Senior Strategist or Design Strategist; Program Manager

LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business that leverages human-centered design to support strategy and innovation within the federal government. They are seeking a Senior Design Strategist or Program Manager to lead innovative design strategies, collaborate with clients, and drive impactful visual storytelling to meet client objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Serves as a trusted advisor to clients by framing complex challenges, identifying opportunities, and applying human-centered design approaches to inform strategic decision-making
• Partners directly with client stakeholders to understand organizational priorities, user needs, operational constraints, and desired outcomes
• Leads the development of design strategy approaches that align stakeholder needs, business objectives, and mission requirements
• Guides cross-functional teams through ambiguity, helping stakeholders build alignment and make informed decisions
• Identifies opportunities to create tangible business value and support long-term client success
• Provides guidance that helps clients make informed decisions and navigate organizational complexity
• Translates complex ideas into compelling strategic narratives, executive-level presentations, communication strategies, and decision-support products
• Develops messaging frameworks that align leadership vision, organizational priorities, and stakeholder needs
• Define content structures, information hierarchies, and storytelling approaches that communicate complex concepts clearly and effectively
• Collaborates with creative teams to develop high-quality visual products that support strategic objectives and audience understanding
• Establishes quality standards for strategic deliverables and provides guidance to team members to ensure consistency and excellence
• Leads development of executive-ready materials that support decision-making, alignment, and organizational action
• Develops and implements change management strategies, including stakeholder engagement plans, communications strategies, change impact assessments, and adoption roadmaps
• Designs governance frameworks, operating models, and implementation approaches that support successful transformation efforts
• Facilitates cross-functional working sessions that drive alignment, accelerate decision-making, and address organizational resistance
• Establishes feedback mechanisms and performance measures that support continuous improvement and long-term success
• Monitors progress, evaluates outcomes, and refines approaches based on stakeholder feedback and organizational needs
• Leads mixed-method research efforts, including stakeholder interviews, contextual inquiry, observations, journey mapping, ecosystem analysis, and systems mapping activities
• Synthesizes qualitative and quantitative findings into actionable insights, opportunity areas, strategic recommendations, and design directions
• Applies systems thinking to identify patterns, dependencies, root causes, and opportunities across complex organizational environments
• Translates technical, operational, and policy-focused challenges into human-centered insights and strategic considerations
• Guides research activities that inform organizational transformation, service design, experience design, and strategic planning efforts
• Designs and facilitates workshops, design sprints, stakeholder engagements, and co-creation activities that advance strategic objectives and drive organizational alignment
• Develops facilitation approaches, agendas, exercises, and collaborative experiences that enable productive dialogue and structured problem-solving
• Synthesizes workshop outputs into actionable findings, recommendations, and implementation considerations
• Helps stakeholders navigate competing priorities, organizational complexity, and change initiatives through structured facilitation and engagement
• Guides teams in applying human-centered design methods throughout project lifecycles
• Mentors teammates through coaching, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback
• Models LINK values and contributes to a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team culture
• Shares tools, approaches, and lessons learned that improve the quality and consistency of work across engagements
• Serve as the primary point of accountability for contract performance, client satisfaction, financial health, and delivery success
• Maintain strong client relationships and serve as a trusted advisor to client stakeholders
• Collaborate with clients to understand challenges, define priorities, manage expectations, and identify opportunities to create additional value
• Lead strategic planning activities and establish program priorities, objectives, and delivery approaches
• Identify opportunities to extend existing work and support business development efforts within client organizations
• Establish delivery priorities and provide direction to project teams in support of contract objectives
• Oversee onboarding, offboarding, and transition activities for project team members
• Provide coaching and feedback focused on delivery excellence, client satisfaction, and team effectiveness
• Coordinate with Competency Managers and contribute project performance observations and feedback to support employee development and performance management processes
• Oversee program budgets, team utilization, schedules, staffing plans, risks, subcontractor performance, and deliverable quality
• Establish and maintain project management processes, Agile cadences, reporting mechanisms, and communication rhythms to ensure effective delegation of tasks, workload management, and on-time delivery
• Ensure successful execution of contractual requirements, deliverables, reporting obligations, and period of performance requirements
• Monitor program health and proactively identify risks, issues, and opportunities requiring leadership attention
• Coordinate invoicing, reporting, travel, security, and operational activities necessary to support successful contract execution
• Document and share lessons learned, best practices, and operational improvements that strengthen delivery effectiveness

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communication, English, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in strategic communication, public affairs, program management, or strategy development
• 7+ years program/project management experience including familiarity with Agile methodologies and project delivery best practices
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining a strong focus on accuracy and attention to detail
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate in a clear, approachable, and knowledgeable manner
• Government contracting experience
• Security clearance as required by contracts
• Experience with human-centered design and design thinking principles
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously
• PMP certification preferred