Portfolio Manager, Federal (R-00244)

Job description

True Zero Technologies is a veteran-owned small business founded on the principle that the purposeful enablement of people and technology directly drives the quality of an organization’s outcomes. We design and deliver cybersecurity programs and software solutions that empower federal, state and local government, education, and commercial leaders to run a proactive defense with better intelligence and more efficient collaboration. Recent recognitions include Inc. Magazine’s 2026 Best Workplaces list and awarded positions on Fairfax County VA Cybersecurity Program, Montana ITS Contract, Kansas Services MSA, DARPA’s MANNUS IDIQ, NASA SEWP VI, and the $151B SHIELD contract. ### Position Overview The Portfolio Manager is responsible for the overall performance, delivery, growth, customer relationship management, and personnel leadership of their assigned portfolio of federal customers, programs/projects, and contracts. The Portfolio Manager serves as the primary business owner for the assigned customer group, ensuring successful program execution, contract compliance, financial performance, customer satisfaction, account growth, and effective management of assigned personnel. Reporting to the Federal Services Director, the Portfolio Manager provides leadership and oversight across programs and projects within the account, overseeing Program/Project Managers and technical delivery teams, and working closely with contracts, finance, recruiting, HR, and business development elements. The Portfolio Manager is accountable for both successful delivery of current work and expansion of the account through new and existing opportunities, while serving as the first-line supervisor for assigned resources within the account. The Portfolio Manager is expected to maintain a target of 50% billable utilization through direct customer delivery responsibilities, with the remaining capacity dedicated to portfolio management, personnel leadership, customer relationship management, and account growth. Actual utilization expectations may be adjusted based on portfolio size, operational demands, and business priorities, in coordination with the Federal Services Director. ### Key Responsibilities - ### **Program & Delivery Management** - Provide executive oversight of programs, projects, and task orders within the assigned customer portfolio. - Ensure projects are delivered on schedule, within budget, and in accordance with contractual scope and customer expectations. - Establish/monitor project plans, milestones, staffing requirements, risks, dependencies, and corrective actions. - Ensure contractual deliverables are complete, accurate, high quality, and submitted on time. - Identify and escalate delivery, staffing, financial, or customer risks and drive issues through resolution. - Foster and maintain strong working relationships with the customer leadership, serving as the primary program escalation point for the customer. - Capture program successes and performance metrics in support of True Zero’s Business Development efforts. ### **Personnel Management & First-Line Supervision** - Serve as the **first-line supervisor for assigned employees****,** providing day-to-day leadership, coaching, guidance, and performance management. - Oversee the performance management process, working with assigned employees to establish clear performance expectations and ensure individual goals align with project, account, customer, and organizational objectives. - Conduct regular one-on-one meetings with assigned personnel to review performance, workload, professional development, engagement, and concerns. - Complete employee performance evaluations and provide timely, constructive feedback and recognition. - Identify professional development opportunities and support employee career growth, training, certifications, and advancement. - Address employee performance or conduct issues promptly and consistently in coordination with HR and Delivery leadership. - Review and approve employee timecards, leave requests, and other personnel actions in accordance with company policies and contractual requirements. - Monitor employee utilization, workload, assignment status, and availability to ensure effective deployment of resources. - Support employee retention by proactively identifying and addressing engagement, workload, career development, and assignment concerns. - Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, assignment, promotion, and offboarding activities for resources supporting the account. - Maintain regular communication with employees working at customer locations or in remote environments to ensure continued connection with company leadership and culture. - Coordinate staffing transitions and succession planning to minimize disruption to customers and program delivery. ### **Account Growth** - Develop and execute an account growth strategy for the assigned customer group. - Identify opportunities to expand existing programs through additional scope, task orders, contract vehicles, and adjacent customer requirements. - Establish and track account-level goals for **revenue, backlog, funded work, and team/headcount growth****.