s corporate contracts, finance, human resources, and security teams on contract actions, staffing, and compliance.
• Present decision-ready status, risks, and recommendations to the Program Director, and escalate issues that affect program commitments early.
• Protect sensitive information, keep records auditable, and ensure the team works within approved contractual and governance boundaries.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• At least 8 years of experience in program or project management, including 5 years leading or building a PMO for complex, multi-team programs.
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• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• Experience managing integrated schedules, deliverable governance, risk registers, and performance measurement across multiple workstreams or contractors.
• Experience with Federal contract performance measures, such as KPIs, acceptable quality levels, and quality assurance surveillance plans.
• Proficiency with project and portfolio management tools such as Microsoft Project or Smartsheet, plus SharePoint, Excel, and Power BI.
• Strong executive communication. Must be well-written and comfortable in front of large audiences.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Experience in a large Federal, healthcare, regulated, or mission-critical infrastructure environment.
• Master’s degree in business, information systems, public administration, or a related field.
• Program Management Professional (PgMP), Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), or comparable advanced certification.
• ITIL 4, Lean Six Sigma, or CMMI credentials.
• Experience standing up a PMO during contract start-up or transition.
• Experience preparing for CPARS evaluations and Government audits.
• Experience managing subcontractor and teaming partner performance.
• Experience in an outcomes-based environment, comfortable transforming vague parameters into clear guidelines.
• Experience using AI and automation to streamline reporting, evidence collection, and forecasting is desirable.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, information systems, public administration, engineering, or a related field. Sixteen years of relevant experience may substitute for a degree.

Clearance: 

• Must be able to obtain and maintain the personnel suitability, credentials, system access, and training required per a Tier 4 / High Risk clearance.

   

Location: 

• Rockville, MD or Austin, TX.
• Onsite Requirements: In office a minimum of 2 days a week
• Travel: As required per customer mission needs

Pay Range:

• The suggested pay for this position ranges from $130,546 to $145,875.
• The actual salary offer will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
• Also, certain positions are eligible for additional forms of compensation, such as bonuses.
• TISTA associates are eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefits plan! More information can be found here: https://tistatech.com/working-at-tista/