Senior IT Project Manager – State Government Project

Position: Senior IT Project Manager
Client: State Government Agency
Location: Sacramento, CA – Onsite
Employment Type: Contract
Duration: 12+ Months
Experience: 8+ Years

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Senior IT Project Manager to lead complex technology and business transformation initiatives for a State Government client in Sacramento, California.

The Project Manager will be responsible for end-to-end project planning, execution, governance, stakeholder management, risk management, vendor coordination, and successful delivery of enterprise IT initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have experience managing large-scale IT projects in State Government or public-sector environments and be comfortable working onsite with business, technical, executive, and vendor teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead IT projects from initiation through implementation, go-live, stabilization, and project closure.
• Develop and maintain project charters, project plans, schedules, milestones, dependencies, budgets, and resource plans.
• Manage project scope, requirements, deliverables, timelines, budget, quality, and change control.
• Lead cross-functional teams including application development, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, data, QA, business, and operations.
• Develop and maintain RAID logs covering risks, assumptions, issues, decisions, and dependencies.
• Proactively identify project risks and issues and develop mitigation and escalation plans.
• Conduct project status meetings, stakeholder meetings, steering committee meetings, and executive reviews.
• Prepare weekly/monthly status reports, dashboards, KPIs, milestone reports, and executive presentations.
• Manage vendors, contractors, system integrators, and third-party technology partners.
• Coordinate requirements gathering, business analysis, solution design, testing, UAT, implementation, and operational transition.
• Work directly with State Government stakeholders to ensure project objectives and deliverables are met.
• Manage scope changes and assess impacts to schedule, budget, resources, and deliverables.
• Support RFI/RFP/RFQ activities, vendor evaluations, SOWs, and contract deliverables.
• Ensure project activities comply with State Government PMO processes, security requirements, policies, and governance standards.
• Support change management, communications, training, and user adoption activities.
• Monitor project budget, resource utilization, invoices, forecasts, and financial performance.
• Coordinate implementation, cutover, go-live readiness, and transition to operations.
• Drive continuous improvement and identify opportunities for technology and business-process modernization.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or related field.
• 8+ years of IT Project Management experience.
• Experience managing complex enterprise technology projects involving multiple technical and business teams.
• Experience with Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and Hybrid methodologies.
• Strong experience with project planning, scheduling, budgeting, resource management, risk management, and change management.
• Experience with PMO governance and executive-level reporting.
• Experience managing vendors and third-party service providers.
• Excellent communication, presentation, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a complex government environment.
• Ability to work onsite in Sacramento, CA.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience working with California State Government or other State Government agencies.
• Experience with large public-sector IT implementations.
• PMP certification.
• Agile certification such as CSM, SAFe, or PMI-ACP.
• ITIL certification.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Project, ServiceNow, Smartsheet, or other PPM tools.
• Experience with enterprise applications, cloud modernization, cybersecurity, data/analytics, ERP, CRM, infrastructure, or digital transformation.
• Knowledge of government security, privacy, compliance, accessibility, and technology standards.
• Experience with State Government SDLC/EPLC or similar governance frameworks.

Key Project Deliverables

• Project Charter
• Project Management Plan
• Integrated Project Schedule
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Project Roadmap
• Resource Plan
• Budget & Forecast
• RAID Log
• Risk & Issue Management
• Change Control Documentation
• Requirements Documentation
• Project Status Reports
• Executive Dashboards
• Vendor Deliverable Tracking
• Testing & UAT Plans
• Implementation/Cutover Plan
• Go-Live Readiness Assessment
• Project Closure & Lessons Learned

Core Skills

Project Management: Project Planning & Execution, Program Management, PMO Governance, Agile/Scrum, Waterfall, Hybrid Delivery

Leadership: Stakeholder Management, Executive Communication, Cross-Functional Leadership, Vendor Management

Controls: Risk & Issue Management, Budget & Cost Management, Resource Planning, Change Management, Scope/Schedule Management

Technology: Enterprise Applications, Cloud, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Data & Analytics, ERP/CRM, Technology Modernization

Transformation: Business Process Transformation, Requirements Management, Organizational Change, Digital Transformation, AI/Automation Program Management

Work Location

Sacramento, California – 100% Onsite

The selected candidate will work onsite with the State Government client and collaborate directly with government stakeholders, IT leadership, project teams, vendors, and implementation partners.