Nato on-x project manager

Leidos is seeking a Program Manager (PM) to lead the capture-to-delivery transition and, upon award, to serve as the single point of accountability for program performance, cost, schedule, and customer satisfaction across a large, multi-year program to extend the existing Operational Network into a classified private multi-cloud capability (“ON-X”). The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) procurement is structured as a ten-year Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) framework, through firm-fixed-price (FFP) Task Orders drawn from a Contractor-built Service Catalogue. Early Task Orders are expected to cover network takeover and transition planning, discovery and target-architecture design, and a Proof-of-Concept gate, followed by a hybrid mix of one-time delivery and steady-state managed-service outcomes spanning cloud platform engineering, identity and data services, AI platform services, secure access, digital workplace, cyber resilience, accreditation, and sovereignty assurance.

The PM will own end-to-end delivery of the ON-X contract: integrating cost, schedule, and technical performance across a portfolio of firm-fixed-price Task Orders; managing the transition from the incumbent NATO-operated model to a Contractor-operated model; and building the governance, financial management, and risk-management rigor required to sustain a decade-long IDIQ relationship with a demanding, security-conscious international customer. The PM will be the primary customer-facing interface with the NCIA and will direct a multi-disciplinary team spanning cloud engineering, security accreditation, service management, and subcontractor/partner organizations.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the single point of accountability for overall program performance, cost, and schedule across all active Task Orders issued under the ON-X IDIQ.
• Plan, staff, and mobilize the program at contract start, including stand-up of the Project Management Office (PMO), integrated master schedule, and Purchaser-approved governance rhythm.
• Own Task Order-level and program-level financial management: budgeting, forecasting, Estimate-to-Complete, invoicing, and firm-fixed-price margin performance; apply FinOps discipline to cloud consumption and cost transparency obligations.
• Lead the takeover and transition of ON operations from the incumbent NATO-operated model, ensuring service-level continuity against the pre-handover baseline and demonstrable absorption of operational knowledge.
• Direct discovery, target-architecture design, and Proof-of-Concept execution, coordinating cross-functional teams (cloud/platform engineering, identity and data services, security and accreditation, service management) against Purchaser-approved gate criteria.
• Maintain traceability across Outcomes (HLOs), Implementation Requirements, the QASP, CDRL, Service Catalogue, and Task Orders, ensuring the program's delivery evidence stays audit ready.
• Own program risk management, including risks related to migration/cutover, accreditation and Authority to Operate timelines, sovereignty and jurisdictional-control obligations, and supply-chain/4th-party dependencies.
• Manage subcontractors and technology partners supporting the multi-cloud platform, ensuring performance, security, and compliance obligations flow down and are enforced.
• Act as the primary interface with the NCIA customer and NATO stakeholders for contract performance, escalations, and Award Fee/performance reviews; support Purchaser governance boards and quarterly reviews.
• Ensure compliance with applicable NATO security policy (including cloud-specific NATO SECRET directives), export control, and Leidos corporate contract-management standards.
• Report program status, financials, and risk to Leidos executive leadership and to the customer on an agreed cadence; prepare and present Integrated Program Baseline / resource-loaded schedule updates.
• Support proposal-to-execution continuity by contributing PM-domain input during remaining capture and Step 2 proposal activities, and by owning post-award transition-in planning.
• Mentor and develop program leadership and task leads; build a high-performing, security-cleared workforce able to sustain a ten-year program.

Required Qualifications are as follows:

• Bachelors in Electronic Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or related discipline and 15+ years or more of experience; Masters and 12+ years or more of experience.
• 10+ years of program management experience managing large scale firm-fixed-price (FFP) contracts or Task Orders in a complex technical environment, including cost, schedule, and technical-performance accountability.
• 5+ years of experience with Information and Computer Technologies (ICT) procurement, implementation, migration and management.
• Demonstrated experience managing IT infrastructure, managed-services, or systems-integration programs of comparable scale and complexity.
• Proven experience serving as the primary customer-facing interface on programs involving multiple stakeholders and workstreams.
• Strong financial management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, Estimate-to-Complete, and variance analysis on fixed-price programs.
• Experience managing program risk, subcontractors, and cross-functional/matrixed teams.
• Excellent executive-level written and verbal communication skills.
• Project Management certifications (e.g. PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner, Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent) and valid Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation Certificate at minimum.
• Must have a current active NATO Secret level security clearance.
• High ability in speaking, writing, and understanding English is essential as all on-site work will be conducted in English. Minimum required level of English language of SLP3333 as defined in NATO STANAG 6001.

Desired skills are as follows:

• Experience managing cloud infrastructure, cloud migration, or multi-cloud platform programs (IaaS/PaaS, DevSecOps pipelines, identity and data services, or secure cloud access) is highly desired.
• Prior experience supporting NATO, NCIA, a NATO Nation Ministry of Defense, or another international/coalition organization is desired.
• Experience with security accreditation processes (Authority to Operate, continuous compliance) in a classified or high-assurance environment.
• Familiarity with FinOps practices, cloud cost transparency/chargeback models, and cloud cost-management tooling.
• Experience with large-scale network or data-center takeover/transition-in from an incumbent operator, including operational knowledge transfer.
• Additional relevant certifications such as SAFe Agile, CISSP/CISM, an AWS/Azure/Google Cloud certification.
• Experience operating in a multinational, geographically distributed team environment, including coordination across allied or coalition partners.

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