Program Manager

Role -Program Manager

Location-Atlanta,GA

WORK Mode- Hybrid

Job Description

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) is undertaking a large-scale initiative to transform the State’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) systems and seeks an experienced Program Manager to lead day-to-day program coordination and delivery oversight.

*REQUIRED Certifications MUST be ACTIVE.
**Candidate’s resume MUST reflect ALL the REQUIRED skills in their jobs performances**

Position Overview

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) is undertaking the UI Inspire modernization program, a large-scale initiative to transform the State’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) systems for Benefits, Tax, and Appeals operations. The modernization effort is intended to improve citizen service delivery, operational efficiency, system security, and program integrity while enabling scalable, cloud-enabled digital services for claimants, employers, and agency staff.

GDOL seeks a Senior level Program Manager to lead day-to-day program coordination and delivery oversight for the UI Inspire initiative. The Program Manager will work closely with GDOL leadership, the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA), vendor teams, and business stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of modernization milestones, federal readiness compliance, and successful go-live of the new UI platform targeted for September 2026. This role will also ensure a successful transition of the platform to maintenance and operations in the following months.

This role will coordinate technical and operational readiness activities across multiple workstreams, including system development, testing, data migration, federal certification readiness, business scenario validation, and organizational change management. The Program Manager will also support executive decision-making by monitoring project risks, managing dependencies, and ensuring adherence to governance processes established for the modernization program.

Key Responsibilities

Program and Project Management

•                  Lead planning, execution, and monitoring of the UI Inspire modernization project, ensuring alignment with GDOL 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.

Vendor Oversight and Delivery Coordination

•                  Serve as the primary coordination point between GDOL 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.

Federal Readiness and Compliance Management

•           Coordinate GDOL readiness activities required under federal unemployment insurance modernization guidance, including UIPL 11-18 Change 2 readiness expectations.

•           Ensure completion of key readiness artifacts including:

o          End-to-end validation of critical UI business scenarios

o          Data reconciliation accuracy validation

o          External partner interface certification

o          Load and performance testing results

o          Operational readiness documentation and staff training validation.

•           Support preparation of readiness documentation required for federal certification prior to go-live.

Governance and Stakeholder Engagement

•                  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.

Implementation Readiness and Deployment Planning

•           Coordinate planning for implementation readiness activities including:

o          Data migration verification and validation

o          User acceptance testing cycles

o          Security, accessibility, and performance testing

o          Production environment readiness

o          Go-live dry runs and rollback procedures.

•           Support development of Go/No-Go decision criteria, cutover planning, and post-go-live stabilization activities.

Organizational Change and Operational Readiness

•           Coordinate with GDOL 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 GDOL business units.

Required Qualifications

•                  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.

Key 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

Work Environment

This is a contract-based role supporting the Georgia Department of Labor. The Program Manager will collaborate closely with state leadership, program stakeholders, and vendor teams to deliver the UI Inspire modernization program.

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