Program Manager – Merit

Merit’s verified identity ecosystem helps trusted organizations across government and enterprise solve critical real-world problems in workforce development, emergency services, licensing, education, defense readiness, and other sectors. Thousands of trusted organizations – including government agencies and nonprofits – use Merit for digital verification of credentials, licenses, training, and skills.

Using Merit, organizations can capture and certify people-data in containers called merits, and permission them to individuals. All of an individual’s merits are stored in one place, providing people agency over their verified data, giving people secure access and selective sharing with other organizations.

By connecting organizations and individuals, the Merit Platform supports a robust verified identity network that serves as a source of truth and trust for entire industries; bringing visibility, liquidity, and trust to people’s data.

Merit has been widely adopted and used by numerous organizations:

-The Florida Division of Emergency Management partnered with Merit to provide a fast, secure, paperless solution for the verification and time-tracking of thousands of volunteers and paid medical professionals assisting with the statewide COVID-19 vaccination efforts. As a result of our work together, FDEM was named a StateScoop 50

Award winner for the State IT Innovation of the Year.

–BARBICIDE® partnered with Merit to provide digital credentials to beauty professionals worldwide, exceeding two million digital, portable, shareable BARBICIDE® merits sent to date through Merit’s verified identity platform. The merits are granted for completion of BARBICIDE’s widely utilized courses on safety standards and best-practices.

–Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) partnered with Merit to streamline licensing and digital credentialing for the more than 300,000 professionals across more than 40 industries that are required to have a license to work. With Merit, those licenses are now digital, accessible, and easily verifiable by consumers and businesses.

Our Values

Merit’s values are more than just words on paper – they permeate the company’s brand, culture,

products, and even individual actions. Our values are:

1. Building a network of truth and trust. Merit is modeling the real world of Verified Identity into a digital one, built on merits. Society values truth, and merits represent truth.

2. Everyone is a friend. We see opportunities everywhere because Merit has endless ways to grow the already vast and self-propagating Verified Identity graph.

3. A rising tide lifts all boats. We think about entire industries and how to make the most impact on people’s lives. When we succeed, our employees, partners, and everyone on Merit should succeed.

4. Measure to meaningfully improve. Work is measured by output, not vanity metrics, and the things we do measure have goals.

5. Use Merit to build Merit. The strength of the Merit network, platform, and company compounds with the addition of every partner, consumer, and employee.

Merit delivers efficient Software with a Service (SwaS) solutions across several industries, including Emergency Services, Grants & Scholarships, Licensing & Regulation, and Workforce Development. The key to Merit’s success is exceptional program management. Ultimately, you are responsible for developing programs that support Merit’s mission and goals. The role requires solid, practical, and proven experience in program management. You will oversee, coordinate and organize various programs and activities to improve company efficiencies, build long-term goals for company projects and develop program and project budgets.  You will coordinate efforts between different projects and lead programs with strong attention to strategy, implementation, and delegation. You will develop programs to support Merit’s strategic direction and create and manage long-term goals related to various programs.  As a highly-skilled professional, you will help our organization stay on schedule, on specifications, and ultimately on an upward trajectory of success and growth.

Merit is a startup environment where you will be expected to roll up your sleeves, take initiative, and get creative about finding solutions to challenges. This is a full-time, 100% remote role.

Objectives of this Role

• • Strategize, implement, organize and maintain program initiatives and activities that adhere to the mission and goals of Merit
  • Develop new programs to support the strategic direction of the organization
  • Oversee multiple project teams to achieve set goals
  • Develop and manage a budget and operating plan for identified programs
  • Meet or exceed goals in customer satisfaction, safety, quality, and team member performance
  • Assess program performance and maximize ROI
  • Exercise initiative in identifying, tracking, and removing impediments to program success Approach risk identification and mitigation accordingly, including establishing contingency plans and initiating corrective action
  • Implement and manage necessary changes and interventions to achieve goals
  • Maintain strong customer focus while coordinating and collaborating with team leads, project managers, stakeholders, vendors, and other resources in implementing key projects
  • Produce accurate and timely program status reports throughout a program’s life cycle
  • Manage programs and multiple concurrent projects which are not necessarily related or interdependent
  • Provide leadership to project managers, foster a positive team environment, and provide direction in ambiguous situations

Skills & Qualifications

• • Bachelor’s degree in business administration or technical field or equivalent experience10+ years of program management experience
  • Proven experience in program and stakeholder management
  • Exceptional leadership, time management, facilitation, analytical, and organizational skills
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with anyone
  • Outstanding working knowledge of change management principles and performance evaluation processes
  • Strong familiarity with project management software tools, methodologies, and best practices
  • Theoretical and practical knowledge of project management processes, workflows, and terminology

Preferred Qualifications

• • Program Management Professional (PgMP)
  • Master’s degree in business administration or technical field
  • Skill in examining and re-engineering operations and procedures, formulating policy, and developing and implementing new strategies and procedures

At Merit, we don’t just accept difference—we celebrate, support, and value it for the innate benefit of our employees, the competitive advantage of our products, and the strength of the communities we are a part of. Merit is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or veteran status. We will do our best to accommodate any disabilities or special needs you may have.