Senior Director of Program Delivery at Code for America

United States

$154.891k - $189.613k

<p>Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the new digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.</p> <p>Our employees build and transform government and community tools and services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, nonprofit, and government to help support the people who need it most.</p> <p>With a focus on transparency and fairness, and deep empathy for partners in government and community organizations and the people that our partners serve, we’re building a movement of motivated change agents driven by meaningful results and lasting impact.</p> <p>At Code for America, you contribute to exciting work while learning and developing in a supportive and flexible environment. Our compensation and benefits are holistic and thoughtfully curated to represent our employees and our mission. Help us drive real generational change that lasts.</p> <p>Code for America is looking for a talented <strong>Senior Director of Program Delivery</strong> who will provide strategic leadership for delivery excellence, ensuring projects consistently meet their goals and strengthen the organization's reputation. Your guidance will empower your team to thrive as leaders and create stronger, more consistent delivery systems across the organization. By ensuring projects are executed with discipline and vision, you will directly position the organization to scale its impact in critical safety net areas like SNAP and Medicaid.</p> <h1><strong>About the role:&nbsp;</strong></h1> <p>Code for America is a leading implementer of human-centered design and technology approaches, with a mission to help make government work well for everyone. Our projects include custom software development (e.g., building a new online child care application in Illinois), technology-enabled advisory services (e.g., supporting states to optimize&nbsp; automated Medicaid renewals systems), and scalable product development (e.g., building Summer EBT products for multiple states to use).&nbsp;</p> <p>At a time when the social safety net is under historic strain, Code for America is being called on to help millions of people access critical benefits like SNAP and Medicaid. The Senior Director of Program Delivery will ensure we rise to that challenge — ensuring our projects are delivered with discipline, clarity, and excellence.</p> <p>This leader will manage the Safety Net programs team, guiding them to deliver high-impact projects that meet the needs of governments, funders, and — most importantly — the people we serve. The Senior Director will be accountable for ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and with outcomes that strengthen the fabric of the safety net.&nbsp;</p> <p>Working in close partnership with the Executive Director of Safety Net Strategy, this leader will ensure day-to-day execution is consistently aligned with strategic priorities and responsive to emerging shifts in the safety net ecosystem. Together, these roles will provide the balance of vision and disciplined delivery needed to meet this historic moment.</p> <p>This role requires experience leading digital service or software delivery teams and applying strong delivery and relationship management practices. Candidates should also have experience delivering software or digital services with or for government partners, and a deep understanding of civic technology and human-centered principles. Finally, the person in this role must have the leadership skills to align complex, cross-disciplinary teams around ambitious goals.</p> <p>This role will report to the <strong>Chief Operating Officer</strong> and is expected to travel no more than <strong>15</strong>% of the time.&nbsp;</p> <p>Code for America is based in California and can employ those who reside full-time within the United States. This is a remote position.</p> <h1><strong>In this position you will:</strong></h1> <ul> <li><strong>Portfolio &amp; Delivery Leadership</strong> <ul> <li>Own accountability for the successful delivery of the full Safety Net portfolio, ensuring projects meet timelines, budgets, and impact goals.</li> <li>Proactively identify delivery and partnership risks, ensure clear escalation and timely resolution.</li> <li>Embed delivery practices across the team by rolling out training, templates, how-to guides, and governance mechanisms (e.g., regular project check-ins, quality assurance reviews). Reinforce adoption through change management, coaching, and feedback loops so that standards are not only defined but consistently applied in practice.</li> <li>Partner with the Partnerships team to ensure smooth handoffs and shared accountability across the lifecycle of an engagement.&nbsp;</li> <li>Surface insights from government partners to inform organizational strategy and partnership development.&nbsp;</li> <li>Collaborate with the Executive Director of Safety Net Strategy to ensure day-to-day execution is aligned with strategic goals and emerging shifts in the safety net ecosystem.&nbsp;</li> <li>Serve as a credible delivery voice with government partners when direct engagement is needed to unblock delivery or reinforce confidence.</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Scoping &amp; Project Setup</strong> <ul> <li>Engage early in the scoping process to assess feasibility, identify staffing and delivery risks, and ensure CfA commitments are grounded in what the team can actually execute.</li> <li>Collaborate with the Partnerships team to ensure project scopes are realistic, aligned with Code for America’s delivery standards and impact goals, and incorporate input from delivery staff.</li> <li>Refining scoping practices to streamline the process, reduce inefficiencies, and clarify roles, ensuring scopes are realistic and have strong and consistent delivery leadership in place to carry the work from cultivation to implementation.&nbsp;</li> <li>Collaborate with the Director of Resource Management to ensure projects are staffed for success, and identify when new skills or roles will be required and collaborate with leadership to inform hiring and staff development plans.</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>People &amp; Team Leadership:</strong> <ul> <li>Directly manage programs staff (Directors &amp; Associate Program Directors), setting clear expectations and supporting their growth as program &amp; delivery leaders.</li> <li>Serve as an escalation point and thought partner on complex delivery and partnership challenges.</li> <li>Help team members navigate ambiguity, resolve cross-functional challenges, and strengthen decision-making skills.</li> <li>Build consistency in how work is delivered across projects, in close collaboration with other discipline leaders.</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Other duties as assigned</strong></li> </ul> <h1><strong>About you:</strong></h1> <ul> <li><strong>Program Delivery Leadership: </strong>8+ years of experience delivering on or leading digital services or software development teams, with accountability for on-time, on-budget, and outcomes-focused delivery.