** - Partner with business development and capture teams to identify, qualify, shape, and pursue new opportunities. - Maintain awareness of customer priorities, budgets, acquisition strategies, upcoming procurements, and competitive activity. - Translate anticipated growth opportunities into staffing and recruiting forecasts to ensure resources are available to support expansion. ### **Customer Relationship Management** - Serve as the primary, senior point of contact and trusted partner for key customer stakeholders. - Develop and maintain relationships with government program leadership, contracting stakeholders, technical leaders, and other relevant customer personnel. - Conduct regular customer engagement and account reviews to assess performance, priorities, risks, and future opportunities. - Monitor customer satisfaction and proactively address performance concerns. - Ensure the delivery organization understands evolving customer mission objectives and priorities. - Balance customer requirements with responsibility for the professional development, performance, and well-being of assigned personnel. ### **Contract Compliance & Administration** - Maintain oversight of contractual requirements, including scope, funding, period of performance, labor categories, staffing requirements, deliverables, and reporting obligations. - Partner with Contracts and Finance to ensure compliance with contract terms and applicable company and government requirements. - Monitor contract funding, burn rates, ceilings, option periods, and other key contractual milestones, and work with Finance to ensure TZT Unanet details are maintained and updated as needed. - Ensure personnel are appropriately aligned to authorized labor categories, work locations, and contractual requirements. - Ensure assigned personnel understand and comply with applicable customer, contract, security, timekeeping, and company requirements. ### **Financial & Operational Management** - Maintain accountability for the financial performance of the account and its underlying programs. - Review revenue, labor utilization, project costs, margins, forecasts, and other financial performance indicators. - Maintain a target of approximately 50% individual billable utilization through direct customer engagement or program delivery responsibilities, balancing billable commitments with portfolio management, supervisory, and business development obligations. - Ensure employee and subcontractor **timekeeping is accurate, timely, and aligned to authorized project and contract charge codes****.** - Review and approve timekeeping for assigned personnel in accordance with established company processes. - Review and support timely, accurate customer invoicing and resolve billing discrepancies or issues. - Coordinate with Finance to maintain accurate revenue and staffing forecasts. - Identify financial or operational variances and implement corrective actions. ### **Metrics & Reporting** - Establish and maintain an account-level performance scorecard. - Track and report key metrics including revenue, margin, staffing/headcount, utilization, vacancies, deliverable status, customer satisfaction, invoice status, contract funding, contract/employee burn, and growth pipeline. - Provide regular account performance reports and forecasts to Federal Services Director. - Maintain visibility into program risks, issues, opportunities, and corrective actions. - Ensure leadership has accurate and timely information to support resource allocation and business decisions. ### **Team & Organizational Leadership** - Provide leadership and direction to Program Managers, Project Managers, technical leads, and other delivery personnel supporting the account. - Build a cohesive account team with clear lines of accountability across delivery, personnel management, customer engagement, and growth. - Ensure appropriate staffing levels and proactively address recruiting, retention, performance, and succession needs. - Coordinate with Recruiting and HR to forecast staffing requirements and fill critical positions. - Promote accountability, communication, collaboration, and consistent delivery practices across the account. - Develop future leaders by delegating responsibility, mentoring high-performing employees, and creating opportunities for increased responsibility. - Foster a culture of customer service, operational excellence, professional development, and accountability. **Key Deliverables:** - Engagement delivery plans, staffing plans, and status reporting for assigned engagements. - Utilization and capacity forecasts aligned to pipeline and active work. - Engagement financial reporting: budget, gross margin, and profitability by engagement. - SOWs, change orders, and contract-compliance documentation. - Team development plans, performance reviews, and certification/upskilling roadmaps. - Contributions to delivery methodologies, templates, service catalogs, and SOPs. - Thought-leadership outputs (whitepapers, blogs, accelerators) and representation at events. ### Qualifications & Requirements - Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Management Information Systems (MIS) or a related field. - 7–10+ years of experience, including at least 3 years managing consulting or professional services resources / teams and/or managing federal programs. - Demonstrate ability to balance direct, billable customer delivery responsibilities with portfolio leadership, personnel management, financial oversight, and business development activities. - In-depth knowledge of security domains (cloud, endpoint, risk management, compliance, etc.). - Familiarity with frameworks like NIST, CIS Controls, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI-DSS. - Experience with project management methodologies and tools. - Industry certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CISA, PMP strongly preferred. - Strong communication, leadership, organizational, and relationship-building skills. - Ability to hold a federal security clearance is required. **Preferred Experience:** - Experience in building or scaling a Professional Services / Engineering Team. - Background in fast-paced consulting environments.