Staff/Principal Engagement Manager (HHS) Save

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services. We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists. The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, engagement managers are accountable for outcomes, not just ceremonies. They translate mission objectives and constraints into clear plans, working rhythms, and measurable results. They coach teams, manage risk, and create the conditions for fast, safe delivery.

Here, you’ll be part of a major modernization effort at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). You’ll coordinate multidisciplinary squads and partner vendors to deliver secure, resilient, and user-centered services at enterprise scale. You’ll align stakeholders around priorities, keep work unblocked, and make progress visible so teams ship value quickly and sustainably.

What you’ll do

• Work with stakeholders to turn mission goals into clear outcomes, priorities, and success measures
• Shape and support a healthy delivery rhythm: planning, stand‑ups, reviews, and retros that help the team learn and adapt quickly
• Spot risks, dependencies, and blockers early, and help the team and client resolve them before they slow progress
• Build trust and alignment with stakeholders through clear communication, regular check‑ins, and open decision‑making
• Help multidisciplinary teams (product, design, engineering, security, data) collaborate effectively, with clarity around roles and responsibilities
• Keep progress visible with simple, transparent ways of sharing status and metrics that inform decisions
• Ensure compliance, accessibility, and security are part of delivery from the start, not bolted on at the end
• Nurture team health by creating psychological safety, supporting continuous learning, and modeling collaborative practices
• Continuously reflect and improve with the team and client by adjusting ways of working to deliver faster and better outcomes

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading complex digital programs or multi‑team engagements to successful outcomes
• Deep fluency with agile delivery at scale (Scrum, Kanban, Lean), with the ability to adapt practices to context rather than follow a rigid playbook
• Strong risk, issue, and dependency management, with a track record of unblocking work quickly
• Proven stakeholder management and executive communication skills in a professional services setting
• Experience establishing and reporting meaningful metrics and OKRs/KPIs in ways that drive action
• Working knowledge of government delivery constraints and standards (e.g., Section 508 accessibility; familiarity with security/compliance environments such as the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program [FedRAMP] and the Federal Information Security Modernization Act [FISMA])
• Ability to staff and support multidisciplinary teams, with sound judgment on scope, sequencing, and tradeoffs
• Passion for creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that align with Skylight’s core values
• Ability to spend time on‑site at HHS in Washington, DC — either by being based locally or by traveling regularly for in‑person work when it’s important

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Prior experience delivering modernization at HHS or in highly regulated domains (health, public sector)
• Experience coordinating large platform or shared‑service rollouts across multiple teams or divisions
• Familiarity with cloud and platform concepts (e.g., Amazon Web Services [AWS], Microsoft Azure; CI/CD; infrastructure as code) with enough knowledge to ask sharp questions and guide decisions
• Exposure to security and privacy practices in delivery (e.g., evidence automation, continuous authority to operate [ATO])
• Certifications are welcome but not required (e.g., Certified ScrumMaster, PMI‑ACP, SAFe, Prosci change management certification)
• Track record of mentoring delivery leads and upleveling practices across an organization
• Experience leading hybrid teams with both on‑site and remote members, including facilitation skills for distributed collaboration
• Comfortable navigating a mix of in‑person client engagement and remote team collaboration

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• As a government contractor, you may be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance.
• You may be required to complete a company background check successfully.
• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This role requires some in-person time in Washington, DC. Candidates based in the DC area should be able to work on-site at HHS periodically. Candidates outside the area are also welcome to apply, as long as they can travel to DC frequently for on-site collaboration. A relocation incentive of up to $10,000 is available.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Product Manager at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate Engagement Manager: $90,000–$125,000
• Engagement Manager I: $120,000–$140,000
• Engagement Manager II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior Engagement Manager: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff Engagement Manager: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal Engagement Manager: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
• Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at [email protected].

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.