236-25 Assistant Division Director "Assistant Director, Project Management"

Department of Children and Families: The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a state child welfare agency with four programmatic divisions that oversee: 

• Family strengthening programs 

• Mental and behavioral health services for children 

• Gender based violence prevention and response services and 

• Child protective services DCF contracts with over 1,000 agencies to implement services to ensure all New Jersey residents are safe, healthy, and connected.

DCF Office of Strategic Development: The Office of Strategic Development (OSD) is an Executive-Level Office within DCF that plays a vital role in advancing the Department's strategy and objectives. By focusing on implementation processes and project management, the office enhances operations, improves service delivery, and strengthens departmental performance. 

OSD is committed to identifying smarter, and more effective ways to perform work - ultimately serving families and supporting DCF’s strategic goals for service excellence, positive outcomes, infrastructure development, and the integration of core approaches across the agency. OSD designs strategies, recommends resources necessary to support the development, and leads improvement projects guided by DCF’s strategic plan. OSD’s core functions include organizational development, program development, and project management. 

OSD’s Project Management Unit (PMU): OSD’s Project Management Unit manages a portfolio or program and organizational development projects. The team includes 8-10 full-time and contracted project managers and 3-5 project management support staff. Project managers support strategic planning and systems consultation by conducting resource assessment and facilitating intake processes and well as other project management activities. 

PMU staff in partnership with OSD’s Program and Organizational Development (POD) unit, manage strategic improvement projects throughout their development lifecycle.

Program Development: These projects advance DCF’s service excellence goals through improvements informed by implementation science best practices. Projects typically ensure that DCF services have: a clearly defined service model; manuals and training plans; measurement strategies; monitoring plans; collaborative quality improvement (CoQI) plans. 

Examples include: 

• Developing a training for Family Preservation Services (FPS) staff that integrates the evidence-based model Motivational Interviewing 

• Launching the Domestic Violence Housing First program statewide 

• Creating a practice model and training for Project Connect, a youth suicide prevention pilot

Organizational Development: These projects focus on improving necessary internal DCF infrastructure to support service excellence and systems transformation. This may include standardizing practice within DCF offices, process development and implementation, and learning and capacity building initiatives for DCF staff. 

Examples include: 

• Embedding Resilience training into DCF staff onboarding 

• Standardizing the Monitoring workplan 

• Refining CoQI practices

Job Summary: The Assistant Director of the Project Management Unit (PMU) provides strategic leadership and oversight to this newly established unit. Reporting to the OSD Director, the Assistant Director will lead the development and implementation of project management methodologies, promote best practices, and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. 

This role oversees a diverse portfolio of DCF-prioritized projects, ensuring high-quality project management that supports DCF’s goal to deliver, either directly or through contracted providers, excellent services that lead to positive outcomes. As part of OSD’s leadership team, the Assistant Director contributes to the execution of OSD’s strategies, leads the PMU staff, manages resources, and collaborate with stakeholders to drive successful project outcomes.

Job Responsibilities:  

Strategic Leadership and PMU Development

• Collaborate with leadership to establish, develop, and continuously enhance the PMU within OSD, ensuring alignment with DCF’s strategic goals and priorities 

• Lead the design, operationalization, and continuous improvement of project management standards, templates, and processes to support program and organizational projects, as well as systems consultation for strategic planning initiatives. 

• Foster a culture of excellence, accountability, and collaboration within the unit 

• Ensure coordination between the PMU and OSD’s Program and Organizational Development unit

Portfolio Management 

• Oversee a diverse portfolio of DCF-prioritized projects, ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery across programmatic and organizational initiatives. • Integrate project management practices into programmatic and organizational strategies 

• Develop and coordinate intake and prioritization processes to assess and rank new project requests to ensure strategic alignment. 

• Manage the use of the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) system in PWA Project Web App to support planning, scheduling, tracking, and reporting for projects across the portfolio

Governance, Reporting, and Communication

 • Co-Develop and oversee governance structures that support effective coordination, decision-making, and communication 

• Strengthen existing reporting mechanisms to ensure accurate, timely, and transparent communication of project status, risks, and outcomes 

• Develop and maintain dashboards, metrics, and reporting tools to track project performance, resource utilization, and strategic alignment 

• Prepare and present reports to executive and senior leadership on portfolio progress, emerging risks, and recommendations for corrective actions 

• Collaborate with DCF’s Information Technology Project Management Office (PMO) and other divisions to ensure project management alignment across the Department

Risk Management and Issue Resolution 

• Enhance and implement risk management processes across the project lifecycle 

• Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate project and portfolio risks 

• Address cross-functional challenges and escalate critical issues when necessary

Resource Management and Team Leadership

 • Supervise, mentor, and develop Project Managers, Associate Project Managers, and trainees 

• Allocate team resources effectively across projects, balancing priorities, schedules, and available expertise across the team 

• Monitor team performance, offering coaching and professional development opportunities 

• Lead DCF’s annual resource assessment for current and projected programmatic and organizational priorities

Continuous Improvement 

• Enhance management methodologies within OSD, ensuring they are adaptable to the Department’s evolving needs 

• Stay current on industry best practices 

• Integrate implementation science into project and portfolio management practices

Other Duties 

• Perform other responsibilities as assigned to support the work of OSD and the Department 

REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university required. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent preferred. 

EXPERIENCE: Minimum of five (5) years of experience managing complex non-technical project management projects. At least three (3) years in a supervisory role overseeing a team. Proficiency in MS Project, including advanced features such as:

• Resource management and utilization 

• Custom fields and SharePoint sites 

• Subprojects 

• Project costs required. Familiarity with implementation science and organizational and program development preferred.

RESUME NOTE: Eligibility determinations will be based upon information presented on the resume only. Applicants who possess a degree from a college or university outside the United States must provide an evaluation of one’s transcripts from a recognized evaluation service at the time of submission by the above closing date. Failure to do so may result in your ineligibility. 

LICENSE: Appointees will be required to possess a driver's license valid in New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle, rather than employee mobility, is necessary to perform the essential duties of the position.

                                                        IMPORTANT NOTICES 

PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS: As a prospective employee of the State of New Jersey, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/. 

SAME APPLICANTS: If you are applying under the NJ “SAME” program, your supporting documents (Schedule A or B letter), must be submitted along with your resume by the closing date indicated above. For more information on the SAME Program visit their Website at: https://nj.gov/csc/same/overview/index.shtml,  email: CSC-SAME@csc.nj.gov,  or call CSC at (609) 292- 4144, option 3. 

RE-EMPLOYMENT LISTS: Applicable special re-employment list established as a result of a layoff will be used before any appointments are made. 

UNIT SCOPE: Any appointments made from postings which involve movement between unit scopes may result in a forfeiture of rights to any promotional list in a former unit scope. A complete list of DCF unit scopes can be found here. 

RESIDENCY: Effective 9/1/11, NJ PL 70 (NJ First Act), requires all State employees to reside in New Jersey, unless exempted under the law, or current employees who live out-of-state and do not have a break-in service of more than 7 calendar days, as they are “grandfathered.” New employees or current employees who were not grandfathered and who live out-of-state have one year after the date of employment to relocate their residence to New Jersey or request an exemption. Current employees who reside in NJ must retain NJ residency, unless he/she obtains an exemption. Employees who fail to meet the residency requirements or obtain an exemption will be removed from employment.