Technical Program Manager (Hybrid) - 29803

Enlighten, honored as a Top Workplace by USA Today, is a leader in big data solution development and deployment, specializing in cloud-based services, software and systems engineering, cyber capabilities, and data science. We provide continued innovation and proactivity in meeting our customers’ greatest challenges through a hybrid work approach.

About the role

Enlighten is seeking an experienced and mission-focused Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) to drive the day-to-day execution and delivery of our next-generation Data Lakehouse platform. This system empowers Department of War (DoW) cyber operators with unparalleled data access and analytical capabilities at massive scale. As the connective tissue across our Application, Data, and Infrastructure engineering teams, you will own the release train end-to-end—managing cross-team dependencies, schedules, risk, and communication to ensure complex, interdependent components come together into a cohesive product.

You will partner closely with Product Owners, engineering leads, QA, and operations, and communicate release contents and delivery timelines directly to government stakeholders. Work is performed in a hybrid environment with some onsite work 1-2 days a week in Columbia, MD, and occasional travel (up to 10%, CONUS and OCONUS).

Responsibilities

• Drive the platform delivery cadence—monthly sprints and quarterly releases—across all engineering teams.
• Translate the roadmap into milestone-driven delivery plans and partner with Product Owners to convert roadmap priorities into sprint-ready backlog items with clear acceptance criteria.
• Orchestrate the end-to-end release process from code-complete to deployment, coordinating with QA/Release engineering for integration testing and go/no-go readiness decisions.
• Map and sequence interdependencies between engineering teams, actively unblocking components to ensure clean integration and minimize schedule slips.
• Maintain a risk register for schedule, technical, and security risks, surfacing issues early and driving path-to-resolution escalations.
• Track program budget, burn rates, and forecasts, ensuring financial and schedule risks are managed as a single picture.
• Shepherd artifacts through customer security scanning and authorization (RMF/ATO) to keep accreditation off the critical path.
• Establish reporting mechanisms, release notes, and sync cadences to keep engineering and government stakeholders aligned.
• Understand platform architecture (Lakehouse, Kubernetes, IAM) to facilitate technical tradeoff discussions and assess integration risks.
• Act as the platform’s voice to cyber stakeholders via release announcements and live demos, ensuring successful deployment across operating environments.
• Contribute delivery plans and technical inputs to proposals and deliver platform demonstrations that resonate with DoW requirements.
• Own triage for support and community requests, partnering with Product Owners to turn feedback into prioritized work while improving release processes.
• Define and track metrics for predictability, cycle time, and defect rates to drive continuous delivery improvements.

Requirements

• Must obtain and maintain a Secret level U.S. Government Security Clearance (not required on day one); U.S. Citizenship required.
• 6+ years in DoW cyber, agile software development, and/or big data with a B.A. in Business, a technical field, or related; 4 years relevant experience with a Master's in a related field; or High School Diploma or equivalent and 10 years relevant experience.
• 5+ years of experience in a Technical Program Manager, Program Manager, Delivery Lead, or equivalent role responsible for driving software delivery within an Agile development environment.
• Demonstrated success driving complex, multi-team software programs to completion—managing dependencies, schedules, risk, and cross-functional communication.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence rather than authority—setting direction, forcing decisions, and holding teams accountable without direct reporting lines.
• Demonstrated understanding of modern data architectures, including concepts like data lakes, data lakehouses, data warehousing, and big data technologies.
• Proven ability to work effectively with DoW or other Federal Government customers, with an understanding of their operational environment, procurement, and accreditation processes.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with a talent for making complex technical subjects accessible to varied audiences and driving clarity across teams.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage many moving parts simultaneously.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability and willingness to travel occasionally (up to 10%, CONUS and OCONUS) to represent the platform at customer and industry events.
• Ability to work onsite 1-2 days a week in Columbia, MD.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active Secret or Top Secret clearances.
• DoD 8140 / 8570 compliance certifications.
• Program/project management or agile certifications.
• Professional experience within or adjacent to the cybersecurity domain (e.g., Security Operations Center (SOC), Cyber Threat Intelligence, Network Defense, Incident Response).
• Familiarity with cloud-native data platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, or AWS/Azure data services, and with the container/Kubernetes ecosystem, CI/CD pipelines, and GitOps-based deployment.
• Experience shepherding software through DoW security authorization (RMF/ATO) or container hardening and vulnerability-scanning pipelines.
• Experience establishing a TPM function within an engineering organization—standing up program mechanisms where none existed and assuming delivery ownership from engineering leads.
• Experience working alongside Product Owners on backlog refinement, user-story mechanics, and acceptance-criteria validation in an Agile environment.
• Experience in a customer-facing technical role (e.g., Sales Engineer, Solutions Architect) within the GovCon IT space.
• Experience supporting program financial management (budget tracking, burn-rate monitoring, forecasting) and proposal development in a GovCon environment.
• A strong understanding of the data lifecycle within a typical cyber security context.

Benefits

• 100% paid employee premium for healthcare, vision, and dental plans.
• 10% 401k benefit.
• Generous PTO + 10 paid holidays.
• Education/training allowances.

Pay

Anticipated Salary Range: $145,317.00 - $215,000.00. The salary range for this role is intended as a good faith estimate based on the role's location, expectations, and responsibilities. When extending an offer, Enlighten takes a variety of factors into consideration, including the role's function, internal equity, and a candidate's education, training, work experience, certifications, and key skills.

Schedule

• Hybrid work environment with onsite work 1-2 days a week in Columbia, MD.
• Occasional travel (up to 10%, CONUS and OCONUS).