Program Manager (Nava Labs)

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.

As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.

Position summary 

The grants manager is responsible for managing all grant administration activities from pre-award through final reporting, including subawards. They will liaise with the Nava contracts and finance team and Nava Labs Program leadership to ensure Nava Labs submits compliant proposals, meets all expectations of grant awards, and our subgrantees meet expectations of their subawards. All duties will be in service of Nava's values: Be Active Stewards, Delivery over Dogma, Build Together, Innovation Requires New Perspectives, and Progress Takes Work.

• Research funders and identify and track opportunities aligned with Nava Labs fundraising goals and program strategy as defined by Nava Labs Program leadership
• Build funder relationships and coordinate funder meetings; facilitate funder relationship-building with Program leadership
• Manage proposal development processes, ensuring compliant proposals and managing submissions
• Facilitate contracting processes between the Nava contracts team, philanthropic funders and partner organizations, including NDAs, awards, and data-sharing agreements 
• Keep a reporting schedule and manage regular – i.e. quarterly, annual, etc. – program and financial reporting for all grants, keeping all parties on task (Program leadership, delivery teams, and contracts and finance teams)
• Respond to funder asks, looping in appropriate teammates for responses
• Serve as the main point of contact between Nava Labs and Nava contract and finance teams, maintaining situational awareness of all contracts and finance activities, helping troubleshoot issues and escalating issues to Nava Labs leadership
• Support Nava Labs Program Leadership with forecasting, financial planning, and related decision-making Track subaward compliance, including but not limited to subaward monthly reports and invoices, ensuring the contracts and finance team have what they need each month to process invoices; escalate non-compliance issues to Nava contracts and finance teams and Nava Labs Program leadership 
• Maintain situational awareness of program activities by attending each project’s weekly program check-in meeting and approve subaward program reports 
• Depending on the project, coordinate status update meetings with funders, including scheduling, agenda setting with delivery teams and Program leadership, and coordinating the development of any presentations
• Identify grants administration operational efficiencies that can be replicated across Nava Labs projects
• Support incentive distribution process for advisory board members and research participants, ensuring the finance team is alerted to anyone who meets the $600 threshold to trigger a 1099

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university OR Minimum of 2-3 years of experience in program management, grants administration, or related regulatory environments required
• Minimum of two years of experience in technical writing and storytelling, preferably in: writing, developing, and researching letters of intent, concept notes and proposals
• Preparing, writing and submitting philanthropic and/or government grant proposals
• Experience working with or for government agencies or non profits 
• Experience with growing agile development teams and the challenges of managing a project at scale  
• Ability to demonstrate experience leading projects with significant complexity, including managing milestones, dependencies, and integrations with significant risk, uncertainty or scale
• Experience using agile frameworks like scrum, kanban, or SAFe and familiarity with agile development practices such as continuous integration and continuous delivery
• Experience working with program staff/managers in developing, implementing, and monitoring procedures to track grant requirements
• Familiarity with state and federal record-keeping laws
• You are an empathetic communicator and relationship builder – you take a service-oriented approach to supporting the program team and our clients
• Adaptable problem solving and ability to deal with multi-dimensional challenges involving many organizations, processes, cultures, and technologies
• You are highly organized and care deeply about building and growing a sustainable, culture-conscious business
• A strategic approach to delivery planning and contracts/grants management over the medium-term and long-term
• An iterative approach to execution that emphasizes rapid team progress
• Ability to maintain broader situational awareness beyond the immediate team
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Occasional travel

• Bachelor's degree in nonprofit management, public administration, law, or a related field-or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience preferred
• Program Management experience within a government space
• Experience with long term, complex, and ambiguous IT modernization efforts
• Experience with using common project management tools like Jira and Confluence
• Project management in a government context
• Track record of introducing and expanding agile transformation and pursuing best practices in project management with clients and stakeholders 
• Experience managing projects that provide production operations and support alongside ongoing product/feature development

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

Legal authorization to work in the United States

Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired

Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future

May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract

Perks working with Nava

Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs

Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost

Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge

Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO

Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus

Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home

Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools

Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through UnitedHealthcare’s virtual visit program

Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest

401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan

Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities

Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs

Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses

Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills

Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs 

Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team

Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable

Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care

Location

We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states: 

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time. 

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Please contact the recruiting team at [email protected] if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.  

We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.