</li> <li><strong>Civic tech/government background: </strong>Proven track record working at the intersection of government and technology, ideally within civic tech, human-centered design, or public sector service delivery. Experience delivering software or digital services with or for government, ideally in human services.</li> <li><strong>Strategic partnership: </strong>Skilled at aligning execution with organizational strategy, working closely with peers in strategy, product, design, engineering, and revenue/partnerships.</li> <li><strong>Financial acumen:</strong> Ability to understand and manage project budgets, align with funding streams, and anticipate risks.</li> <li><strong>Communication:</strong> Exceptional facilitation, written, and verbal communication skills; able to synthesize complexity and influence across senior leadership and external partners.</li> <li><strong>People management: </strong>Experienced manager, with a track record of coaching and developing senior program leaders.</li> <li><strong>Stakeholder management: </strong>Skilled at building trusted relationships with government leaders and funders, and cross-functional collaborators</li> <li><strong>Multi-disciplinary collaboration:</strong> Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams where designers, policy experts, researchers, product managers, engineers and other technologists collaborate with government partners.</li> <li><strong>Change management: </strong>Experience leading teams through change, building buy-in for new processes, and ensuring adoption.</li> <li><strong>Operational discipline: </strong>A proven track record of designing and implementing systems that strengthen delivery practices across an organization. This can include building or implementing delivery playbooks and standards across multiple teams, overseeing cross-project staffing, escalation and risk mitigation systems, and implementing QA processes, documentation standards, and repeatable delivery rituals.</li> <li><strong>Tool fluency: </strong>Familiarity with delivery and resource management tools (e.g., Asana, Airtable, Jira) and comfort adopting or embedding new systems to improve delivery consistency.</li> <li><strong>Organization &amp; detail:&nbsp;</strong>Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.</li> </ul> <h1><strong>What this role is not:</strong></h1> <p>This role is not a fit if your experience is primarily within:</p> <ul> <li>Policy or advocacy</li> <li>General Operations</li> <li>Grant Management</li> <li>Nonprofit program management (without technology delivery)</li> <li>Academic research</li> <li>Technical execution without government experience</li> </ul> <p>We are looking for a delivery leader who has experience running technology projects with government partners, not only strategy, policy, or program management experience.</p> <h1><strong>It’s a bonus if you have:</strong></h1> <ul> <li>Delivery experience in safety net programs (SNAP and/or Medicaid), or transferable experience delivering technology within complex eligibility or benefits programs, with a demonstrated ability to work effectively across government and technology.</li> <li>Prior experience leading large-scale safety net programs or portfolios in government or civic tech organizations.</li> <li>Experience overseeing a portfolio of projects and managing delivery at scale in a professional services, nonprofit, or consulting environment.</li> <li>Understanding of the broader safety net and civic tech ecosystem, with relationships that can strengthen Code for America’s positioning and partnerships.</li> </ul> <h1><strong>What you’ll get -</strong></h1> <h2><strong>Salary:&nbsp;</strong></h2> <p>Code for America’s salary bands are shared upfront as a part of our commitment to transparency and fairness. As part of our hiring practices, we target the 2nd quartile midpoint of the respective salary band for all new hires.</p> <p>Offer targets and salary bands vary based on market / geographic location. The offer targets for this role range from <strong>$154,891 to $189,613</strong>,<strong> </strong>annually.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>Benefits and Perks:&nbsp;</strong></h2> <ul> <li><strong>Values:</strong> <ul> <li>Leadership and teammates who share a strong work ethic and values, and who respect and care for one another</li> <li>A collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful environment</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Employee Enablement Support:&nbsp;</strong> <ul> <li>Laptop provided</li> <li>A <strong>one-time</strong> $700 payment for remote environment setup; $200 stipend (in first paycheck) and up to $500 reimbursement, in accordance with our equipment policy</li> <li>Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month&nbsp;</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Professional Development:</strong> <ul> <li>$500 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development; prorated at time of hire</li> <li>Up to $500 of professional development funds can be rolled over each year, up to a maximum of $1000</li> <li>Training / guidance for staff required to utilize AI as part of their role, plus opportunities for employees to gain AI-related skills to support job and career growth</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Retirement &amp; 401k Plans:</strong> <ul> <li>Employees receive a 100% employer match on the first 3% of contributions.</li> <li>Employees with 3+ years of service receive an additional 50% match on contributions between 3% and 5%, for a maximum employer contribution of 5%</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Medical:</strong> <ul> <li>At least one no cost health insurance option for full-time employees for employee-only coverage</li> <li>A minimum of 80% of the cost of dependent coverage</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Remote Work:</strong> <ul> <li>Code for America employees may work remotely across the US</li> <li>Code for America employees main residence must be within the US</li> <li>Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday - Friday</li> <li><strong>Collaborative working hours:</strong> we aim to hold all <strong>internal</strong> meetings between 10 AM - 3 PM PT. We expect all Code for America staff to be available during these set working hours</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Time Off:&nbsp;</strong> <ul> <li>Open personal time off (<em>subject to manager approval</em>), a minimum of 14 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day</li> <li>Paid sick time; up to 96 hours annually</li> <li>17 weeks of paid parental and family leave</li> <li>3 weeks of paid sabbatical after 5 years of service</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h1><strong>Equal Employment Opportunity:&nbsp;</strong></h1> <p>Code for America is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.</p> <h1><strong><br></strong><strong>Code for America Workers United:</strong></h1> <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This position is not covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement between Code for America and Code for America Workers United, affiliated with OPEIU, Local 1010. The agreement was ratified on January 13, 2026, and is currently in effect.</span></p> <p><br><br></p> <p><strong>#LI-MD1</strong></p>