Job Description
Job Description
About Avancer Consulting
Avancer Consulting is a boutique management consulting firm specializing in complex transformation, including regulatory, merger, and modernization programs in which execution and delivery are paramount. The firm's name derives from the French avancer, to advance, reflecting its purpose: to move client organizations toward their next strategic objectives.
Avancer serves clients across financial services, insurance, and healthcare, embedding senior practitioners directly within client teams to plan and deliver programs of significant scale and complexity. The firm's capabilities span program and project management, change management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) integration, regulatory compliance and risk, and vendor management, with disciplined attention to cost efficiency throughout. Avancer also establishes and operates program management offices, undertakes project-based engagements, and provides fractional executive leadership drawn from genuine senior experience.
Avancer is distinguished by the seniority of its people. Its consultants are experienced, hands-on practitioners who have led complex, multi-workstream, multi-vendor programs from initiation through completion. Clients engage seasoned operators who bring structure to ambiguity and deliver measurable results, without the layered overhead of larger consulting firms.
Further information is available at www.avancerconsulting.com.
Position Summary
Avancer Consulting is building bench capacity for upcoming large-scale technology modernization and transformation programs in the regulated healthcare, insurance, and benefits sector, including public-sector and health-benefits environments. We are seeking experienced Program and Project Managers, mid to senior level, to lead delivery across complex, multi-workstream initiatives.
This role covers end-to-end program and project management: planning, execution, delivery oversight, and closeout of modernization initiatives spanning technology, operations, and business functions. The ideal candidate is a hands-on delivery leader who brings structure to ambiguity, keeps complex programs on track, and drives accountability across teams, stakeholders, and vendors, often without direct authority.
Key Responsibilities
Program & Project Delivery (primary focus)
• Lead planning, execution, monitoring, and closeout of modernization and transformation projects and workstreams.
• Manage scope, schedules, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and budgets to ensure on-time, on-target delivery.
• Own budget management and cost controls, tracking spend against plan and identifying opportunities for cost savings and efficiencies across the program.
• Build and maintain project charters, work plans, roadmaps, schedules, dashboards, and executive status reporting.
• Own RAID management: identify, track, escalate, and drive timely resolution of risks, issues, dependencies, and decisions.
• Establish and run program cadences, reporting structures, and program governance where required.
Agile & Delivery Execution
• Lead or facilitate Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery based on initiative needs.
• Run sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives, release planning, and backlog refinement where applicable.
• Work directly with Scrum Masters, product owners, technical teams, and business stakeholders to move delivery forward.
Stakeholder & Vendor Management
• Align activities across divisions, business areas, project teams, stakeholders, and third-party vendors.
• Manage third-party vendors against scope, deliverables, service levels, and budget, including statement-of-work and performance oversight.
• Lead project meetings, workshops, and stakeholder discussions; document decisions, track follow-ups, and drive clear, timely communication.
• Prepare executive briefings, dashboards, and decision-support materials for leadership.
• Support adoption and readiness activities as part of successful delivery.
Qualifications
Required
• 7+ years (Program Manager) or 10+ years (Senior Program Manager) managing complex projects or programs and leading cross-functional teams, within the past 10 years.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent additional experience.
• Experience in healthcare, insurance, or another regulated environment.
• Solid grounding in core project management disciplines, including planning, status reporting, risk and issue management, and budgets.
• Strong written and verbal communication, and the ability to work independently across changing priorities.
Preferred
• California state government or other public-sector program experience (strongly preferred).
• PMP, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), or Professional Scrum Master (PSM); PROSCI or equivalent change-management credential.
• Familiarity with Agile and hybrid delivery approaches.
• Familiarity with health insurance exchange or marketplace programs, Medi-Cal, or Medicaid.
• Familiarity with legacy mainframe and subsystems and their modernization.
• Familiarity with AI and GenAI tools that support delivery or modernization, used in line with client and regulatory policies.
• Experience with Atlassian tools (Jira and Confluence), PMO build-out, or process improvement (Lean/Six Sigma).
Success Profile
The successful candidate brings disciplined program management to complex modernization work, keeps multiple workstreams moving in parallel, drives accountability across teams and vendors, and delivers results in a regulated, high-visibility environment.
Engagement & Location
Contract / corp-to-corp. On-site in the Sacramento, CA area, consistent with client business hours; relocation-willing candidates welcome. Some hybrid flexibility by assignment.