Senior Acquisition Specialist at Constellation Inc – Washington, District of Columbia

Pay: $145,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year

Job Description: Senior Acquisition Specialist (DHS-CBP-Office of Trade)

Constellation is seeking a Senior Acquisition Specialist to provide strategic acquisition and program management leadership by driving acquisition governance, aligning modernization investments, and leading cross-functional execution to deliver critical acquisition milestones and enterprise modernization outcomes. This role manages integrated master schedule (IMS) alignment through validation sessions, dependency mapping, and milestone tracking and the implementation of risk assessment/mitigation to enable program success. The Senior Acquisition Specialist monitors deliverable timeliness, execution quality, and program milestone progress which is regularly reported to senior CBP program leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development, refinement, and execution of acquisition strategy and governance artifacts, ensuring alignment with DHS acquisition frameworks and modernization objectives.
• Support Risk Review Boards and governance forums by providing actionable insights and mitigation strategies. Incorporate risk, cost, and resource demand considerations into schedules to support program decision-making.
• Lead the development of key acquisition strategy documents such as program roadmaps, 101 briefs and funding strategy slides, authoring and maintaining investment-related products (i.e. Program Health Assessment (PHA) Questionnaire, Business Case, funding strategy, and Investment Evaluation Strategy documents).
• Proactively refine internal methodologies and project management frameworks to streamline execution and ensure scalable delivery across multiple workstreams.
• Analyze acquisition documentation to inform future planning, mitigate risk, and streamline modernization pathways.
• Oversee execution tracking across multiple workstreams using structured Kanban systems, improving accountability and delivery performance.
• Develop and deliver executive-level acquisition briefings; translating complex program data into decision-ready products.
• Strengthen governance processes by standardizing acquisition documentation, milestone tracking, and approval workflows.
• Support enterprise decision-making through strategic recommendations to PMO leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Lead cross-functional coordination across acquisition, requirements, finance, and technical teams to ensure delivery of modernization milestones.
• Ensure continuity of operations by supporting transition planning, SOP development, and knowledge management across the PMO.
• Design and implement PMO organizational structures, RACI matrices, and coordination frameworks to improve accountability and efficiency.
• Facilitate executive briefings, portfolio reviews, and governance forums, ensuring leadership has clear visibility into risks, status, and decisions.
• Strengthen financial governance by standardizing processes for funds certification, LCCE review, and investment tracking.

The ideal candidate must have the following experience, background, and credentials:

• 10+ years of acquisition program management and master scheduling for large government programs in support of large IT/complex government programs.
• Master’s degree in business, finance, accounting, economics, or related field is preferred.
• Proficiency with utilizing scheduling tools including: MS Project, Milestones Professional (Kidasa), RiskyProject, and Steelray
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent communication, business development and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience using project management tools (MS Excel, Kanban, MS Project, JIRA, etc.).
• Power BI dashboard development and reporting support
• Ability to work collaboratively in a cross functional environment.
• Be a U.S. citizen able to pass a background investigation by the client agency. DHS clearance with CBP, or DoD Top-Secret preferred.
  

Preferred Skills:

• Experience supporting CBP-Office of Trade
• Understanding of DHS Acquisition Management Directive-AD 102-01 and/or DoD Directive 5000.01 and DoD Instruction 5000.02.
• PMP or Agile certification (e.g., Scrum Master).

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible schedule
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance