Readiness Program Manager Jobs in Georgia (NOW HIRING)

Job Overview:

Requirement/Must Have:

• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, public administration, business administration, computer science, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience managing large-scale IT modernization or enterprise system implementation projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing government technology modernization initiatives, preferably in unemployment insurance, workforce systems, or human services.
• Experience working with multi-vendor delivery environments and state technology governance frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of Agile, hybrid, or iterative software delivery methodologies.
• Experience coordinating development, system testing, data migration, and implementation readiness activities.
• Experience supporting state unemployment insurance system modernization programs.
• Familiarity with federal certification processes and readiness expectations for UI systems.
• Experience managing cloud-based or enterprise platform implementations.
• Experience working with public sector program governance and executive oversight structures.
• PMP, PMI-ACP, or similar project management certification.
• PgMP certification.

Responsibilities:

• Lead planning, execution, and monitoring of the UI Inspire modernization project, ensuring alignment with strategic modernization goals. Solve complex problems and drive action across the organization.
• Coordinate activities across Benefits, Tax, and Appeals modernization workstreams and associated vendor delivery teams.
• Develop and maintain integrated program schedules, milestone tracking, and risk mitigation strategies aligned with the planned September 2026 go-live timeline.
• Track delivery of critical implementation milestones including system testing, user acceptance testing, data migration validation, security testing, and production readiness.
• Manage dependencies between vendor deliverables, agency readiness activities, and federal certification requirements.
• Track and report on project budget.
• Serve as the primary coordination point between leadership, GTA, and the system implementation vendor.
• Monitor and drive vendor progress against project milestones and ensure timely resolution of development issues, defects, and delivery risks.
• Support implementation of accelerated delivery approaches including AI-assisted development and testing initiatives proposed for the project.
• Facilitate issue escalation, decision support, and cross-team coordination to maintain project momentum.
• Coordinate readiness activities required under federal unemployment insurance modernization guidance, including UIPL 11-18 Change 2 readiness expectations.
• Ensure completion of key readiness artifacts including end-to-end validation of critical UI business scenarios, data reconciliation accuracy validation, external partner interface certification, load and performance testing results, and operational readiness documentation and staff training validation.
• Support preparation of readiness documentation required for federal certification prior to go-live.
• Present project status and issues to agency leadership.
• Support program governance structures including Steering Committee and executive leadership oversight groups.
• Facilitate regular project status meetings, steering committee updates, and executive briefings.
• Track action items and decisions related to scope, prioritization of functionality, and release readiness.
• Maintain transparent reporting on project progress, risks, escalation of key issues, and mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate planning for implementation readiness activities including data migration verification and validation, user acceptance testing cycles, security, accessibility, and performance testing, production environment readiness, go-live dry runs, and rollback procedures.
• Support development of Go/No-Go decision criteria, cutover planning, and post-go-live stabilization activities.
• Coordinate with business units to ensure readiness of agency staff and operational teams.
• Support training coordination including train-the-trainer programs and end-user training deployment.
• Ensure call center, adjudication, and operational workflows align with the new system design.
• Promote adoption of new processes and technology capabilities across business units.

Skills:

• Large-scale IT modernization program management.
• System Implementation vendor management.
• Vendor and stakeholder coordination.
• Risk and issue management.
• Executive communication and reporting.
• Implementation planning and operational readiness.
• Cross-functional team leadership.