Senior Program Analyst / Schedule Architect

About Blue Water Thinking

Guided by our principles of value generation, continuous innovation, customer-centricity, and vested collaboration, Blue Water Thinking proudly supports our Federal clients in achieving their Agency goals.

Founded by a decorated twenty-eight year Veteran of the United States Army, Blue Water Thinking understands and supports the mission of our Nation's war fighters, Veterans, their families and caretakers. 

Leveraging our executive team's military experience and private and public sector consulting expertise, Blue Water Thinking takes an integrated "one-team" approach and brings to bear best-fit solutions,  thought leadership, and grit to meet our client's transformational needs.

Fueled by our values of integrity, respect, professionalism, stewardship and customer service, the Blue Water Thinking team understands the power of the human connection, collaboration, humility and loyalty to one another, our clients and industry partners.

Lastly, our formula for success is simple:  Build something good, take care of our people, keep our clients satisfied, nurture our work ethic and reputation, build long-lasting partnerships, enjoy what we do and give back as much as possible.

Job Description:

Blue Water Thinking is seeking an experienced and dedicated Senior Program Analyst to serve as Schedule Architect and P6 Migration Lead, supporting the Integrated Healthcare Transformation (IHT) initiative at the Department of Veterans Affairs HEFP SEP program. The role carries three linked mandates: architect the target Primavera P6 enterprise environment that a 1,100+ project portfolio can sustain; map legacy data into logic-driven schedules without loss of existing data or functionality; and support federal program managers and field staff through the change, with adoption as a key deliverable. All work is advisory; final decision-making authority rests with the Government, and the incumbent does not draft procurement documents or perform inherently governmental functions.

Responsibilities:

Migration Architecture and Data Mapping

• Assess the legacy Microsoft Project Web Access environment and produce a defensible mapping of every legacy data element to its P6 destination, including activity codes, user-defined fields, WBS levels, calendars, or planned retirement, with rationale documented and Government-approved.
• Design the enterprise architecture, including EPS hierarchy, WBS standards, activity coding dictionary, calendar library, and UDF strategy sized for portfolio-scale reporting.
• Develop standardized fragnets and schedule templates by project archetype, including telecommunications room cutovers, data center relocations, elevator modernization, AHU/chiller replacement, and roof replacement.
• Convert milestone-dominant legacy records into activities with durations and logic while preserving genuine milestones and maintaining legacy reporting during parallel operations until the Government accepts the new reporting.
• Establish and routinely report schedule health criteria, including open ends, negative lag, constraint use, out-of-sequence progress, excessive float, and missing predecessors or successors.

Master Schedule Development, Integration, and Variance Analysis

• Build and manage master schedules with full traceability of program and project milestones defined by SEP federal program managers.
• Maintain schedule baselines, control baseline changes, and preserve audit trails of schedule revisions.
• Manage schedule data across design and construction projects spanning EHRM, recapitalization, and targeted infrastructure portfolios.
• Align the EHRM NRM Capital Integrated Schedule with the EHRMIO Integrated Master Schedule and coordinate with Oracle Health and VA stakeholders, including EHRMIO, OIT, OCFM, OAEM, and PCAC.
• Coordinate with VISN and VAMC engineering staff, site engineers, design and A/E firms, and general contractors to gather schedule events and establish dependencies.
• Analyze schedule data for critical path impact, downstream program effects, and schedule variance across deployment sites.
• Identify, quantify, and escalate schedule risks and support maintenance of the SEP risk register using recognized program risk management techniques.

Coaching, Reporting, and Adoption

• Coach and mentor federal program managers, SEP lead engineers, and field staff on schedule interpretation, including critical path, float, milestone movement, and overall program impacts.
• Develop training aids, job aids, bulletins, quick-reference guides, and SOPs, and provide recurring instruction through office hours, working sessions, recorded walkthroughs, and cohort training.
• Build and maintain Power BI and SharePoint reporting views that present P6 data in accessible terms and monitor adoption to identify areas requiring additional support or design improvements.
• Produce the weekly Capital Integrated Schedule and Risk/Event Report, support Capital Schedule and Variance Reports, and develop executive reporting showing milestone status and variance in clear, non-technical language.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS) in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, Business, Information Technology, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
• Must have previous federal government experience or experience working for a federal contractor.
• 8+ years of professional scheduling experience supporting design and construction or capital infrastructure programs, including at least 3 years at a senior or lead level within a multi-project portfolio.
• Demonstrated experience converting a milestone-based, spreadsheet-based, or tracking-register system into a logic-driven CPM schedule, including responsibility for data mapping and conversion decisions.
• Expert-level experience with Oracle Primavera P6 Professional and EPPM, including EPS and WBS design, activity coding, calendar libraries, user-defined fields, global changes, baseline management, and multi-project master schedule administration.
• Working proficiency with Microsoft Project and Project Web App sufficient to interrogate, extract, and validate legacy scheduling data.
• Demonstrated training, instruction, or mentoring experience with non-scheduler audiences.
• Proficiency with Power BI and SharePoint for schedule reporting.
• Strong analytical, written, verbal communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to support organizational and process change constructively while maintaining positive customer relationships.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP), AACE Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), or PMP certification.
• Prior experience supporting EHRM infrastructure, facility recapitalization, or targeted infrastructure programs.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Project-to-P6 enterprise migration, including data reconciliation and parallel-run validation.
• Experience with P6 API, XER/XML exchange, or Power BI connectivity to P6 data.
• Familiarity with VA-specific systems, including Capital Asset Database, Capital Asset Inventory, Strategic Capital Investment Portfolio (SCIP) tool, and Procure.
• Direct Department of Veterans Affairs experience, including VHA, VBA, OCFM, or VISN/VAMC engineering, with knowledge of the VA capital project lifecycle, terminology, and governance

Eligibility:

• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future
• Must be able to obtain and maintain the required federal public trust clearance for this role

Compensation:

Salary for this position is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, location, the candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, competencies and experience, as well as contract specific affordability and organizational requirements. 

Salary range: $115k-$130k

Benefits:

Blue Water Thinking offers a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance (medical, dental and vision), paid time off, federal holidays, and matching 401K plan.

Reasonable Accommodation for Applicants

Blue Water Thinking is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process. If you require a reasonable accommodation to search for a position, complete an application, or participate in the interview process, please contact Resource Management at [email protected]. Requests for accommodation will be handled promptly and confidentially in accordance with applicable law.

Our Commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity.

Blue Water Thinking is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recruit, hire, train, and promote qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Applying for this Job:

• Resume must be submitted in word document format and must include dates in each section (experience, education, certifications...)
• Candidates must fill out the below form to the best of their knowledge