Program Support Analyst II

SECRET clearance · Full-time, on-site at SA-17, 600 19th Street NW, Washington, DC · Contingent on contract award

About the program

XSI supports the Department of State's Passport Services Directorate (CA/PPT) with about 200 professionals across nine headquarters offices. Passport Services runs 29 agencies and centers and about 8,000 acceptance facilities, and issues some 20 million passports a year. The program follows ISO 9001 quality management and Scaled Agile (SAFe) practices.

Position summary

The Program Support Analyst II is a mid-level analyst who works with considerable independence alongside CA/PPT project managers. You own project planning and documentation for assigned projects, review contracts and financials, and evaluate how tasks are performing. You also act as a go-to resource for Level I analysts.

Key responsibilities

Project planning and coordination

• Support project managers in overseeing and coordinating one or more projects at once.
• Build and maintain project plans, integrated schedules and work breakdown structures in Microsoft Project.
• Coordinate across project teams and stakeholders so dependencies, handoffs and deadlines line up.
• Facilitate project meetings, and track decisions, action items and changes through to closure.

Documentation and reporting

• Prepare and maintain project plans, schedules, status reports, risk and issue logs, and change records.
• Draft status reports and briefing material for project managers and CA/PPT leadership.
• Contribute project data to the Monthly Progress Report and the 30-60-90-day planning calendar.
• Write in CA/PPT templates and to the Department writing guide.

Contract and financial review

• Review contracts, task requirements and project financials for scope, cost and compliance.
• Track spending and burn rate against budget, and explain variances.
• Flag scope creep or cost risk to the project manager with recommended responses.

Monitoring, evaluation and improvement

• Monitor project activities and measure progress against plans and KPIs.
• Evaluate overall task performance, and document lessons learned and root causes.
• Identify issues early, escalate them, and help drive resolution.
• Recommend project management process improvements and best practices.
• Help keep projects compliant with organizational standards, regulations, executive orders and passport policy.

Team support

• Guide Program Support Analyst I staff on documentation standards and tools.
• Review junior analysts' work products for accuracy before release.

 Required qualifications

• At least 4 years of program or project support experience.
• Bachelor's degree, or 8 years of relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Project and Excel, plus Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
• Experience reviewing contracts or project financials.
• Active SECRET clearance.
• Ability to work on-site full-time in Washington, DC.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience supporting a federal civilian agency, ideally the Department of State.
• PMP or CAPM certification.
• Experience on Agile or SAFe teams and with ISO 9001 quality practices.
• Experience building reports in Power BI and managing SharePoint project sites.

Knowledge, skills and abilities

• Sound judgment on when to resolve an issue yourself and when to escalate it.
• Clear writing and briefing for senior federal audiences.
• Ability to balance several projects and shifting priorities.
• Discretion with sensitive information, including PII under the Privacy Act.

How success is measured

Performance is judged on timely deliverables, quality of output, adherence to CA/PPT standards, and stakeholder feedback.

Work environment

Professional federal office setting with business dress. Government-furnished laptop and equipment. Telework only where the program approves it case by case.