Junior Associate/Associate - Certified Project Manager (Pennsylvania Based)

Experienced Project Manager to lead complex public sector initiatives within a structured PMO environment

Certified Project Manager

Pennsylvania residency and Central Pennsylvania travel are required. Do not apply unless you currently live in Pennsylvania and can travel to Central Pennsylvania as needed.

Position Overview

Forest Pond Associates is seeking an experienced Project Manager to lead a complex, enterprise-scale modernization initiative for a public-sector program. The project will transition a legacy, custom on-premises registry system to a cloud-based SaaS platform and coordinate the systems, data, business processes, vendors, and teams needed for successful delivery.

The Project Manager will manage multiple concurrent workstreams and technical and business dependencies. They will provide clear governance, maintain accountability for scope, schedule, budget, resources, and deliverables, and keep program leadership informed of progress, risks, and decisions.

This role requires strong communication, organization, and leadership skills, along with the ability to work effectively with executive sponsors, business stakeholders, technical teams, vendors, and other project managers.

Project Management Responsibilities

• Lead the project through initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closeout, following PMI practices and applicable PMO standards.
• Serve as the primary coordination point for program leadership, executive sponsors, vendors, and internal IT and business teams.
• Manage the approved Statement of Work (SOW), service level agreements (SLAs), deliverables, signoffs, and contractual obligations; follow up on vendor commitments and resolve or escalate performance issues.
• Establish and maintain project governance, including roles, responsibilities, decision-making processes, escalation paths, and change control.
• Develop and maintain the Project Management Plan, integrated project schedule, cost estimates and forecasts, resource plan, communication plan, deliverables matrix, and RAID log.
• Build and manage a detailed schedule that tracks tasks, milestones, dependencies, critical path, and deliverable owners across workstreams.
• Coordinate resource planning and capacity forecasting; identify staffing constraints early and recommend corrective actions.
• Manage project scope, budget, schedule, quality, and resource allocation. Assess proposed changes and document their impacts before approval.
• Coordinate requirements definition and refinement with business owners, analysts, technical teams, and vendors.
• Lead coordination across application, data, infrastructure, networking, security, service management, and other impacted teams.
• Coordinate with vendor and system integration project managers on interrelated work, dependencies, plans, and delivery risks.
• Oversee legacy data migration planning and execution, including data mapping, validation, testing, quality review, and issue resolution.
• Coordinate system testing, user acceptance testing, training readiness, cutover planning, implementation activities, and post-launch support.
• Track project performance and provide regular, concise status reports and presentations to stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks; maintain issue and decision tracking; escalate matters that may affect delivery objectives.
• Maintain complete and current project artifacts, documentation, decisions, approvals, and signoffs in accordance with PMO and security requirements.
• Facilitate lessons-learned discussions during and after delivery and apply findings to improve project practices.
• Mentor junior project staff when appropriate and contribute to consistent, effective project management practices.
• Perform related duties as assigned.

Firmwide Associate Responsibilities

As workload permits, the associate may support other Forest Pond Associates projects. Work may include:

• Supporting research, data review, analysis, requirements gathering, testing, and quality review.
• Preparing and updating project plans, meeting materials, status reports, procedures, and presentations.
• Attending client and internal meetings; documenting decisions, action items, and follow-ups.
• Organizing project files and maintaining accurate, current documentation.
• Coordinating with colleagues and clients to clarify assignments, report progress, and meet deadlines.
• Contributing to proposals, work plans, and business development materials as appropriate.
• Following firm practices for client communication, confidentiality, quality, and project delivery.
• Taking on additional project support duties consistent with the associate’s skills and experience.

Minimum Qualifications

• At least five years of project management experience in a structured PMO environment using PMI methodology.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise SaaS implementations, cloud migrations, or comparable large-scale system modernization projects.
• Experience managing vendors and monitoring SOW, SLA, and deliverable performance.
• Experience managing projects with delivery cycles of eight to twelve months or longer; multi-year project experience is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain integrated project plans, detailed schedules, cost estimates, resource plans, risk strategies, and communication plans.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional technical teams, including application, data, infrastructure, and security groups.
• Experience managing data migration, integration, or complex system dependencies.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, executive reporting, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Strong leadership, organization, problem-solving, conflict management, and negotiation skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Project or a comparable project scheduling tool.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in public health, healthcare, human services, government, or another regulated environment.
• Experience with public-sector or enterprise data modernization, registry implementation, or regulatory-driven initiatives.
• Experience coordinating multiple concurrent workstreams, vendors, and system integration partners.
• Experience with enterprise business platforms, including ERP systems.
• Experience with SAP or SAP S/4HANA implementations is a plus.

Education and Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, public administration, health administration, information technology, or a related field; an equivalent combination of education and experience may be accepted.
• PMP certification strongly preferred.
• Other PMI, cloud, or SaaS-related certifications are a plus.

Engagement Requirements

• Candidate must be a Pennsylvania resident at the time of application.
• The position is primarily remote, with on-site attendance in Central Pennsylvania as needed for client meetings, work sessions, implementations, or other project activities.
• The candidate must be able to travel to a Central Pennsylvania work location on short notice when project needs require it.
• Background screening and compliance with applicable security, confidentiality, and system-access requirements are required.
• Weekly status and time reporting, complete project documentation, and adherence to established PMO standards are required.
• Overtime requires prior approval from the designated project authority.