Program Manager (PMP Required) at Ardent in Atlanta, GA; Hybrid/Remote; Tallahassee, FL

Job description

• Ardent is seeking a Program Manager w/ PMP to join our team.
• ***Salary Range from $120k to $145k + growth incentive***
• This is a remote position with frequent travel expected to Tallahassee, FL - candidates from Florida and nearby states are preferred.
• Ardent is seeking a Program Manager to lead and oversee program delivery for a cybersecurity assurance program for the state of Florida. This position serves as the primary interface among company leadership, OCIG, agency OIGs, and technical leads. The role integrates project governance, access coordination, risk management, reporting, quality controls, and contractual deliverable acceptance across a potentially broad multi-agency environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the single accountable point of contact for OCIG and coordinate project management functions with the OCIG Contract Manager or designee.
• Plan and conduct kickoff activities; document scope, roles, decisions, action owners, dependencies, communication protocols, risks, and approved deadlines in draft and final minutes.
• Own the Master Project Plan and maintain approved milestones, staffing, testing waves, access readiness, risks, dependencies, decisions, corrective actions, and acceptance status.
• Coordinate system access only through OCIG and Agency OIG channels; maintain the System Access Log and track approvals, authorized personnel, training, background screening, access periods, and obstacles.
• Enforce scope discipline. Ensure no procedure, tool deployment, technique, system access, or scope change occurs without written authorization and incorporation into approved plans or Rules of Engagement.
• Provide daily updates during active testing, bi-weekly program reviews, monthly project-plan submissions, and immediate escalation of critical vulnerabilities or deconfliction events as approved.
• Oversee timely submission of all ten deliverables in required editable and PDF formats; log government comments and manage correction through acceptance.
• Certify understanding of ingested materials and ensure agency risks inform sequencing, resource allocation, and testing priorities.
• Maintain independence, objectivity, confidentiality, public-records sensitivity, and separation of factual AUP results from advisory recommendations.
• Lead closeout reporting, lessons learned, final project-plan completion, and executive briefings.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, information systems, engineering, business, project management, or related field; master’s degree preferred.
• Active Project Management Professional (PMP).
• 10 years of progressively responsible technology or cybersecurity program delivery experience, including multi-stakeholder government programs.
• Demonstrated management of deliverable-based contracts, integrated schedules, project risk, quality controls, access dependencies, and executive reporting.
• Experience coordinating cybersecurity assessment, continuous monitoring, audit-support, compliance, or control-validation work.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to present evidence-based information to C-suite, Board, Inspector General, or senior government stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of NIST CSF, NIST risk-management concepts, cybersecurity control testing, and professional assurance practices.
• Active Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
• Experience supporting an Office of Inspector General, internal audit organization, or independent verification and validation program.
• Familiarity with IIA Global Internal Audit Standards, GAO Government Auditing Standards, Rule 60GG-2, F.A.C., and Florida public-records constraints.
• Experience coordinating work across numerous agencies or distributed operating environments.
• Change-control, Agile, ITIL, or Lean portfolio credentials.

Skills

Required

• Working knowledge of NIST CSF
• NIST risk-management concepts
• Cybersecurity control testing
• Professional assurance practices

Preferred

• GAO Government Auditing Standards
• Rule 60GG-2, F.A.C.
• Florida public-records constraints