Technical Program Manager - 30595 (Columbia, MD, Alabama, United States)

About this role

Enlighten, honored as a Top Workplace from USA Today, is a leader in big data solution development and deployment, with expertise in cloud-based services, software and systems engineering, cyber capabilities, and data science. Enlighten provides continued innovation and proactivity in meeting our customers’ greatest challenges.
Why Enlighten?
At Enlighten, our team’s unwavering work ethic, top talent and celebration of innovative ideas have helped us thrive. We know that our employees are essential to our company’s success, so we seek to take care of you as much as you take care of us. Here are a few highlights of our benefits package:
• 100% paid employee premium for healthcare, vision and dental plans.
• 10% 401k benefit.
• Generous PTO + 10 paid holidays.
• Education/training allowances.
Anticipated Salary Range: $148,203.00 - $230,000.00. The salary range for this role is intended as a good faith estimate based on the role's location, expectations, and responsibilities. When extending an offer, Enlighten takes a variety of factors into consideration which include, but are not limited to, the role's function, internal equity and a candidate's education or training, work experience, certifications and key skills. Occasionally positions/roles may include additional non-recurrent compensation and will be addressed by the recruiter during the interview process.

Job Description

Enlighten is seeking an experienced and mission-focused Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) to drive the day-to-day execution and delivery of our next-generation Data Lakehouse platform—a system that empowers Department of War (DoW) cyber operators with unparalleled data access and analytical capabilities at massive scale.

In this role, you are the connective tissue across our Application, Data, and Infrastructure engineering teams, responsible for turning a prioritized roadmap into shipped, deployed, and accredited software on a predictable cadence. You will own the release train end to end—managing cross-team dependencies, schedules, risk, and communication—so that complex, interdependent components come together into a cohesive product our nation's cyber defenders can depend on. You are the single-threaded owner for platform delivery—leading through influence, earning trust across teams you do not directly manage, and freeing engineering and QA leadership to stay focused on architecture, quality, and the platform's future direction.

You will partner closely with Product Owners, engineering leads, QA, and operations, and communicate release contents and delivery timelines directly to government stakeholders. Product vision, roadmap, and prioritization remain with Product Owners and engineering leadership; you own the execution machinery—backlog to build to release—that turns those priorities into shipped, validated software. Open to remote work within the United States (US), with occasional travel (up to 10%, CONUS and OCONUS) to represent the platform at customer and industry events.

#Executive

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Program Execution: Drive the platform delivery cadence—monthly sprints and quarterly releases—across all engineering teams. Translate the roadmap into milestone-driven delivery plans.

• Roadmap Operationalization: Partner with Product Owners to convert roadmap priorities into sprint-ready backlog items with clear acceptance criteria. Manage intake mechanics and track feature validation.

• Release Management: Orchestrate the end-to-end release process from code-complete to deployment. Coordinate with QA/Release engineering to drive integration testing and go/no-go readiness decisions.

• Cross-Team Dependencies: Map and sequence interdependencies between engineering teams. Actively unblock components to ensure clean integration and minimize schedule slips.

• Risk & Blocker Mitigation: Maintain a risk register for schedule, technical, and security risks. Surface issues early and drive path-to-resolution escalations.

• Financial Monitoring: Track program budget, burn rates, and forecasts. Ensure financial and schedule risks are managed as a single picture.

• Security Authorization: Shepherd artifacts through customer security scanning and authorization (RMF/ATO) to keep accreditation off the critical path.

• Program Communication: Establish reporting mechanisms, release notes, and sync cadences to keep engineering and government stakeholders aligned.

• Technical Deep-Dive: Understand platform architecture (Lakehouse, Kubernetes, IAM) to facilitate technical tradeoff discussions and assess integration risks.

• Stakeholder Representation: Act as the platform's voice to cyber stakeholders via release announcements and live demos. Ensure successful deployment across operating environments.

• Business Development Support: Contribute delivery plans and technical inputs to proposals. Deliver platform demonstrations that resonate with DoW requirements.

• Operational Excellence: Own triage for support and community requests. Partner with Product Owners to turn feedback into prioritized work while improving release processes.

• Metrics & Improvement: Define and track metrics for predictability, cycle time, and defect rates to drive continuous delivery improvements.

• Additional duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Clearance Requirement: Must obtain and maintain a Secret level U.S. Government Security Clearance, but not required on day one; U.S. Citizenship required.

• 8+ years in DoW cyber, agile software development, and/or big data with a B.A. in Business, a technical field, or related; 6 years relevant experience with a Master's in a related field; or High School Diploma or equivalent and 12 years relevant experience.

• 5+ years of experience in a Technical Program Manager, Program Manager, Delivery Lead, or equivalent role responsible for driving software delivery within an Agile development environment.

• Demonstrated success driving complex, multi-team software…