We are seeking a proactive, results-oriented Program Manager that is passionate about informing the development of new technology that customers adopt and love. In this role, you will be working directly with technology developers and targeted end users to inform requirements, develop evaluation plans, and create training. A successful candidate will be able to manage partnerships and collaborations with all stakeholders to answer our clients’ requirements and ensure users’ needs are incorporated from the earliest stages of technology development through completion.
Parenthetic works at the forefront of human-computer interaction, with specific focus on factors related to human expertise and sense-making under a variety of contexts. We are not technology developers, instead we focus on the endpoint of technology—the human user. Developing research processes, methods, training, etc. that strike the right balance between accurate, impactful, and useful to an end-user is a difficult challenge where many fail. Parenthetic’s clients understand the importance of bringing in experts and potential end-users (or sometimes just humans in general) to inform new methods, approaches, and technology at the earliest stages of development.
Responsibilities:
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in social or behavioral science with 5+ years of work experience in applying program evaluation techniques in applied or basic research.
- Provide day-to-day project management that includes coordinating activities, tracking progress towards milestones, adapting to changes, and updating team and leadership on status. Analyze, evaluate, and control program risks, while adhering to time and cost budgets and client requirements.
- Credibly represent program goals and frequently hold a leadership role within multi-company, multidisciplinary teams. Lead communication regularly with teammates, partners, and leadership and conduct periodic program updates with clients.
- Develop and adapt program evaluation methods to assess program strengths and identify areas for improvement. Identify problem sets and techniques for integrating new insights or improved expediency.
- Understand and translate end user/stakeholder requirements to technical teams and similarly translate technology capabilities and features to targeted end users/stakeholders.
- Execute client-facing aspects of program management, to include building client/stakeholder relationships and managing expectations, proposing new areas for research, and presenting findings and recommended actions.
- Support and cultivate company growth by identifying and acting upon opportunities to promote development and expansion of capabilities.
Work Experience and Skills:
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in social or behavioral science or systems engineering with 5+ years of work experience in applying program evaluation techniques in applied or basic research.
- Exceptional analytic and critical-thinking skills. Skilled at drawing meaningful and objective conclusions based on qualitative and quantitative research from multiple, disparate sources.
- Comfortable working in a team environment and independently, while consistently delivering quality outputs in an intellectually challenging and fast-paced environment. Well-organized and capable of handling multiple projects and ad-hoc requests simultaneously.
- Ability to anticipate problems, make well-reasoned decisions (including prioritization) and follow through on them.
- Clear track record of project delivery: high quality, and on time.
- Hands-on experience leveraging feedback from cross-functional teams to develop phased program roadmaps that balance the needs of the business, available resources, and team goals / priorities.
- Ability to document and explain new technical requirements from end-users and become the voice of the client to software development teams.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to work cross-functionally across multiple stakeholders, often integrating and aligning competing goals.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and develop client relationships. Comfortable in a technical discussion and delivering insights directly to stakeholders on behalf of the company.
- Experience with program evaluation best practices and related topics such as gap analysis, risk mitigation, and strategic planning.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Ability to apply qualitative and quantitative analytic techniques and tools to project evaluation and planning (such as, analysis of alternatives, root cause, 5 Whys, SWOT, analysis of competing hypotheses).
- Ability to work outside own area of expertise, perform business discovery, simplify and define the problem statement, extract key information, and propose potential analytic approaches
- Ability to grasp the technical details of complex engineering and analytic issues and provide in-depth evaluations.
- Knowledge of data management, data privacy, and human subject protection best practices.
Security Clearance:
- This position requires the candidate to have or be eligible for a security clearance.
Company Description:Parenthetic is a small strategic consultancy working on innovative, fail-fast projects in the communication and information space, helping clients advance the way they influence attitudes and behaviors. We’re passionate about developing new techniques and technologies to tackle difficult challenges with global impact. Leveraging methods developed in commercial industry and refined for use by the USG, Parenthetic works at every stage of the communication development cycle, providing services in strategy and design; audience, competitor and communication landscape analysis; message content creation and assessment; and quantifying campaign effects. Parenthetic bridges the gap between newly developed technology and end users: Translating end user requirements to technical teams and similarly translating technology capabilities and features to targeted end users. Parenthetic is headquartered in Alexandria, VA and offers competitive salary, generous paid time-off policy, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits, and a retirement plan with company match.
Parenthetic is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other group protected by federal, state, or local law.