Program Manager Defense Jobs in Philadelphia, PA

Position Overview

This is not a technical position. As the Program Manager, you will lead human-centered design, research, communications, and implementation efforts within our Hana Defense Solutions (HDS) team, part of the Native Hawaiian nonprofit corporation The Hana Group.

From strategic vision to tactical implementation, we deliver adaptable, mission-centered solutions that help government and defense clients achieve lasting impact. Our team supports the mission-critical efforts of the Department of War (DoW) and federal clients through human-centered design, technology, and co-development.

As the Program Manager, you'll provide project leadership over cross-functional teams, working closely with senior leadership, stakeholders, and the customer to manage workstreams, tasking, program risks and dependencies, and project outcomes. You'll ensure the delivery of high-quality products that address the complex problems and pain points the DoW faces, and you'll be expected to not only manage your project, but to maintain the relationship that keeps the contract moving forward or expanding.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as the customer point of contact for leadership and partner organizations, ensuring continuous alignment between mission needs and deliverables

• Support the development and execution of strategic plans, frameworks, and recommendations that align with DoW mission objectives

• Lead the full project lifecycle: define vision, gather and prioritize requirements, oversee execution, and drive adoption of solutions and strategies

• Maintain relationships between the customer, leadership, partner organizations, and the internal team

• Facilitate and initiate communication between client leadership, internal teams, and partner organizations across programs so objectives and expectations stay clearly defined

• Manage project scope, performance, and risk

• Attend weekly syncs with Program Managers to communicate identified cross-program risks, dependencies, and resource conflicts

• Regularly attend in-person customer meetings on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, as required

• Maintain project documentation, deliverable schedules, and task trackers to ensure accurate visibility into solution status, escalating issues as needed

• Lead the preparation of client briefs, progress reports, and leadership summaries

• Document lessons learned, frameworks, and methodologies for reuse and knowledge sharing within the organization

• Coordinate logistics for meetings, workshops, and collaborative sessions • Supervise and mentor project team members, providing coaching focused on delivery quality and client satisfaction

• Oversee onboarding and integration of new team members onto the program

• Identify opportunities to extend current contracts and develop new business with related clients

• Other duties as assigned

What Sets You Apart

• Experience owning both strategic direction and tactical delivery within small, high-accountability teams

• Business development experience

• Track record of supervising and mentoring project teams, with a focus on delivery quality and client satisfaction

• Comfort running an agile delivery cadence (e.g., sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives) to keep teams and clients aligned

• Ability to manage program budget and profitability alongside day-to-day delivery

• Executive-level communication skills, with experience briefing clients and leadership on progress, risk, and recommendations

• Ability to translate vague client requests into structured plans and clear next steps

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Management, Human-Centered Design, or a related field

• 5+ years of experience working with DoW, federal clients, or other mission-critical organizations

• 2+ years of experience managing multi-disciplinary teams

• Proven ability to develop and execute program strategy in complex environments

• Experience delivering human-centered design solutions, with working knowledge of user research

• Background in business development and contract expansion

• Experience with task management platforms like Jira

• Experience managing backlogs, and understanding risks, dependencies, and mitigation

• Strong client engagement, communication, and organizational leadership skills

• Knowledge of DoW contracting, performance management, and budget execution

• Ability to travel for in-person sessions with clients

• Must be a U.S. citizen and possess a DoD Secret or higher security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Confluence, Figma, Adobe, and other tools

• Experience leading distributed, hybrid, or fully remote teams across multiple geographic locations

• Familiarity with defense logistics and acquisitions, cyber and technology, operational and infrastructure, and other defense workstreams

• Proven experience briefing senior military officers, SES-level officials, or other executive government leaders

Benefits

• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for qualified Health, Dependent Care, and Transportation expenses

• Hana-owned MacBook Pro

• Flexible PTO

• Paid Federal Holidays

• Short term disability insurance

• 401k

Work Schedule

• Full time, 40 hours per week

• Remote with periodic on-site presence at client locations as needed (2-3 days/week for some positions

                                                                                  HTS is and EEO Employer: D/V/M/G